D1: Evaluate interpersonal and written communications techniques

During this unit I've had a number of verbal exchanges and I've used clarity of speech, kept calm and focused and spoke with confidence when presenting. In the opening of a verbal exchange the first few minutes are extremely important as first impressions have the most impact. Using eye contact and having a friendly warm smile during a verbal exchange is essential to highlight a good first impression. Intonation is also key within a speech as it shows the expressions and thoughts which go into the words. Furthermore I've paraphrased certain things throughout many units so other students in the class are able to understand if they are unsure what a complicated word means. Also I've summarised at the end of a presentation just so everyone understood what my main points were and if they had any questions for me they could relate it to my summary.

Body language is another key interpersonal technique as during this unit I've been able to further emphasise a positive attitude through the use of my body. It also enabled me to further express indescribable things through the use of gesture such as outlining the shape of an object. It’s also known that people are more affected by what they see instead of what they hear; it’s proven to be a better method of understanding.

When working within a group on another unit I made sure I used positive language as it makes a huge impact on how I’m perceived as a team member. The positive language I used let my team know what I could do instead of what I couldn't, showing that I’m eager to help in any way possible. Positive language can be helpful and constructive to a fellow students work, bringing the team closer together. However I made sure to not use any negative language when working within a team as it can bring other team members motivation down and ultimately lead them to not want to work with me. When listening to my other team members I made sure to show active engagement through nodding to let them know I’m paying attention to their ideas. When working as a team I also made sure to ask both open and closed questions as the open questions allowed us as a group to enter a discussion easier. But also asking closed questions helped the group get definite, concise information from a response.

When communicating my work and ideas through written work I've made sure not to use any ‘smileys’ or emoticons as it displays a more casual approach to my work and that’s not my intended approach. However when sending casual emails to other students asking a work related question, using an emoticon can be acceptable to show you are not being too serious and adding a fun element to the working environment. Using the correct grammar has been essential throughout all my work as it ensures that I have understood everything I've written. Also throughout all my units I've used set guidelines otherwise known as the project briefs, these have helped me understand how to write a particular piece of work. In all my pieces of work I've made sure to have a good structure as it has allowed my teacher to follow my work easily. For example I've used the grading criteria as my titles for each piece of work so the teacher can easily locate different tasks to mark it quickly and efficiently.

Identifying relevance is another important factor within written work as it enables you to pick out important parts which are related to the area you are studying. I did this in the form of highlighting and underlining certain areas I felt were the most relevant to my work. Before handing my work in to be marked, I always make sure I've proof read beforehand as it reduces the risk of handing in incorrect information or any unnecessary spelling mistakes. When researching different tasks in a unit I always make sure to note take as it allows me to pick out the important relevant information quickly. Most of the time I take notes on Microsoft Word because I can type them out quickly and also erase any information I don’t need easily.

Overall I think I made good use of interpersonal and written communications techniques throughout all my units. It helped me work well in a group and complete work in a quick and efficient manner, giving me enough time to make any improvements once marked. 

M2: Review draft documents to produce final versions

I've chosen to use spell check to review all my draft documents this ensures that my final versions are error free and people are able to understand my work clearly.

Here I've incorrectly spelt 'confident' wrong, this can be seen by it being highlighted in yellow to alert your attention to it.

Once you've clicked on the error it comes up with a list of correctly spelt words which it thinks you might be trying to spell. In this case it's the top word which I need to change it too therefore I clicked on that word and it automatically changed it for me.

M3: Explain how an awareness of learning style can aid personal development

Not everyone has the same type of learning style, to find out your own learning style you are easily able to take an online test to find out which one you are. There are three different ones these are:

 

Visual Learner

These types of learners take in information and ideas visually, this can include pictures, diagrams and bullet points when revising. Using different colours for your written work can highlight key points which you find difficult to remember. Watch any videos or visit exhibitions which are relevant to what you are studying and can help you understand the subject further.

 

Auditory Learner

These types of learners take in information through listening, such as rhymes and rhythms can help memorise important information. Reading aloud your work several times if there’s something you don’t quite understand and working in a noiseless environment helps to remember work better. Listening to podcasts or videos relevant to the subject you are taking will help the learner take more information in through this way.

Kinesthetic Learner

These types of learners take in information through physical activity; they take things in more if they are moving around whilst learning. This could be done through creating cue cards with important information on and then wandering about in a room whilst reading them. Acting out ideas, problems or particular events from subjects will help you recall them easier. By revising each subject in separate areas will help you remember the information by thinking about the area you revised in.

P4 P5 P6

P4: Demonstrate a range of effective interpersonal skills

P5: Use IT to aid communications

P6: Communicate technical information to a specified audience

How to set up a blog

In this step by step guide of how to set up a blog I’m going to use the site Blogger.

 

Firstly to start using Blogger you will need to either sign into your Google account or sign up to create your own account.

 

Once you’ve signed in or signed up to your account you need to click on the ‘New Blog’ button to start up your own blog.

After clicking on the ‘New Blog’ button, a pop up window will then appear. Here it will ask you to give your blog a title and web address for people to find it. You will also be able to choose a template which you think will suit your blog. After you’ve completed these details you then press the ‘Create blog!’ button.

This is the screen which will come up after you completed the pop up window section. This is just a complete overview of your blog. To start creating posts for your blog you need to click on the pencil image in the top left corner next to the Blogger logo.         

 

 

Creating a blog is useful for students in many ways; it helps convey important information for different subjects they take. For example if a student creates an ICT blog they can post work on there for the teacher to view instead of handing work in. Also just like I’ve done with a step by step guide of how to create your own blog you can create these types of posts for anything to help others learn. This is also a more interesting way of doing homework and you can also get instant feedback from teachers through the comment section. The subjects which this is most useful for is ICT and media as you can post videos on here as well.



 

M1: Mechanisms that reduce the impact of communication barriers

Spelling errors – By using spell check on word documents enables all grammatical and spelling errors to be corrected by the click of a button. If it is a hand written document review any words you’re unsure of in a dictionary and make sure the hand writing is clear and consistent to be able to read.

Cultural differences – By researching the person’s culture can help you to understand them more and show that you are trying to overcome the difficulties. Also if language is the problem then having a translator whether it’s a person or the Google translator it will be able to communicate ideas to one another.

Disabilities – For those that have a sight disability than having Braille in the work place would benefit them profoundly. Also people with hearing disabilities would benefit from working with others that can do sign language enabling them to communicate with others that don’t have disabilities.

Body language – Having open body language allows everyone to feel at ease with each other and lets people build good working relationships with one another. This ensures no one feels like they can’t express different views to others and lets employees have the freedom of speech.

Distance – In the past employees would have found it difficult to interact with people in different countries but nowadays to overcome distance in a workplace employees could use Skype and emails to communicate their ideas.

P3: Discuss potential barriers of effective communication.

Spelling errors – When writing documents for work spelling errors can confuse the person reading them and effectively communicate something different than what you intended.

Cultural differences – Having an employee from a different culture can cause errors in communication and judgement. This could unfortunately cause the person in question to be offended by certain language or views.

Disabilities – Someone who has a disability with their hearing or sight for example may find it difficult to obtain a job which is suitable for them. On the other hand someone who is working with a person that has a disability may find it difficult as to how to communicate things in the right way.

Body language – Working with someone that has closed body language could lead to little communication between employees. Someone could feel intimidated by this person and not want to express their ideas or views with them due to their body language.

Distance – In some cases employees have to interact and communicate with employees in different countries, making work difficult to complete because of this distance.

P2: Principles of effective communication

In all jobs communication is essential to be able to understand and listen to fellow employees.

People skills – By having good people skills and being an open person allows other employees to feel comfortable to express their own ideas to you. This includes having a warm friendly smile, listening intently to the other person and interacting with everyone frequently.

Engage an audience – To translate an idea to others you need to be engaging, this includes using eye contact to make sure everyone is listening to you and to be able to clearly put your own thoughts into words. Also by having an open frame allows people to relax in your presence and feel at ease whilst engaging with you.

Adapting – Being able to adapt to your surroundings is crucial, especially if you are in a different country or you have employees who are from elsewhere. You’d need to use clear speech and correct terminology to be able to effectively communicate ideas for others to understand.

Plan and organisation – Effective communication needs to be organised clearly, by having a plan shows that you’ve taken time to consider all points that other employees could question.

P1: Personal attributes valued by employers

Confidence

This is a key skill all employers look for, it shows that the employee will be confident in all decision making and brings the quality of work to a high standard.

Punctuality

Having good punctuality shows the employee to be organised which reflects well on their own image. Also it’s clear that you respect your employer to be ready on time to work and that you are a reliable person for any part of the job.

Communication

This helps to express your views and ideas clearly for all fellow employees, especially on an IT course which would involve being part of team projects where fluent English is essential. Listening to your team members is necessary as the information they provide could be useful and effective to the project.

Tolerance

In all workplaces employees will be taking on varying amounts of workloads and having high-quality tolerance will ensure a stress free time. If working on a team project this attribute also applies to having tolerance with other team members, so the work that is produced is up to a high standard and there were no issues whilst creating it.

Teamwork

Being part of team projects is nearly always the case in IT, therefore the employee needs to be able to motivate and encourage others. Some employees can even develop this motivation into a leadership quality and will understand everyone’s different weaknesses and strengths knowing who’s right for what part of the project.