Reflective Learning Journal #12

             Since my degree began, I have developed and improved on many transferrable skills. I have recently been to a leadership skills event, which has given me some more insight into how to become a better leader, and so this, combined with my managerial role during group reports, has developed my skill as a leader and made me more confident and able to manage people. Admittedly I still need further practice, but I often take on the managerial role in group work, as I have done many times before coming to university, but my confidence still needs to improve and I know I definitely have to work on enforcing tasks and ensuring people complete them by the deadline. Other transferrable skills I have improved on include problem solving, editing, organisation and working to deadlines. 

I am a very organised person, keeping completed work and notes from lecture in folders which are chronologically ordered and sectioned into each module. The top left-hand corner of every page is also colour coded to signify the theme within each module. For example, the biosphere section in the Earth Systems module is coloured green while the geosphere section is coded blue. I also often make a list of tasks that need to be done, including the deadline, so that I can mark them off and it helps me to remember what I have left to complete. This system works very well for me because I can find my notes quickly and easily in terms of work, but I need to address the issue with my desk. There are a few piles of lecture notes which need to be completed and, although they are sectioned into different zones and organised chronologically, the ones that I have completed should go back into folders and the others should be neatly placed around my desk, which they are currently not. I will have to work on this, making sure that I put all completed notes away.

Since I started my degree I have learnt how to, at least in part, be critical when reading journals and writing reflectively or writing essays. I have also learnt how to research effectively, searching for relevant journals, articles and books, with which I have had no previous experience. Although it was a daunting prospect at first, it is now a very simple process. However, I need to improve my reading ability because it sometimes takes me a while if it is a long journal and I have not yet developed the ability to pick out the relevant sections. This is not always the case but, at this current moment in time, it depends on the section headings and whether or not I can establish its relevancy within the first few lines of the section, otherwise I continue reading in case I miss something important.

According to papers from the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) website, employees often look for innovation skills, critical thinking ability, the ability to understand and interpret ‘complex data’, analytical skills, being able to ‘work collaboratively with teams of people from a range of backgrounds and countries’, ‘advanced technology skills’ and, in Geography specific jobs, ‘an understanding and application of scientific logic, principle, methods and laws’ as well as ‘knowledge of GIS and its applications’ are highly sought after (2013: 1). Many of these, especially analytical and critical thinking skills, I will continue to develop over the course of my degree but, as I am not taking any GIS-related modules next year, I could use the GIS programme in my spare time now that I have it installed on my computer.

References
http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/1422E618-F932-4F20-9500-C9C605246076/0/Employabilitydemandforgeography_.pdf


~ Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #11

            The end of term 2 is almost upon me and lectures have ended. 2 is almost upon me and lectures have ended. I have six weeks to revise for four modules, twice as much time as I had to prepare for the January exams. My aim is to complete my Environment and Sustainability revision by the time I leave for Easter holidays (29th March), giving me more time to read and revise for other, much larger modules. I have difficulty keeping up with readings because they are very time-consuming but I am trying to address this issue by reading for an hour a day. However, it is hard to motivate myself but I am trying and, as a result, I have recently completed readings for a large section of one of my modules. I think my essays have helped with reading because they are based on topics from the Human Geography modules and therefore the reading I do for the essays can be used for the module exams. I will aim to read between note-revision sessions over the holidays to increase the number of journal and book notes I can utilise in my exam.
            At the moment, my revision techniques seem acceptable. During my lectures, I write out the notes in the format I revise from so that I don’t have to re-write them, then, before I start revising, I highlight key points or phrases. However, I have noticed that I often try to learn the point word-for-word, especially for Physical Geography modules, so I think I need to change this revision style. For the January exams, I was able to revise one module per week so, in my opinion, my time management is good and how I distribute my work is also acceptable because I still had time to have a life. However, there have been more lectures per week so I think that, despite term 2 being shorter than term 1, it may take more than one week to revise some of the modules. For my revision, I will need to make separate notes for Earth Systems because some of the questions are mathematical and I will need quick access to the formulas. I also need to read my ‘Statistics for Geography and Environmental Science’ book to further my understanding of how statistics are used. Although I did A Level Mathematics, statistics was not part of my course and so it is a new experience for me and therefore I need to do a lot of reading and practical work, using SPSS to further my understanding of statistical processes. I have already read quite a bit and think that I have a better understanding of some of the concepts, including data types (numerical, ordinal, interval and ratio). I think that I need to focus on the types of tests and how they are used because I do not yet understand this

ReferencesHarris, R. and Jarvis, C. (2011) Statistics for Geography and Environmental Science, Pearson, Essex.


~ Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #10

I am in the midst of another group report, this time focusing on the redevelopment of Sidwell Street, Exeter. Our task is to make recommendations to the City Council about aspects of Sidwell Street to be preserved in its regeneration. I am, once again (since it seems few other want to take responsibility), the group manager; designating roles, setting deadlines and organising meetings; as well as writing my own section and editing the report. As a group, we decided to focus on social welfare, environment and sustainability, and the economy. This meant that each section had 200 words, giving the introduction, methodology, literature review and conclusion 100 words each while the executive summary has 500 words.

A group member and I have finished writing the social welfare paragraph. At first, our focus was wrong. Instead of recommending aspects to preserved, we began to recommend aspects to developed, including crime rates along Sidwell Street which we were aiming to compare to those in the High Street, but after re-reading the question we noticed our mistake. Now, in my opinion, the section is written to a decent standard, focusing on retaining character through independent and multicultural shops, which add diversity to the area, and public transport. The majority of our facts came from the city or county council, such as the 2011 census and the city council’s official document on Exeter’s redevelopment plan, another source came from a website and one source came from a book. I think that there should have been more journal references and that the paragraph should not have mainly focused on council documents but, due to limited words and the amount of things we wanted to discuss, it would be difficult to do so. I think it is good that we used our own data from the questionnaire, otherwise it would only be mentioned in the methodology section. However, I believe that there needs to be more references to our fieldwork journal within the report because, currently, there are not enough. We also have not used many resources outside the reference list, which is something to consider.

There are still two people who we have difficulty communicating with and, as a result, I get very stressed because I don’t know whether their section is completed. However, everyone is working which is an improvement on the last time. There is one person, however, who needs help with writing their section, so I wrote them a plan. I have yet to know whether they will upload it by tonight, as the introduction and conclusion need to be written by the weekend. Sometimes, it feels that this report is not as organised as the previous one. This could be because we used a week to finish our essays and therefore the timeframe was shorter. People in the group have told me that I am too proactive and that they do not work at my speed. Where I begin to work on something within a week of receiving the task, the majority of the group leave things until the last week. I can’t do this, I get far too stressed if something is approaching the deadline. In my opinion, being proactive is a good thing because I am not stressed when it comes to the last week but when people work slower than me I am not very good at keeping calm. I think this is something I need to work on, perhaps addressing my impatience.

~ Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #9

I have now completed three essays for my study skills module, the second of which I recently received marks. Despite working hard on that essay, I did not get the grade I was hoping for and, of course, let my emotions get the better of me. Once I had calmed down, I could finally see the errors I had made, making the result feel more reasonable, if still a little too harsh. One of the main comments was that I was very general with my notes because I didn’t specify using examples from certain countries. I thought that this was difficult to do, not only because we had not really been taught what is classed as ‘general’ and ‘vague’ until it was too late, but also because the question was on the world economy. I felt that if I gave examples of a specific country it would be more an answer on national or local economy, rather than the world economy. One point raised was the recency of my references, which I have never given much thought to before. As the question was on the contemporary world economy, I tended to use readings from 2000 onwards, but gave little thought to how it may have changed between 2005 and 2014, which is something I have noticed and thought about when writing my third essay (which has now been handed in for marking). I was praised for discussing ‘relevant issues’ in my essay though and supporting them with journal references. I have definitely changed my use of readings. I now use less websites and more journals than I did at the beginning of my degree because I can understand them better and have improved my ability to search for relevant texts (although, admittedly, it is still difficult at times but Google Scholar always helps).

I took the comments on board and utilised them in the latest essay, using more case studies for evidence to support my arguments and making sure I was less general and vague. A tutorial session helped for this because we, as a skills group, had to point out what was vague or general, amongst other things, and distinguish the differences between poor and good writing. For example, “during the last few decades” is classed as vague and, to counteract this, I would have to use a specific timescale such as “for the past 20 years” or “between 1984 and 2014”. Although this tutorial has given me some idea of what constitutes as vague and general, I think it would be better to have some more guidance in these kinds of things as we, as a group, do not seem to get very much, so instead I will research it myself as, technically, university is about individual learning. We also should have had the information sooner because I felt that it came too late and, as a result, my grade suffered. To counteract my ‘generalness’ in the essay I have recently sent off for marking, I used more case studies such as Hurricane Katrina and some flooding facts relating to Britain. The topic of flooding in Britain related to Penning-Rowsell and Handmer’s (1988) statement that between 1985 and 1986, around one quarter of a million people in Britain were at risk of flooding and was contrasted to the Environment Agency’s (ca.2014) data which stated that ‘over 5.5 million... properties are at risk of flooding... across England and Wales’ today. However, because I was trying to be less general and give more examples, I found that, by the time I had written my first draft, I was 800 words over the word count. As a result, I spent about 3 days trying to cut down my work. I wonder if I am spending to long, overall, on my essays. I spend about one to one-and-a-half weeks reading, and extra one to one-and-a-half weeks writing and then about a week editing. If I compact my reading into a smaller timeframe, I will have more time to work on my essay, leaving several days in-between so that I can come back to it with a fresh perspective. This would help with editing, as I would be able to identify mistakes or errors that could be improved.

References

Environment Agency (ca.2014), How is flood risk managed?, accessed 26^th February 2014, <http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/31666.aspx>.

Penning-Rowsell, E. C. and Handmer, J. W. (1988) Flood Hazard Management in Britain: A Changing Scene, The Geographical Journal, 154(2): 209-220.

~Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #8

I walked to town this afternoon and was greeted by a ‘random man’ walking in the opposite direction. It made me think about the way society has changed. Technology has advanced so much that people all over the world are connected to each other through trade links, call centres, telephone and social media but, despite this global connection, it seems that we have never be so distant from each other. We walk around talking on our phones, head down, avoiding eye contact with people that walk around us. Today I have seen exactly this and it made me think about me how much society has changed over the years.

When I talk about a connection, I mean a kind of community connection, that tight community bond you’ve heard your parents or grandparents talk about back in ‘the good old days’, where everyone knew each other and everyone acknowledged each other as they walked past. I wonder now where this connection has gone. Why have we lost this sense of community now that the world has developed to a stage where actual human interaction can almost be avoided altogether? Is this really the life we want; one in which we as individuals seem to be emotionally separate from the rest of society? It is unlikely that, across this vast world, no one has a community connection but the majority of us tend to avoid communication with those we don’t know, even if it’s just to say ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good afternoon’. I think this mainly exists in developed countries and western society, where there is an abundant supply of technology available, giving us the opportunity to avoid human contact.

It feels to me that we have distanced ourselves from others so much that we can’t begin to imagine the position, lives, personality and problems of other people. Once, when I was living back home, I went out with my friends and we were waiting outside the cinema when a couple of middle-aged men walked in our direction. They were a bit drunk but one of them said something to us which has stuck in my mind ever since; that we should put our phones away for ten minutes and try not to use it within that time. He said that young people are too dependent on technology these days and that we would experience the world more if our head wasn’t buried in our phones. Within those ten minutes, several of my friends brought out their phones again. It really made me think about how we are so dependent on technology that we can barely live without it for ten minutes. Maybe we all need to put down our phones, even if only for a short while, and allow ourselves to realise just how dependent we are. Maybe then we can begin to connect to society again and form the bond which many of us lack.

I think that one of the reasons for this distancing is because of the introduction of CCTV after 9/11. I think that technology has been used to create fear by media, by amplifying bad news, which seems to be more commercial than good news. Media warnings and rumours of spies, terrorists and nuclear wars has made society fearful, thinking that increased security means there is a threat. This is a topic covered by Didear Bigo, who states that ‘by reinforcing surveillance over a specific group... securisation has created insecurisation, fears and the myth’ that people are always under threat and need constant surveillance (2000: 330).

References

Bigo, D. (2000) When Two Become One: Internal and External Securitisations in Europe, International Relations Theory and The Politics of European Integration. Power, Security and Community, London, Routledge: 171-204.

~ Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #7

I find it harder to work with a group than on my own. Our writing techniques were so different that when it came to editing, as we had three editors including myself, it was sometimes difficult to make exceptions for personal writing styles. Overall, however, I believe as editors we worked well together and managed to make a good report. Were I to criticise our approach to writing the report there would be several things that I would change for the next group project. I do not think that we allocated roles very well. Since there were eight of us, we split ourselves into four groups of two and I designated a paragraph to each group (one on familiarity, another on idealism, a third on nature and design and the last on management) but we did not think about the other four stages of our report (introduction, literature review, methodology and conclusion). Therefore, in the end, it was myself and the two other editors who ended up writing the other four sections as well as our own and then edit the entire report.

There were a couple of people in the group who myself and others feel did not contribute and most of the time we could not get in contact with them. Even when they said they would do a designate task they never did, meaning that there were less members to help with the group report. I feel annoyed that they will get credit for something they did not contribute to but now that we understand where problems and potential failures lie we can address any issues faced during the making of this report in future projects. It is difficult to get in contact with some people, despite having a group page on Facebook, because people don’t tend to look online to see posts and sometimes just ignore them. As a result, a minority of people did not read the final report, yet again leaving it up to me and three others to make sure it was correct. These failures need to be addressed by doing the following: properly allocating paragraphs to distribute the workload equally among the group, ensuring people also upload their own notes onto our group discussion so that we have more notes to work from, ensuring that everyone contributes (although I do not yet know how we will do this) and making sure everyone reads the finished report and give feedback.

Overall, I am pleased with the finished report but definitely think that, in future, work needs to be equally distributed among the group. The amount of work I have contributed towards finishing the report put me under quite a lot of pressure and I do not think that it was fair or sensible to have worked as a group the way we have done with this report. We achieved 60% for our report and 72% for our minutes which overall was a 2:1 about which I am very pleased. I believe that next time, based on our experience from the first report and the comments given by the assessor we may be able to achieve a higher overall score. We may not be able to reach a first at this stage because, after all, first year is about developing from experience, but I believe that at least a higher 2:1 may be possible.

~ Jones' Journal

Reflective Learning Journal #6

Hyde Park, an ‘idealised landscape’ that ‘feels like home’. For a group report, I am considering how the management and design of the park creates this idea after taking an eight-hour bus journey to London, which had been delayed by four hours because of flooding. Personally, I did not think of Hyde Park as an ‘ideal landscape’ because it is an ‘artificial’ nature, created and managed by Human rather than being managed naturally by animals and weather. I suppose it could be argued that neither the city nor the countryside is entirely natural but in rural areas, nature is given places, many of which are National Parks, to grow without interference from Human exploitation or occupation. Urban areas tend to reintroduce parks and ‘natural’ areas where there may have been infrastructure, managing them in a way which creates a park which feels uniform and artificial, similar to a garden. My opinion may be biased because I live in a quiet rural area and so my attitude towards urban nature is more negative than my opinion of rural nature. Despite this, the vastness of Hyde Park made this densely populated, bustling city feel almost tranquil and empty which made me feel more comfortable than I did in any other part of London.

It struck me how the relationship between people and nature was different to the rural areas I have visited. Most people in the park walked along the paved area rather than the grass and I’ve recently noticed a similar relationship in Exeter. It almost seems like the urban society and the natural world are too completely different worlds that cannot touch, or that nature is the ‘wild’ opposite to the ‘structured’ urban area. This is very different to my rural hometown, where nature and society seem to intertwine and it feels normal to walk across the grass. In Exeter and London, however, I actually feel out of place if I don’t walk along the path laid out for me. I feel like I am being judged for doing something that is normal back home and it strikes me how feelings towards different things, such as nature, can change geographically and spatially. I read an article recently by J. Burgess (1988) which discussed how open spaces are a fundamental part of human life and that humans have a need for it. Through this, I thought of how there is a kind of ancestral link between our heritage and us. The way our ancestors lived and survived from nature has been deeply rooted in all of us, even though we do not use the information to the same extent. In my opinion, this is a fundamental reason why all of us feel some connection to and a need for nature in our own way, be it a plant in our house or a park in our city. Within nature, we can lose ourselves to our thoughts, disappear inside our psyche and escape from the outside world. Everyone needs an escape from reality every once in a while and parks and green spaces like Hyde Park provide us with the opportunity for this. Perhaps the key reason why Hyde Park is ‘idealised’ is because it allows us to escape.

References

Burgess, J., Harrison, C.M and Lamb, M. (1988) People, parks and the urban green: a study of popular meanings and values for open spaces in the city, Urban Studies, 25(6): 455-473.

~ Jones' Journal