D1- self evaluation

I recently gave a presentation to my class about web based communication channels. I am going to write a self evaluation of the event based off my own opinions and the feedback I received from a member of the audience.

I received feedback saying that the text in the PowerPoint I used to reinforce the points I made during the presentations text was too small. This is a problem as people sitting at the back of the room many have experienced problems reading the information. Other than that the presentation was visually appealing and easy to see. The colour scheme used in my PowerPoint was mainly white which made it easy to see and didn’t draw the attention away from me. The target audience for the presentation was fellow students which mean that I delivered it to the target audience. This means that they were more likely to pay attention as the subjects discussed was relevant to them.

The presentation was visually appealing; the colour scheme was light and easy to see. The images used where all well implemented and relevant which made it easer for the audience to understand the information that was displayed on the PowerPoint.  All of the topics that where suggested where covered, I felt as if I put too much information on the PowerPoint. I think it would have been more interesting if I cut down of the amount of text on each slide and read the information instead. My presentation consisted of the following topics:

-       An introduction

-       Blogs

-       Vlogs

-       Podcast

-       Video conferencing

-       WebPages

-       Conclusion 

I was told by a member of the audience that I had “an excellent speaking voice” which meant that it was easy for people to understand what I was saying which is good as it stops people from getting confused. I was told by a member of audience that I looked like I enjoyed what I was doing which is very good because if the speaker looking interested it will help to maintain the audiences attention. If the speaker seems like they are bored or not enjoying themselves the audience will follow in there example and will not pay attention which means that they are not listening to what is being said.  

I was told that the tone of my voice was nice and even and easy to understand which is good as it means that audience can understand everything that is being said. The only issue that was noticed was that I was talking too fast which made it difficult to understand at times. Next time I have to give a presentation I know that I need to take my time and talk slower to insure the audience fully understands what is being said. I was told by a member of the audience that my eye contact was excellent which is very good as it keeps the audience interested. Of the speaker just looks at the board or reads straight off a sheet it will bore the audience making them lose focus on what is being said and will mean that they are not taking in the information that is being said. There were no comments made about my body language but I felt it was quite reasonable; I didn’t twiddle with my hands as I am aware it can be a distraction to the audience. I made and effort to keep my hands by my side but I also tried to make gestures which reinforce the point I was making.

I felt like I did a good job of retaining the audience’s attention. According to a member of the audience I had a good knowledge of my subject area which is a good indication that they were listening to the presentation. Retaining the audience’s attention can be very difficult but I think I did a good job when it came to keeping the audience paying attention. I was told afterword by a member of the audience that it was a very interesting presentation.

I felt that the presentation went well but there is still room for improvement. The most important of which is to talk slower and take my time a bit more so that the audience can think about what is being said as I say it. Talking slower will help the audience to understand what is being said.  At the start of the presentation I didn’t know quite what to do with my hands but as the presentation go on it became less of a problem.  Also the power point I used to reinforce the points made during the presentation was good but next time I make a PowerPoint for a similar purpose I need to make the text bigger and cut down on the amount of it.

I did this presentation as part of a group of two. We worked well together to alternated slides and took turns to talk. We did this to keep the audience interested. The constant swapping of speaker keeps the audience read and interested. We worked well as a group and just to keep them interested we added point in at the end of each others slides

I was told by a member of the audience I did a good job of engaging the audience. I did this by asking questions to the whole audience to get them thinking about the topic and to get them interested. I then asked questions to two individuals which does two things. The first thing is that it keeps them alert and interested. If the rest of them think I may ask them a question they will be more likely to pay attention. It also helps me make sure that they were listening. If they didn’t know what the question was or if they didn’t know what I was talking about it proves that they weren’t listening. The people I questioned answered my questions instantly which mean that they were paying attention.

I need to make sure I slow down with my talking , I didn’t feel too nerves but I must have been as I was talking very fast. So next time I do something similar I need to make sure I take it slower and fully explain each point fully.

This week I handed in some work for spread sheet modeling, this included a tec doc , a test document and a user guide. I also handed in all of my HCI assignment 2 and I hope that I achieved as high a grade as possible.  I also received feedback for spread sheet modeling and I was pleased to find out that I have very little corrections to make.

Reducing barriers

M 1:

These barriers will prevent effective communication from working and will need to be minimized as much as possible. Here is how to minimize the effect of there barriers:

Terminology –

Terminology can have an adverse effect on communication if words or phrases are used that people won’t understand so the best way to combat this barrier is to use plane English and only use each word for its actual meaning and avoid slang and fictitious words. For example, here we may use the word “quid” when we mean a pound but people from other parts of the world won’t understand this and may become confused as to what we mean.

Cultural differences-

Some gestures or words which you consider to be harmless may come across as offensive or inappropriate in another language, to combat this you will need to stick to plain English without any slang words and you will need to make sure your gestures are not offending anyone. You may need to research to see if there is anything that should not be mentioned in to a particular group of people.  If you know that the audience will belong to a certain culture you should do some research to make sure that words we use every day will not offend them.

Disabilities-

Sometimes barriers that are caused by disabilities can be hard to overcome but things like sign language can help to overcome these barriers. These barriers can be over come with the help of sign language or text to speech software which can help people to communicate more effectively. Depending on the person who has the disabilities specific needs you will need to adjust your speech. Some people may have hearing difficulties so toy may need to talk louder so they can hear you. Or if someone has sight problems you should not rely so heavily on body language.

Background Noise-

Reducing the impact of this can be very difficult and sometimes out of your control but in some occasions you can move to a quieter place or stop whatever is making the background noise.  Before you start a conversation you should make sure that background noise is not going to become an issue, you may need to do things like ask surrounding people to be more quiet or turn down music.

Body Language-

You can reduce the negative effects of body language by reducing the amount it is used so that it is not distracting. But if you are finding the body language detracting you may want to ask the person who is talking to use less body language.  You should also try to avoid using body language that only certain people or groups will understand unless you know the audience will understand it.

Context-

The impact of this can be reduced very easily. You must make sure you know what different words are phrases mean before you attempt to use them in a conversation.  You may not be sure what someone means when they use a phrase or word so you may want to ask them what it means to expand your vocabulary and can implement them into your own communication. If you are not sure where a word or phrase will fit into a sentence  do not attempt to use it.

Spelling and Grammar-

This can be reduced by getting someone to read over your righting and look for spelling and grammar mistakes.  Most word processing packages on computers will have a spelling and grammar correction function which you should use to make sure that all the mistakes have been corrected.

barriers to communication

What are barriers to communication…?

Barriers of communication consist of anything that hider’s communications or makes communication between people difficult. A barrier of communication will prevent you being able to communicate effectively

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/images/communication-barriers.gif

1.    General Communication Skills

Terminology –

People may be slang words that the other person may not have heard before which will cause them to become confused and will make communication difficult.  If one person is using technical terms or jargon that the other person is not familiar with it will cause communication to become difficult.   There are some terms used by people in one country but not in others and if there are used in a conversation it can lead to confusing and cause a barrier to communication.

Cultural differences-

If there are any cultural differences between the speakers and there audiences it may make communication difficult as some words may not mean the same to the speaker and the audience. They can cause problems particularly if some words are offensive to one person and not to the others. There are some words and gestures which can be harmless in one culture but offensive or rude in another and these can lead the speaker to restrict to what they can say or do which causes a barrier.

Disabilities-

Someone may suffer from a hearing or sight disability which will make it hard to communicate to them effectively.  On the other hand someone may suffer from a speech problem which makes it difficult for them to communicate to others.  If someone can’t hear or see the speaker clearly it will become very hard to understand what they are trying to say and it will be hard to know how they are saying it.

1.    Interpersonal Skills

Background Noise-

If there is too much background noise it can make communication very difficult. It can make it very hard to hear the person who is speaking; this leads to misunderstandings which can make the whole conversation useless or even counterproductive.  If there is too much background noise you may not be able to hear the tone of the speaker making it hard to understand how they are talking making things like sarcasm difficult to detect.

Body Language-

Body language if used incorrectly can be a distract the audience which can lead top them losing interest in what is going on and then them not understanding what is being said which can cause a conversation to break down.  Some body language may not be understood by the audience or may be taken the wrong way.

3. Written Communication

Context-

Someone may use words or phrases out of context which will lead to sentences not making sentence and being very hard to understand. This will lead to the reader becoming confused and not understanding. If phrases and certain words are used out of context it can make the sentence mean something else entirely. 

Spelling and Grammar-

Poor spelling can cause the reader to not understand certain important words which have been misspelled which means they will not understand what is being said.   Poor grammar can also lead to the reader not understanding what is being said

TASK 2

Assignment 2

Definition of effective communication

“A two way information sharing process which involves one party sending a message that is easily understood by the receiving party. Effective communication by business managers facilitates information sharing between company employees and can substantially contribute to its commercial success.”(www.businessdictionary.com)

  Message- you must first decide what message you wish to send.

Encode- you must decide how you wish to send the message e.g. verbally, facial expression ECT...

Send-you must physically send the message

Decode- the other person must decode the message when they have received it

Interpret- the other person must make sense of the message

Feedback – you will receive feedback in one form or the other

If any step was to fails which it may do quite often it could lead to confusion or frustration.
General communication skills
Communication processes need an audience to communicate the message to. The success of the message will be determined by:
Cultural differences
Adapting to suit an audience
Accuracy
Engaging the audience



Cultural differences

If there are any cultural differences between the speaker and there audiences it will need to be addressed in a delicate and careful manor.  Some gestures or words which you consider to be harmless may come across as offensive or inappropriate in another language, to combat this you will need to stick to plain English without any slang words and you will need to make sure your gestures are not offending anyone. You may need to research to see if there is anything that should not be mentioned in to a particular group of people.

Adapting to suit an audience

There are some things like age or composition of an audience which may affect the way you communicate with them. In some case you may need to rays your voice or vary the tone of your voice to help maintain interest. You may need to use terminology to relate to the audience to make sure that they understand. You might present your message in a particular format for example, music, rhyme ECT...

16

Interpersonal skills:

Communication consists of two or more people. Generally one person will express a message through words or in righting but this is not always the case there are some circumstances where you rely heavily on body language. The other person will use there senses to help them to understand what the other person is trying to say.  These consist of things like:

Speed of response

Type of question

Barriers of communication

Active engagement

Positive communication

Negative language

Positive and negative language

It is important to portray a positive attitude when talking to people this can be done through the language you use or your body language. Nodding your head shows that you are listening and are taking in what is being said and agreeing with certain points are good ways of showing that your are listening. Negative language should be avoided as best possible because they are rude and show that you are not talking in what is being said. Negative language consists of things like disregarding what was said or not responding appropriately to questions or finishing people’s sentences. Body language can also have a negative effect, things like leaning on your hand or looking away show that you are not listening and should be avoided. 

Active engagement

Communication consists of more thank just the spoken language; you can communicate to others while they are speaking. This is done by reacting to what is said by using gestures or facial expressions. Doing this shows that you have heard what they have said and understand it. Usually when someone has finished speaking they will be waiting for a response, they can show this by nodding in your direction or saying things like “right?” or “do you agree?”You can show that you understand that they want you to make a response by quickly summarizing it before moving on or you could give some examples to back up what was said. It is important to show that you understand what the other person wants or they may become confused or it can cause communication problems.

Communication in writing:

Writing communication is different than any other type of communication, it takes skills that not everyone has and it requires much more thought to be able to articulate your thought and feelings into words and then you need to but it into righting.  It will also require grammar and vocabulary skills to get a message across that can be done very simply through verbal communication. Rthis will include things like:

Guide lines

Smiles or emoticons

Key messages

Grammar

Spelling

Structure

Grammar and spelling

Whatever the writing is going to be used for it is vital that the grammar and spelling are correct. Mistakes make the writer look Unprofessional and can make the reader confused or make the reader misunderstand the point of the writing. Most word processing software will have a spelling and grammar check to minimize mistakes.

Structure

You will need to structure your writing in a way that helps the reader understand what is being said. You will; need to organize your topics in a sensible order by adding heading, bullet points, and subheadings ECT… if the structure of the writing doesn’t make sense or is illogical the reader may have a hard time following and understanding what is being said.

Textbook page 15 – 18

Bibliography:

Books:

Anderson

Websites:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/effective-communication.html

http://www.maximumadvantage.com/images/effective-communication-cycle.png

TASK 1

Attributes

An attribute is something that is positive; this can be any form of qualification or skill you have.

Some attributes are specific to a given job but many apply to all jobs. Some attributes relate to you as a Person, while others relate to the type of organisation that you hope to join.  Specific attributes, fall into two broad groups, the job-related attributes needed to do the job and the knowledge of the good working practice which your employer will expect you to follow. Not matter what job you happen to be applying for there are certain skills you will be expected to have, these are known as soft skills.

For example you may wish to be a sales man and will need your English GCSE to get the job but the employer will also be looking at your soft skills like social skills and communication skills.

Another good example provided by the text book is that “A sales representative needs to be able to drive and to have a clean driving licence. The employer may provide a company car but some jobs require you to have your own means of transport”.

Some good examples of attributes are the qualifications you need for the job for example math and English GCSE or another example of an attribute is to be hard working or willing to learn.

Specific:

As well as soft skills there are also specific skills which are needed for specific jobs, these are usually the qualifications that are on the job recruitment. They can also be any skill that can be learned like organisational skill which can be classed a general skill but when required for a job can also be a specific skill.

General:

No matter what the job is and what particular requirements may come with that , there are some skills  called soft skills  that everyone is expected to have when applying for a job, to some extent these skills make you more suitable to able to carry out the tasks for any job. Employers will look mainly at things like planning and organisational skills, time management, team working, verbal and written communication skills, numeracy skills and other skills such as creativity. If you prove you have these skills you will seem more appealing to potential employers

There will be some skills you will need to work on, for example if you have organisational problems a routine can help you to complete everyday tasks efficiently. You may wish to keep a diary or date book to help you stay organised, this is a great example of how a soft skill can help you in the working environment, this is also applicable with skills like time management, social skills and management skills, these skills and others like them are often not on a CV but are looked for by employers. Organisational skills can be learnt. First, focus on one aspect of your life that you want to organise, your workspace or whatever it may be and set yourself a target.

If you let yourself be distracted, you might not complete the list of tasks you’d planned to do in a day. All fresh interruptions have to be weighed against your current list of objectives, this sis why employers look for certain soft skills like time management or good prioritising

Some important skills are:

Time management:

time management is the ability to utilise your time in the most effective manor possible and get the most amount of work done in a set amount of time , this is vital in a working environment

Social skills:

These are similar to communication skills where as you can express your self clearly when addressing and talking to people, this is applicable to both verbal and literary.

.take control of your time – using a diary

.protect your time space – handling interruptions

.toughen up on together-time – making meetings work

Prioritising skills:

Prioritising is important in a working environment, it is when you have the ability to work to a deadline whiles using your time more effectively, you know which jobs need done first and which jobs are less important.

Organisational:

It is important to be organised to get work done on time and to make sure you do not forget anything that needs done.

Qualifications:

Qualifications are generally specific skills and are needed for specific jobs but having them will make you more appealing to employers.

Some jobs request very specific qualifications and other specific skills but it very beneficial to have a wide range of soft skills that will make your self look much more appealing to an employer.

Attitudes:

It is important for an employee to project a positive, hard working attitude but what is an attitude? An attitude is a point of view about a situation. An attitude has three components. An attitude is made up of:

• What you think.
• What you do.
• What you feel.

There are a number of attitudes that will help to excel in the working environment such as:

• Creativity
• Innovation
• Satisfaction
• Senior Management
• Compensation
• Ability to Listening
• Customer Service
• Communication

Having an open mind and an optimistic attitude can be helpful when problem solving. If you assume that something is impossible, nine times out of ten you will prove yourself right. Similarly, if you take the attitude that nothing is impossible and are keen to look for a solution that works, you are likely to find one.

 Positive employee attitudes create positive actions toward organizational goals. Employee attitude is increasingly cited in surveys as the number one performance-related issue of companies, large and small.

In Rainbow they are looking for new full time members of staff, they are going to get a number of applications so they are going to have to narrow them down and one way to do this is to look at there attributes and see who is best suited. One thing they may look for is experience or work experience, this is to make sure you know what you are doing and so they do not need to train you as much. Another thing they may look for is good time keeping skills, this is a general skill and can be applicable to the ICT officer job as well, they will look for this to make sure you will not be late for work and will get all work done on time. Good time management is vital for any job and is valued by any potential employer.  Another attribute they may look for is a driving licence incise you need to travel, this will be valued by any employer is will help you to acquire any job. 

Working in rainbow as full time staff will require attitudes such as:

Dependability: to work in rainbow you must be dependable. This will reflect your work ethic and if you are dependable you will not be late for work and get all work done on time.

Leadership:

Although leadership is not an attitude it still reflects one, to be a leader you must be creative, confident and hard working and all of there things are attitudes a good employee will possess. To work at number one you your attitude must reflect that of someone with good leadership skills. To be confident you must not be shy when it comes to presenting information and talking to others.  A confident attitude is not just vital for working at rainbow but is very helpful for getting any job.

 There are many attributes that are needed to do an ICT officer job, some are more important than others for example:

Qualifications

Essential       

·           A level 4 (or higher) qualification in ICT or in an ICT related area on e.g. HNC/D or above.

·           GCSE English (Grade A*-C) or Essential/Key Skill Level 2 (or higher) in Communication or equivalent.

·           GCSE Mathematics (Grade A*-C) or Essential/Key Skill Level 2 (or higher) in Numeracy or equivalent.

It is vital for anyone who wishes to perform this job to have these qualifications, having these qualifications proves that you have the necessary skills and knowledge to do the job to a satisfactory standard. Not only do they prove you can do the job they show that you have dedication to the subject and are willing to learn. Another necessary attribute is having relevant work experience, this show you have done this sort of thing before and know what you are doing. It also shows you have been good enough to be employed to work with ICT in another place of work.

There are certain qualities they will be looking for in the Rainbow job or the ICT officer job and one of the most important ones will be time management, this will be valued by any employer and will let them know you will not be late and will be able to get work done on time. It also shows that you can work to a dead line. They will also be looking for things like leadership skills and teamwork skills.

Your attitude will come in to question when applying for a job, you will have to have a good work ethic and have a good positive attitude, if you are constantly negative and unwilling to stride to achieve more it will be unlikely you get the job. You will need to portray your self as hard working, willing and positive. Your attitude says a lot about your work ethic and if a potential employer sees you being energetic and ready to work they will know that you will make a good employee.

Hard working:

It is important to be hard working and have a work orientated attitude, it shows that you have good work ethic and it also shows that you are confident in your ability.

Tolerant:

You will need to be tolerant towards all people from all walks of life. You must accept people for who they are and not label others. Being tolerant will help you get a job in number one and as an ICT support officer.

To help get a job in rainbow or as the ICT support officer there are some general skills and attitudes which will help:

General skills:

Organisational:

No matter what job you want you will need to be organised to make sure that you don not lose any valuable work. Being organised will mean you will not be late for work and get all work handed in on time.

Time management:

If you are good at time management it will help you in any job , you will need to manage your time so that you can get work done on time and meet dead lines, this will help in any job you will ever apply for.

General attitudes:

Confident:

If you are confident and display a confident attitude it will help to get any job. To be confident means that you don’t can talk to people and forward your opinions in a confident manor.