LEAD Workshop 2 Friday 8th of April 2011

This work in progress session took place in the Boardroom in Cathal Brugha Street at 9.30 am. The aim of the workshop is to introduce students firstly in:
How to develop their reflective practice and writing skills?
The group discussed their recent achievements since the last meeting. I was involved with the running of 'Green week' in DIT and this further expanded my communication, problem-solving, and my planning and organisation skills. Green Week started on the 4th of April until the 8th of April and involved Speakers, films, talks and demonstrations emphasising the theme of sustainability hence energy efficiency.

On reflection of Green Week there was a problem with showing the film in the main arena in Bolton Street college and I devised the solution to show the film outside because weather permitted. This was during the 'Go-Car' presentation and I had already organised a car to be displayed outside. Showing the film outside meant students were more engaged and involved as they eaves dropped in on the demo being displayed via laptop. This problem turned out to be a success during lunch-time because students were more likely to hover around the car. There was serious interest from students in renting a car rather than buying one as they asked many questions. I was interacting with students and I got a positive response this was determined when students came over to see the presentation. I also handed out flyers for 'Go-car so the students were well informed of alternative transport modes. I displayed some extra 'Go-Car' posters and flyers around the college in appreciation of our kind speaker who gave up his time and gave a worthwhile presentation.

I think the next skill which I will explore will be time-management and Dave discussed this in the Workshop. The focus is on how to balance the following four elements 1) giving 2) working 3) playing 4) learning
In comparision with past generations we have more of an opportunity to integrate these elements. I think everyone was a little stressed due to deadlines, exams and dissertations and the workshop was an eye opener!

The 80:20 model was a good example- controlling time and how you use it. I was thinking where does 80% of my work ethic go? What am I doing when I spend time and what am I achieving with my time? Could I yield more with the effort I put in? The personal development plan can help me reach my goals, adhere to strict deadlines, manage my time efficiently and above all strike a work-life balance which is fundamental to success.  

We met with our LEAD mentors and everyone updated each other on their skills, learning plan, ideas and events they were working on. The exchange of information I find is crucial to the success of the LEAD module as problems and solutions are reached in these meetings. I think their is alot of creativity and transferable skills being developed in the small groups which will feed into the wider LEAD programme. If I was here next year I wouldn't waste anytime and would join up to the Juggling and Snow (SKI) Society ..you know who you are! The meeting concluded with a date finalised for the next meeting on June Monday the 6th at 1pm just before the 10th of June which is the end of the LEAD module pilot programme.

After lunch everyone mingled with other students and presented information on the other person to the LEAD group. I learnt what I can do differently and this was experienced by exchanging information with other students and analysing their difficulties and solutions that they had used in dealing with complex issues.  I explored a new skill which was teamwork building as I had to delegate tasks to other members in the 'Mental Planners'. We had four Speakers the Director Richie O' Donnell on the 'Pipeline' film in Bolton Street on Thursday evening. There was a question and answers session on the 'Shell to Sea campaign'. I organised refreshments for the wine reception and each member had different tasks as we were under time constraints. This followed on with a gathering in Bodkins so everyone could further ask the speakers questions and get to know each other. I had got the invoice that day for Bodkins and the event ran smoothly with some students saying they enjoyed the film and the Q and A session. There will be photographs of this event and they will be uploaded onto the 'Mental Planners' facebook page within the next week.

Finally, we went to the lab to broaden our technology skills which DIT is famous for ! Twitter and facebook was the talk of the day as people were working away and keeping up to speed with their societies and clubs.  We needed this introduction in the lab to show us how to create our Portfolios electronically which are due on June the 10th. We have two options hard-copy or electronic versions and I haven't decided yet on which method to use and I have the option of using both if I so wish. I suppose I need to reflect on the skills I have and select the method which would best suit my skill set and the information I need to display.

Todays workshop I found useful and I feel I know where I am going with developing my skills The day was a chance to analyse and take a step back from my busy 'Green Week' event. I handled tasks and explored many skills during this week. Now I can look at those situations, what the tasks involved, the actions I took and reflect on the result of the actions. It is an important concept to think about the past event and learn from it by reflecting and thinking how I can improve or to do a different action to reap success. Sometimes you want the bigger slice of cake! but this is impossible and a compromise must be reached.

I have gone home with one foot forward and an open view toward learning and reflecting on learning.