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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 5 - MY IFP EXPERIENCE.

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 5 - MY IFP EXPERIENCE.

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My name is Ogheneruno Kelvin Edheraka, and I am an international foundation program student with progression to computer science. I must confess the past few months have been stressful yet exciting. At the beginning of the IFP, I had no issue with studying because I already knew and had my personal method of studying but concerning research, I had little knowledge of how to research. As the IFP went on, we were taught methods and criteria on how to carry out research effectively using the University of South Wales Findit software, google scholar, and other research engines.
These research skills learned have improved my level of critical thinking and analysis.

Regarding learning, I had no issue with learning from the onset as the teachers and teaching system in the United Kingdom are very interactive making learning easy and fun for me.

Prior to the International foundation program, I had little experience with educational collaboration and teamwork because it is not a significant aspect of the educational curriculum in my home country. Presently, I have learned how to work with/in teams and mastered how to complete tasks and meet targets. Thanks to my IFP tutors; Katy Bernadelli and Rodolfo Piskorski.

Another good thing to mention about my IFP experience is time management. The tight schedule of my course timetable has made me learn how to manage my time well as this is a very important aspect of learning, studying, finishing assignments, and assessment. In regard to planning for assignments and preparation for assessment, my improved time management learned during this programme has shaped my reading skill, and planning patterns. Also, about my communication skills and social skills, I have always been very verbal, and a good communicator but I think with the IFP; being in a class with people from different cultures has improved my communication skills to another level.

Additionally, I have mastered the act of following precise instructions, prior to the IFP, I do not pay attention to details while carrying out an instruction but this has changed now after numerous assessments and feedbacks from my IFP tutors. So far, I have learned and improved in so many ways during this IFP, especially in my essay writing, I improved because I followed instructions from my tutor. I think I still need to practice more mathematics so I can be better.

In conclusion, my IFP experience has been great and I have learned a lot. Going forward, I will apply all the skills I have learned during my IFP year in my future studies and in life in general.

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 4 - MY RESEARCH PROJECT.

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 4 - MY RESEARCH PROJECT.

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My name is Ogheneruno Kelvin Edheraka. I conducted a research project on the health and psychological problems caused by smartphone addiction. Using the marking criteria for the research project and with everything learned from the applied academic skills module; I made sure I was very careful not to miss out on any valid aspect of an academic essay. I made sure I fulfilled the task, my essay was well structured, the essay content was well informative, and used academic language all through the essay.

I organized my essay very well and I think I am right about this because of the feedback I got from the applied academics tutor on the formative essay draft one. Also, I think I developed my essay question very well as people need to be educated about the health problems caused by smartphone addiction. At first, I wanted to talk about “The dangers of smartphone addiction”, I later opted for “To what extent is smartphone use addictive”?.  After I got the feedback from my tutor on the essay draft one, He made me realize my essay content did not answer my essay title and question appropriately and I later changed my essay question to “Health and psychological problems caused by smartphone”. I think the content of my essay addressed my final essay question perfectly because I got a good mark from the Applied academic skills tutor.

As for the essay parts, I think I did very well in all aspects except for paraphrasing my sources. I did not paraphrase some sources accurately in essay draft one and I have made corrections to that already. I read the paraphrasing rule, how to cite sources in the right way and I have made improvements in the essay. With the steps I have taken and with the improvement made on my essay, I believe my essay fulfilled all the aspects of academic writing and I am sure these steps and improvements will help on my poster presentation, other areas ofmy studies, my course work, and life in general.

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MID COURSE ASSESSMENT. MY PROGRESS SO FAR

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 3- MID COURSE ASSESSMENT: MY PROGRESS SO FAR

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 3- MID COURSE ASSESSMENT: MY PROGRESS SO FAR

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 2 - MY ACADEMIC WRITING.

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REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY 2 - MY ACADEMIC WRITING.

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At the beginning of the international foundation programme, I did not really pay much attention to academic writing because I thought it was not different from what I knew in Nigeria. I was surprised when I got my score for writing task one because I expected more. But after I went through the feedback and corrections, I understood why I got that score. I became determined to do better in the next writing task. So, I applied the corrections which were, improving my essay structure, vocabulary and reducing the use of informal words when writing academically. I also studied the academic English lecture slides on blackboard, concentrated critically in subsequent academic English classes and followed the instructions given by my Tutors. This action improved my writing, my essay structure and task fulfilment in my writing tax two. After writing task two, I clearly understood that in task one, my essay structure was very poor and so I did better in my writing task two. I scored 32 in my writing task one and 80 in my writing task two.

In my writing task two, I did well in the structure of my essay, my essay content, academic language, and task fulfilment. Although I need to improve further in my essay language, to achieve this, I intend to read more books and articles on academic language skills and writing. I am optimistic that after my personal study on academic writing, my writing skills will improve drastically and I believe I will do very well in the upcoming academic writing examinations, in my other modules, and in my life endeavours.