Extension

After speaking with my tutor Paula last night I feel less stressed and more aware of what I need to do. I have opted to hand in my project in May for a number of reasons:

I am behind on my writing because:

a) my computer died (it had been having a hard time for a while!) losing some of my work and having to wait for my hard drive to be ripped out so I could recover some meant I lost over a week of writing time. I though

b) for some reason I thought I had to hand in the final draft on 6^th January 2011 and the project to be marked on 20^th Feb, where the 20^th Feb came from I am not sure but it was in my diary! Lesson learnt – recheck dates!

c) If I rush now to get it finished I will not feel I achieved my best and it is not fair to expect Paula to mark my late hand in of drafts when she is very busy herself.

d) Due to my travels throughout the project I was unable to conduct some research till November and therefore I was unable to hand drafts in when suggested.

e) Due to late research taking I have not had the chance to see fully the impact and implications of my research findings.

f) Due to spending most of the research time in Dubai and Rhodes I have not been able to access library resources easily or consistently which has slowed down my literature search and development process.

I spoke with Paula for approximately an hour about when I should complete, what I need to do, important aspects to include in the project and what I have learnt from my research. My thoughts were made clear and Paula helped me to clarify what to do with them. I appreciate the time Paula gave me, especially on a Sunday evening when I am sure there are a million other things she could/needs to be doing. My study expectations and needs are now understandable. Plus I know the name of the ‘waiting for godot’ author – Samuel Beckett!

Now I have an extension, despite the major downside that I have work to do till May, I feel it will benefit my course study and research project dramatically because I will be able to let thoughts marinade in my head and have more checking time for what I have written. I will also be able to enjoy Christmas and have the time to work more so I can earn more money to enjoy Christmas with, because I know my family and friends will appreciate being able to go out with me instead of watching me write!

Skype

If Skype did not exist my phone bill would be huge! I have used Skype to talk to my tutor (Paula Nottingham) at every stage through my work based learning, due to the fact that I have been in numerous different countries throughout the process. Not only is the free Skype to Skype calling beneficial but the fact you can use video really makes a difference in the understanding of what one is saying and it gives the call a more personal feel.

The ability to share screens on Skype is great to it means during a chat you can show people clearly what is going on, for example I have used it when designing advertising for my company and been able to edit the posters whilst gaining the feedback. This helps to save time and memory space!

Skype is the middleman between my family, friends, colleagues, university and me. If I could not use it I certainly would not have the relationships I do with these people. It saves money, time, memory and allows you to interact with someone in more ways than voice even if they are the other side of the world!

Google Docs

Google Docs is an online folder in which documents can be saved and shared. During my production of my research project I continuously updated and saved drafts of my work. This proved helpful when my computer decided to die and I lost everything on it, including my project work. However because of Google docs when I got access to another computer I was able to access the last copy of the work I had saved, unfortunately this did not include the work I had just written when my computer bid me farewell, so I was not entirely left to work from scratch again. Due to my computer dying I was able to realise the importance and helpfulness of using an application such as Google docs, without it I may not have been able to recover my work and would have been put seriously behind meaning I couldn’t not complete the project for the deadline.

When I first was told to use Google docs I was dubious. I did not like the idea of sharing my work for all to see, judge, comment or change. However I soon realized with each document posted you could chose your own privacy settings. I therefore would save some work to Google docs for only me to see, and other drafts for certain people to have editing ability, and others for everyone to see but no-one able to edit. Doing this allowed me to gain constructive criticism from my peers and tutor which I would otherwise not have gained, which in turn allowed me to improve upon my project writing and development.

Google docs could be easier to use, because the tool in which you select people to be able to view or edit your work does not accept the email address unless it is saved in your Google address book. This meant it was more time consuming for me to use as all my email addresses are saved in my main user account which is hotmail, and being technologically illiterate it took me a while to understand and get to grips with this and how to make it work.

In conclusion Google docs are helpful and I feel a vital tool for anyone writing anything, because you never know when your computer may die or where you might lose your USB memory stick. It allows you to receive easy to view annotations which may prove vital to your works development and it means you can easily share improvements with people that need to know them, e.g. your university tutor. I am pleased I was made aware of this application and will certainly be using it long after I have finished this current research project.