World of Work Session - Bronze and Silver

Liz Harrison kindly came in today to talk to the class about the World of Work section of the Work Based Learning module.
The bronze award in about self awareness, the silver is about organisational awareness and the gold is about making things happen. We don't have to do the gold until later on in the last part of the course so today was focusing on the bronze and silver.

Here are my notes from the session:

BRONZE
To be knowledgeable about your own strengths and areas for development, values and your ability to work with others and factors which motivate you to achieve.

• 3 key strengths with examples which are unique selling points for yourself
• 1 skill that I need to develop with a realistic action plan
• What are my values in the work place
• Being able to demonstrate motivation - example of achievement
• Example of working in a team and my own contribution
• Handling a difficult situation - dealing with a difficult person
• Future planning and identifying career options and aims to get there
• Use paragraphs and headings
• Use examples and reflect on experiences
• Structure the 1000 words
• Book a slot online for statement submission

SILVER

Pick an organisation, address the criteria, use a lot of resources and write 1000 words in your own words.

• Criteria 1 - Function, culture, size, sector and structure (intro)
• Criteria 2 - Understanding key duties and responsibilities you would expect to undertake in a role you are considering in your organisation
• Criteria 3 - What behaviour presents a professional approach to work
• Criteria 4 - Understanding of external factor likely to affect your chosen organisation - Political, economical, social, technological
• Criteria 5 - Awareness of a current industry topic recently covered in the media (Guardian)
• Criteria 6 - Understanding of the main customer/service users of your choice and why it is important to understand their needs
• Criteria 7 - Your understanding of the importance to your chosen organisation of actively managing its reputation with clients

Research

• Company website
• Annual report/business plan
• Employer insights
• Occupational information
• News websites
• Search engines
• LinkdIn/Facebook/Twitter
• Market research

My intentions are to get the bronze statement out of the way as soon as possible to I am going to book my date for submission as soon as possible. Then I am going to tackle the silver statement which seems to be a lot harder. I will have to set up a meeting with Liz Harrison for this statement because I think I will need a bit more help with it.

This session was great because Liz's presentation was spot on and went in to detail about everything that we need to include in both statements. I also like the way she didn't worry us with the details of the gold statement because that isn't for a while. That takes some pressure off but we still have a lot to do so I better get cracking!

Speak Soon!

Dissertation Meeting

Today I had a meeting with the head of department Sarah to discuss my dissertation idea and research so far. I like these one to one sessions because it allows me to speak freely without thinking about what other people are doing or thinking. I gladly presented Sarah with my ideas and initial research about this huge part of final year.

I have decided to write my dissertation about the animation industry. I haven't at this point realised exactly what it is that I wish to prove in my hypothesis for my dissertation but I am already deep in research. Sarah gave me a lot of tips for books to look for and also animators who's work can be found on YouTube.

Straight after this session I went straight to the library and got out all the books that we discussed and some more! My back was broken by the time I got home but it was totally work it because some of these books are so interesting and will really help me to find an angle for my dissertation work.

I wanted to focus on a subject that I am truly interested in and not just something that we have learned or explored on the course. I love animation; its as simple as that. And so my dissertation will hopefully reflect my passion for this area of research.

Speak Soon!

Work Based Learning Module

Today was the first proper session back in to our normal routine of university. We started with this session on the Work Based Learning module and our work experience. We mainly talked about the actual assessments themselves and what they entail.

The actual work placement report that I have to write about my work experience in Malta is 90% of the whole mark in this module so of course this requires the most detail and effort. The other 10% is credited to the World of Work awards which runs alongside our course.

The report has sections that we should generally stick to so that it has a structure and layout that is easy to follow. Here are my notes from the session:

The organisation (intro) - 

• Context and background
• Make clear what the company does
• How many people are employed there
• Diagrams of the structure of work
• Use the website that the company has
• The difference in Malta
• Working practices and output
• Funding
• Language barrier

My role (biggest section) - 

• What I did
• Dates and times
• Not chronological
• Go through areas
• Social media, editing, camera work, website, responsibilities, photography
• Theme things to talk about
• Equipment processes
• Communication (English work)
• Personal responsibilities
• Relationships and developments
• Important procedures
• Specific examples
• Diagrams
• Researching

My personal performance - 

• Assessing myself
• What did I learn about myself
• Evidence of evaluation
• Challenges and overcoming them
• What did I find difficult
• Impressions from others
• Feedback (reference letter from Manager)
• Areas for improvement
• Dress code
• Punctuality
• Mistakes
• Likes and dislikes

Relationship to MPS - 

• Teamwork
• Communication
• Practical work
• Editing

Career plans -

• Progression through a company
• Understanding
• Found out what I wanted/didn't want to do
• Evaluating if its the right path for me
• Researching other jobs
• Multitude of roles

Appendix - 

• Diary and notes
• Print off pages of website
• Blog and events
• Photography
• Social media
• Event docs
• Photos at events

This session really opened my eyes to what this module really entails because I didn't realise the different sections that we must talk about until today. I really appreciate this session because it definitely expands on the handbook we have been given. In the handbook all of this is very simplified but today we got to discuss as a class what we would put in the different sections and also ask questions.

After the report discussion we talked about the World of Work scheme and that we will be looking in to this in detail when Liz Harrison comes in for a session to talk to everyone in detail about what we need to do for this next week.

I am glad that I have a strong connection with Media Coop Ltd (the company I worked for in Valletta, Malta) because I can now ask them questions and they said that they would always be happy to help me out. So I think I am confident in this module but I don't want to speak to soon because it is a lot of work! I'm just glad we have a long to time complete this so I can come back to it throughout the first semester.

Speak Soon!

Malta Placement 2013 - The Play

In between the 5 days a week that I was working in Valletta I had some amazing times with new and old friends doing everything we could in the 3 months there; including concerts, parties, sightseeing and more! Here are just a few bits from the holiday part of this trip.

 Fancy meal on the Upper Barrakka Gardens

 Visiting pretty places around Gozo and Malta

 My boyfriend Thomas coming for a week and going to Comino!

 Pool parties with friends every Sunday

Visiting Mdina (The Silent City) where they filmed Game of Thrones!

 Calvin Harris concert!

 Playing Basketball and Netball in Ta Qali

 Visiting Popeye Village (the real film set!)

 Crazy water sports couch!

 Isle of MTV concert! (Jessie J, Rudimental, Rita Ora and Afrojack)

 Living with and meeting many new friends (Estonians!)

 Going to some beautiful beaches and pools

 Swimming with dolphins for the first time ever!

Beach parties (crazy, crazy times!)

Parasailing (for the first time!)

These are just some highlights of the greatest 3 months I have ever had and the best summer of my life! I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Speak Soon!

Induction - Back to reality

Today was the first day back at university after the most eventful summer ever. It feels crazy to be back here but its back to the grind with the hardest year of the course ahead.

In the induction we went through the general basics of the course and the timetable. Its a lot different to last year because this year we will be taught in blocks so that we focus on one specific piece of work at a time. I prefer this teaching style because at times last year the work load seemed too much to handle. Here are the timetables for this year:

It feels like we have a lot more time to do the projects individually now but I know at some points it will become overwhelming. But I know how to deal with these situations now from experience of last year - Make lists and stick to them!!

I was also asked in this session to talk to people about my work experience in Malta. I just told everyone the general work that I did and myself and Josh also spoke about some of the amazing times that we had over there. We also listened to other people talk about their work experience in the North West which was nice to hear an insight in to what other people did.

Well its scary to be back because I know this year in going to be challenging but I am ready to get stuck in and work harder than ever!

Speak Soon!

Malta Placement Summer 2013 - The Work

I realise I haven't blogged in a long time, but the preparation for Malta was huge and so now I am home and I thought I would do a couple of blogs about my work experience in Malta!

The experience was unbelievable and I honestly couldn't understand why more people didn't do it. I had such an amazing time meeting hundreds of new people from all over the world! I guess I should start with the beginning then.

When I arrived in Malta, we moved in to a flat in Bugibba right near the sea front and the view was amazing. I had a few days to settle down and then I started my placement at Media Coop Ltd 5 days after I arrived. Here are the links to their website and other outlets:

http://mediacoop.coop/

https://www.facebook.com/mediacoop.coop?fref=ts

http://ivalletta.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ivallettacom?fref=ts

I was welcomed in to this amazing company by the four guys who work there; John, Ruben, Michel and Joel. In the first week I was at an event in the Parliament buildings in Valletta filming an environmental debate. This put me straight in at the deep end and from this point I knew this was a great place to work.

From this point I was given a few responsibilities that I would take care of throughout my stay at Media Coop. For example; the iValletta website that I have linked has an events page that I was in charge of updating daily with the latest and best events in Valletta.

The company received the get-go from PBS (Public Broadcasting Service in Malta) to make a documentary about Valletta, the capital city. This meant the beginning of long filming hours for myself and Michel the camera man; but this was great because I always had something to do!

We would go out nearly every morning to film stock footage for the series and this meant collecting shots all over the city and also investigating stories and starting interviews with people. Here are a few photographs from our filming days!

Through work I got to visit many places and do a lot of things that you would usually have to pay to do or even things you aren't allowed to do. Michel knew everybody and so introduced me to his friends and other business people in the city. I got to network like I have never networked before; learning bits of Maltese along the way. We filmed all over Valletta, and even though the city isn't even the size of Liverpool, I think I still didn't see all of it! It so packed full of life, culture, architecture and beauty; but I definitely seen more than all of the tourists that came through the city walls daily.

In the office I developed my editing skills with the Adobe suite that the company used which was very useful considering I will most likely be using it for my 3rd year university work. I was able to help edit footage for various projects and was also encouraged to make my own things. So here is a short film I made using my own footage of The Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta.

Upper Barrakka Gardens

I used this exercise to learn more about editing to music because that isn't something I have really focused on. It definitely helped me with my editing skills and I learned a lot about using music to create emotion. Joel who was in charge of the editing suite basically just coached me in various tasks and let me help with the documentary edits.

My photography interests really came in to play when they asked me to go and photograph various events that were happening in Valletta. I got to stand as one of the press at these events and take some great photographs using my own DSLR and also the one that they had. Using new equipment made me realise that once you can use one camera, its not hard to use any others and with a bit of practice you can get some really great shots.

 As a whole, i think writing this Work Based Learning Report is going to be fun and easy because I have so much experience to talk about, so many things I improved about myself whilst there and so much variation in the work I did.

I would just like to thank Media Coop Ltd for the best summer of my life and I will never forget this work placement, or the people! (The amazing people who bought me a cake and an amazing photography book for my leaving party!)

Speak Soon!