Week 9: Perception

Week 9

Perception

My wrong perception

When I left 6^th form I went to work from small firm accountants. When I went for my interview they seemed to come across really friendly and chatty. In the interview we seemed to be able to talk without it being awkward and they come across to be a company where they put a lot of work into training their staff. These leads to me think that they were the right place for me to train to be an accountant. I only stayed at the company 6 months. The reason I left so quickly was once I began working their and spoke to a few of the sub contractors I found out what working there was really like. I was employed along with another girl and after a few weeks they focused a lot of the training on her and I was used as a handy man around the office. I was quickly being pushed out and after spending time with the MD my perception changed an I did not think she was friendly, good to be around or working for so I left. To try and avoid making the same judgment again I would ask more questions at the interview to try and find out more about the company and who I will be working for, as this was my only second formal job interview so I was quiet reserved and just pleased to be offered a job. I would go away from the interview and think about what was said and the general feel I got.

3 Ways to improve communication between University and Students.

Below is a link to an article I read in which I got my three suggestions on improving a University communication with students.

Idea 1 

           

I believe that students would benefit from meetings with a tutor say every quarter or term. This tutor should be someone who understands the work and has experience teaching the course they are doing. The reason they should do this out side of lectures is so they can discuss the course as a whole and how things are going. The student I think should also select who they want to have the meeting with so they can make sure they feel comfortable talking to the person in order to get the best out of them.  The tutor can also see how well they are getting on with the work and if there is any problems which need to be resolved.  The benefit of this is its face to face communication which is believed to be valued, but in order for it to work the lecturer and student must have the confidence to talk about the course and work etc. which I why I put forward that the student chooses the lecturer they want and being a lecturer they will already have the skills  and experience in communication with students. This idea is in the article under the subtitle “keep the personal touch”.

Idea 2

After a time period the lectures can get an understanding of the student’s capabilities and can make a suggestion of what level they should be aiming i.e. 2.2, 2.1 or 1^st. This aim should be put from lecture to the student and they both should agree on the target. Once this is agreed the work set to the student and feedback given should all be aiming towards getting the target grade. This will mean that both the student and lecture are working towards the same goal. In the article this comes under the sub title “have a shared purpose”.

Idea 3

The final idea for improving communication is to look at other channels for communication such as communicating on blackboard instead of emails. For example if there was jut a group on black board for the lecture group then it would make it easier for students to communicate when working together and also the lecturer can see that teams are communicating. This idea would mean it would be like a academic version of a social networking site. This means that they can access it 24/7 and they will also be able to have instant access to each other and the teacher but it is kept in a academic situation. 

ref:   Clake,Rebecca;People and Management Magazine,15/7/2010, http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm