Conventional cricket

In my view, conventional cricket is the best form of cricket. But it is not the way in which cricket is played these days. Batsmen just focus on slogging rather than accumulating runs, playing proper cricket shots. The core quality of cricket is being ruined by the unconventional play. With new rules like the introduction of the two new balls, just four fielders being allowed outside the thirty yard circle, it has become much easier for the batsmen to score runs. The elegant stroke play is not there anymore. For instance, during the recently completed world cup, the monstrous 400 mark passed twice. This world cup was a nightmare for the bowlers. So what I suggest is that the ICC should rethink their strategies on new cricket rules and focus more on protecting the beauty of cricket.

Mind Map - Process of academic writing.

Week 2 - Goal Setting

I already had many goals and I’ve succeeded on achieving some of them and some didn’t work out as well. SMART goal concept was the new understanding which took place on last week’s academic literacy classes. This significant method of identifying a goal, I hadn’t realized in my previous goal setting.

 The letters SMART means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. This criteria clearly shows the most important strategies which a goal should consist. As the great American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard say "Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal". (Haughey 2014) This makes me realize that when setting up an academic goal I should be more specific about my goal.

According to this SMART criteria I set up a language learning goal for myself in last week. That is getting a HD for Academic Literacy end of this semester so that I can proceed to diploma level successfully. Here are some of the strategies that I have taken when accomplishing my task.

• ·          Have to obtain more than 80% in every assessment task.
• ·         Get help from Mrs Ayami Tennekoon.
• ·         Identify my errors in writing and develop them.
• ·         Use the library and internet as the sources of information.
• ·         Revise all the work done in each week.

Haughey, D 2014, Smart goals, Project Smart, viewed 16 March 2015, <http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php>.

Wadwhani, C 2013, Explaining how to set smart goals, 7 October, viewed 16 March 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6o5PyJM3bY>.

Mind Map

I have created my mind map, so that it will be more easier for me when developing on my learning skills.

Week 1 - Identifying my learning style.

The most significant thing that I learned this week in Academic Literacy class is that, how to identify the learning styles which suits me most. Now I realize that there are different learning styles such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic, because my lecturer brought up this very interesting topic last week. The lecturer gave us a questionnaire to fill up in order to find out what kind of a learner I am. According to the way that I have ticked, it shows me clearly that I am a kinesthetic learner over visual and auditory learner. I have uploaded my questionnaire for reference.

As per my research, kinesthetic learners carry out physical activities, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations. I think this new understanding of learning is a true fact because when I reflect on my past I really am a learner who learned by modeling all concepts. It implies to me, how to develop my learning skills into an accurate way of learning.

This concept of learning is valuable for me because in the future as an aspiring Engineer, I have to do lot of researches and many theories to absorb throughout my career. According to my research, this learning style is quite common among engineers. This has increased my confidence in choosing this discipline at university. This new understanding will help me in a number of ways; how to conduct myself during lectures, what will be the best way to store information and how to do my lab practical’s accurately and researches as well. 

Now I have understood my learning style so here are some of my strategies and ideas that I have taken to perform well in my future.

•       Make models to physically experience learning. For example: Building circuits to    understand theories in electronics.
•          Skim through the reading material before reading it in detail.
•          Annotate text and write questions while reading and listening to the lecturer.
•          Translate information into diagrams.
•          Memorize while moving.
•         Listen to music while studying.

This kind of learning will be useful throughout my life.   

Referencing -

Vincent,A&Ross,Dn.d. ‘A Basis For Developing Teaching and Learning Strategies’, Learning Style Awareness, 5^th March 2015,

<http://eflpresentations.pbworks.com/f/Good+summary+of+learning+style+models.pdf>