Assessing ones own creativity                        

Today's lecture is the most interesting of all. We actually had to make something and bring to class. Felt like being in a 'Life skills class' in school. Well since the lecturer told the previous week to the students to make something creative from a object that is not useful the students were ready to present the items. Some of the students did not make anything while the others forgot to bring their created items to the class.And when the lecturer entered the class he was in a little happy mood. He was exited to see what we had brought to class. The class was going to be fun today. As he was entering the class he asked each student if they were ready with their items. Then the lecturer told each person to present their item saying out of what they made it and how is it useful. Many students came up with wonderful and creative items. 

I came up with a idea of making a wedding cake box which was really simple. It was made out of cardboard found in brand new shirt packets. The author drew the block on the cardboard on it and by cutting and glue in the parts and a little of decorating the item was done. I could have made something more creative but since I did it at the last minute I had no other option. When the box was presented the lecturer asked if it was for the my wedding and everyone in the class started laughing. LOL


My classmate, Madara came up with a wonderful creation a "collage" made out of twigs and colorful stones that she picked up. It was the best out of all the creations. Dinithi made a photo frame made out of newspapers, paper and cardboard and it was also very creative. Sashya made a pencil stand with a piece of bamboo and colorfully painted it (well I teased her all day saying that she killed a bamboo tree :D)and Hirushi's creation was outstanding because she had done alot of hard work in making a flower basket with only magazine papers. It looked really hard to make..wonder how she did that!...AMAZING WORK

                       Self Evaluation of skills and qualities                  

The lecturer handed out a self evaluation exercise to the students so that students can see if they have the necessary skill sand qualities to cope with life and challenges. The qualities were divided to three sections as people, activities and personal qualities. 

The authors strengths listed under 'People'

• Ability to get on with people from different backgrounds
• Ability to see and understand other people's points of view
• Teamwork
• Managing other people
• Helping others to arrive at decisions
• Caring for others
• Ability to read other people's body language
• Dealing with others by phone
• Speaking clearly and to the point
• Being able to take direction from others

The authors weakness listed under 'People' 

• Dealing with the general public
• Negotiating
• Courage to speak out against injustice

The authors strengths listed under 'Activities' 

• Creativity, design and layout
• Classifying and organizing information (e.g. filing)
• Making decisions
• Managing change and transition
• Setting priorities
• Working out agendas
• Organizing work to meet deadlines
• Staying calm in a crisis
• Reading complex texts
• Word processing
• Computer literacy
• Working with numbers
• Selling 
• Problem solving
• Practical things
• Seeing how things work
• Writing reports or official letters

The authors weakness listed under 'People'  

• Ability to see the 'whole picture'
• Being good at argument and debate

The authors strengths listed under 'Personal qualities' 

• Ability to recognize my own needs and ask for help
• Ability to learn from mistakes
• Assertiveness
• Determination an perseverance
• Ability to set my own goals
• Maintaining a high level of motivation
• Ability to take responsibility for my own actions

The authors weakness listed under 'Personal qualities'  

• Stress management
• Willingness to take risks and experiment
• Trust in my own abilities

Today's session was very important because it helped everyone to evaluate themselves and improve the areas where they are weak. I found out certain weakness which I am hoping to improve by practice. In fact there is a lot for me to practice and gain my confidence in.

                                           Creativeness                                     

Today's lecture started with the lecturer Mr.Rehan talking about ones creativeness. He first started the session by asking everyone if they think themselves as creative. The students who thought they were creative were told to sit separately from the ones who thought they weren't creative. And there was a large crowd in the side where they thought they weren't creative (Maybe they chose that side to avoid question from the lecturer..who knows :) Then he asked them why they thought so because everyone is creative in their own unique way and no matter how small something they have done is it is still creative.
Everyone gave in their ideas as to why they think that whatever they do seems not creative. Some said that they feel that they have not done anything great. The lecturer gave an example of creativeness and it was that even tie your shoe lace is a creativeness. After doing a bit of research on creativity I came across quote by Linda Naiman.


According to California State University Northridge (2012), people are motivated to be creative when they "need to communicate ideas and values and need to solve problems".

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.” — Linda Naiman 

                                                                                          Creativity at Work (2012)

                             The Author's Imperfection                              

Today I like to start my post saying that Every person is imperfect and due to that fact the lecturer asked the students to blog their imperfections they find about themselves. Well as the author it is not easy to list down ones own imperfection as people are imperfect inn almost everything. Well talking about me, I am very nervous when it comes to presenting something in front of a crowd of people. Even though I have presented assignments for about 1 year now I still haven't overcome the stage fright.

I also think that when I need something it is hard to get because I do not have the guts to ask from someone for help. That's a big weakness for me, which can also be due to my shyness. When it comes to debating also I feel the same way the fright when it comes to presenting ideas in front of people. Well some people are good at certain things than others and nobody is perfect in everything. So to overcome few of my weakness I tend to practice a lot before doing a presentation and it helps a little but I know I can never be fully perfect in it. Maybe I could make some progress but never a perfection.

                          Can imperfection create perfection                  

The lecturer asked the students whether imperfection can create perfection. Many students were ready to argue about their thoughts on the topic. Well I personally think that the statement is false because everyone is imperfect and that is why there are institutes and other education material that can provide answers to peoples questions. If every person was perfect there would not be any development in the world as everyone is in the same level and knows everything. 

Some students argued that by practicing often one can become perfect in anything. Finally the lecturer said that imperfection can not create something perfect due to the world coming up with different ideas everyday that change allot of things around us. If everything and everyone was perfect the world will always be in the same place forever. Then the lecturer told the class to write their ideas about the topic on their blogs. 

                               Skills and Knowledge                                      

Today the LFS module lecture was very interesting and fun. The lecture gave the students a sheet of paper which everyone thought was related to today's lecture, but Mr. Rehan told the students to make an aeroplane. Everyone thought maybe its just a joke but to see he was pretty serious about it. Actually the my friends did not even know how to make one but we only knew how to make a rocket. A friend made an aeroplane the way she remembered it in school so the author tagged along with her. After making the rocket  each student had to stand up and try to target to hit the white board in order to test their skills of designing the aeroplane. 

A few students were able to reach closer to the white board but for most of them the aeroplane was a complete failure. Since my aeroplane point was blunt it was changed to a rocket because at least that would hit the target. When it was my turn I used all my strength and did a good throw and it hit the projector screen but it did not reach the board :(


After all the students flew their aeroplane designs, Mr. Rehan commented on the designs as poorly made and lacking skill and knowledge to make the correct aeroplane structure as most of the students made rockets. Afterwards he showed us a demonstration on how to make an actual aeroplane. Given below is an image that shows how the lecturer demonstration us to make the aeroplane.

Steps to make an aeroplane

                                    LFS Assignment                                         

As the lecture started today the lecturer read out the names of the students who emailed to him the blog address as told yesterday. And by the look on his face he did not seem much pleased. Afterwards he asked the students the reason why they failed to email. I was also one of them and made sure to send it to him as soon as possible. After having a brief talk about the blog the lecturer handed the students the individual assignments on making a reflective portfolio report. In order to obtain good marks there must be research done, task should be completed, there should be quality of reflection and good quality of communication.The portfolio and the research paper will weigh 50% each.

1. Reflective portfolio includes personal goals, reflection and strategies for success.

2. Debates will be held in class and students need to prepare a research report.

The lecturer told the class to choose their preferred topics in order to conduct the research. The topic number of each student 1st and 2nd preferences were emailed to Mr. Rehan so that he can make sure that there would not be a lot of students choosing the same topic. He also made it clear that the topics will be given in a 'first come first served' basis. So my preferred topic choices that were emailed were

3. Virtual Office & Telecommuting Issues and Challenges

6. Technostress

                                         Reflective Blog                                     

Today was the 1st session for the module "Learning for Success". The lecturer Mr.Syed Rehan described to the students about the topics that will be covered throughout the semester. This module includes debating, public speaking etc... The students were explained what a reflective blog is and were told to create one. This will contain the what was learnt in the module, tasks that were assigned and reflections on the several learning aspects. Mr. Rehan mentioned that the blog has to be maintained till the end of the semester which is 12 weeks of documenting each and every learning feature and the blog will be presented as a reflective portfolio report.

What exactly is a reflective blog? 

Reflective writing is central to the notion of reflective practice. In work integrated learning experiences, it is “common for students to produce reflective diaries, journals, logs or e-portfolios in order to reflect upon their experience” (Roberts, 2009, p. 633)

Reflective blog is writing daily what has been learnt in class how the student can reinforcing these ideas from each week.