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Graduates
of the Faculty of Science will be able to create new knowledge and understanding
through the process of developing their personal skills.
  
Self
Management
Self-Management is the ability to manage your personal reactions to responsibilities
and challenges in work and life. This involves managing your time and
adapting to changing situations. It requires you to reflect on your experiences
and their effect on your physical and mental state. Self-Management requires
the Background Skills of Reflection, Self
Awareness, Planning and Monitoring, Time
Management, Flexibility and Self-Appraisal.
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Independent
Learning
Independent Learning is the ability to recognise gaps in your knowledge
and acquire it independently. It is the capacity and desire to continue
to learn, beyond the structured classroom of school and university. It
requires resourcefulness, drive, initiative and planning. Independent
learning requires self-motivation and knowledge of your personal learning
styles and preferences. Independent Learning requires the Background Skills
of Planning and Monitoring, Time
Management, Flexibility, Self-Appraisal,
Self-Management and Reflection.
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Goal
Skills
Goal Skills is the ability to create, plan for and achieve personal and
professional goals. Examining what is important to you allows you to direct
your attention and efforts towards those things, by setting long-term
and short-term goals. Goal Skills require the ability to set specific,
time-framed goals that are personally attractive, realistic in scope and
that have definable outcomes. Goal Achievement requires motivation and
tenacity, and the Background Skills of Goal Setting,
Self-Appraisal, Flexibility,
Planning and Monitoring, and Reflection.
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Background
Skills
Reflection:
- Contemplating
past experiences to consider their consequences (for example, on your
state of mind, your emotions and feelings, your relationships with others,
your behaviour or your plans for the future).
- Being
aware of your own motivations, needs and desires. Thinking about how
you respond to people and situations, and about how your actions are
perceived by others.
- Learning
from this process of contemplation and awareness, for example through
identifying ways to change negative behaviour, feelings or attitudes,
or by creating new strategies towards achieving a goal.
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Self-awareness
- The perception
of your skills, knowledge, responsibilities and value, both professionally
and personally.
- Being
able to acknowledge your talents and feel confident about yourself and
what you can do (including the ability to improve on and gain new talents
and skills).
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Flexibility:
- Being
able to adapt to new situations, by applying your skills in different
areas, or by acquiring new skills as needed (such as using your mentoring
skills from your sports coaching in your new job as manager of casual
staff at a retail store)
- Being
committed to working constructively with people with different values,
backgrounds, views and levels of understanding.
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Time
Management
- Identifying
the different demands on your limited time, setting priorities, and
scheduling your time according to your goals, responsibilities and needs
- including the need for relaxation, reflection and a social life (for
example, using a planner to schedule obligations and keep track of appointments
and commitments).
- Being
aware of your personal time preferences and using these to your advantage
to maximise effectiveness and minimise stress (for example, you may
be a morning person who thinks more clearly just after sunrise - use
this time wisely).
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Commitment
- Being
dependable, trustworthy and putting everything into your work
- Willingness
to commit an obligation to your goals and persevering towards those
goals
- Possessing
a determination to achieve success, focusing on the target of your commitments
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Goal
Setting
- Examining
your interests, desires, commitments and responsibilities, identifying
goals that are important to you and committing to working towards achieving
those goals (such as deciding that you want to use the experience you
have gained as a uni student, so setting a goal to become a mentor for
first-years students)
- Setting
realistic, clearly-defined goals with a specific time-frame, where progress
can be measured and success judged unambiguously (for example, "I
will be healthier" is not a good goal, because it is vague - but
"I want to exercise three times a week for 30 minutes" is
better)
- Tracking
your progress, adjusting and adding goals as a way of continually monitoring
your development in life.
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Planning
and Monitoring
- Developing
a detailed, realistic strategy to solve a problem or reach a goal.
- Anticipating
problems or constraints, regularly reviewing and adjusting plans to
accommodate changes in your situation and priorities.
- Assessing
the success of a strategy in reaching the original goal, within the
set time frame, resource and budget allocations.
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Self-appraisal
- Objectively
analysing your own situation, skills and qualities, recognising your
strengths and weaknesses, and acknowledging areas for improvement (such
as honestly describing your strengths and weaknesses at the beginning
of a gym training session, so that you and your trainer can identify
areas for you to work on)
- Reflecting
on and accurately judging your efforts and progress (for example, if
you have a setback along the way, making an effort not to let it get
you down, but rather acknowledging how much progress you have made to
that point).
- Identifying
areas of your life where you would like to increase your knowledge or
skills, and setting goals to meet those aims (for example, if you don't
understand how to use the university library to research an assignment
topic, you might set this as a personal learning goal - and in so doing,
you would gain skills valuable for the rest of your studies and life
beyond university.)
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