Managing Performance

Bucks New University measure my performance by using assignment percentages that I receive from the assignments that I hand in. The higher the percentage, the better I am performing. My lecturers play a big role in the process of giving me the assignment percentages because they are the ones that mark my assignments and decide on the percentage of marks that I get. As a result, the lecturers are directly involved in interpreting and measuring my performance. Over time, my lecturer's look at all of the assignment percentages and work out an average percentage that I am working at for each module in order to get a good overview of my progress and how I'm performing in general. This also applies to my personal tutor who looks at all of my assignment percentages for all of the modules, giving her a definitive overview of my overall performance.

The university also measure my performance through feedback. After the lecturers have marked my work, they give me my assignment/s back with feedback on what I've done well and what I could have done to improve the assignment/s. The lecturers use the feedback that they give to students like myself to measure my performance because they will be able to identify if I'm taking into account the feedback given in the assignments that follow. For example, if I have poor spelling and grammar in one assignment, the lecturer will have expected me to have improved my spelling and grammar for the next assignment if that was stated in the feedback given. The lecturers therefore play a huge role in the process of giving feedback because they are the ones that are directly stating how well I'm performing in each assignment, assessing whether I'm using the feedback to my advantage in improving the quality of the following assignments.

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Skills required to be an effective mentor:

• Communication skills - it is important that mentors have good communication skills because if a mentor can't communicate with his or her learner properly, the learners won't be able understand the knowledge and advice that the mentor is trying to communicate to them, making the mentor as good as useless.
• Listening skills - mentors needs good listening skills so that they can listen and understand any problems that their learners may have and from that, reply back with any useful or necessary advice.
• Delegating skills - it is vital that mentors have good delegating skills so that they can delegate responsibility to their learners when it is necessary or appropriate. This is so that the learners can carry out activities on their own without the mentors doing the job for them.
• Problem-solving skills - mentors need good problem-solving skills so that they can teach their learners how to fix certain problems or offer solutions to any issues that may be present.
• Knowledge skills - it is crucial that mentors are knowledgeable because their would be no need in having a mentor if the learner already knew what the mentor does and nothing else. If this was the case, the learner couldn't be "mentored" as he/she wouldn't be learning any new material.

My father is someone that I consider to be a mentor to me. He has affected my life because he's always been someone that I've looked up to. As a result, I've tried to emulate a lot of his best characteristics such as his work ethic and professionalism with a reasonable amount of success. He has also taught me a great deal. For example, he has shown me right from wrong on many occasions, a lot of which I still apply to certain situations to this day. In addition, he has been a massive encouragement particularly with regards to education for me so I give a lot of credit to my success in school and now university to him.

Having said that, while he has had a positive affect on my life, he's also disciplined me when it was appropriate to do so. While this may have initially seemed like a negative affect, I feel like it has changed my attitude and behaviour for the better. For example, I used to be quite loud and obnoxious when I was a small child. Today I'm a quiet individual that is a lot more considerate of people around me. My father has therefore single-handedly carved my personality into what it is today.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this topic greatly. This is because the topic as a whole applies and is relevant to me e.g. my progress at university is being monitored regularly, and my father is most definitely a mentor to me. I have also found this topic interesting because once I leave university and find a job, I'll be monitored in similar ways such as those mentioned in this topic. As a result, I will have a greater understanding of how I'm monitored in the workplace.

References:

Managing performance image. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://makingendsmeet.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/5222355 [Accessed 05 March 2010].