Paper Tower

Paper tower was a class activity that was assigned to the class members. Three groups were formed each given 12 papers, a pair of scissors and a masking tape. Each group was to make a tower using the equipment given. Spots were established where the towers to be established will be placed by each group.on completion of the task, the following would be checked;

• Longest tower
• Firmness of the tower
• Straightness of the tower

When the groups were finally allowed to carry out the task, every group quickly startedworking.

 Trials and errors were made by each group to establish a firm base for the tower except for one group that decided to build the tower from up coming down to the base, that was kind of hilarious.too much time was taken to form a base for the tower hence the groups rushed to complete the tower which led to the towers not being straight as it was required.

The towers were left to stand for 10 minutes and on a slight blow from the mouth they all fell down and that indicated the towers were not firm. That marked the end of the activity and the lecture had to point out issues she had observed from the activity. 

First she said the aim of the activity was to check on how the students can work together when given a group task. She further went on and pointed out the weaknesses on the tasks
These weaknesses were as follows, 

• No group planned for the activity,  all the groups rushed to start the task. She encouraged the students to always first have a plan. 
• No creativity, she said all the groups focussed on making the longest tower and put no attention on making the tower look beautiful
• Leadership lucked. She said there was no one who took the iniative to be a leader or choose someone who could lead since the task required a leader who could coordinate the way through the activity was to get carried out. 

At the end of the lesson we came to learn about the importance of a plan,the need of a leader and the usefulness of being creative. All these together i believwas a improvementto everyones personal skills

Personal progress development

what is personal progress development

Personal progress development is course which contains activities that enhances awareness,identity,develop talents and reaching of full potential,build human capital and facilitate employability of individuals into various job markets.It enhances to high life quality and also contributes to realisation of dreams. in other words it takes place over the course of person's entire life for the better.

Hence at the university of kelaniya this course is offered to all student admitted to the university in their first academic year to equip them with necessary soft skills they will need in the future job market. During this course the lecturers act as the mentors to the student and establish activities that would lead to maximum benefit out of the programme. some of the areas they insist on include the following;

1. team work

For a successful work to be achieved students are encouraged on the spirit of togetherness when doing task that involve more than one person. Team work is highly encouraged and this achieved by lectures establishing activities that will make sure students work in teams.

 2. Planning 
The personal progress program also is aimed at student developing good planning skills. They are taught and its made clear that planning for your personal progress that is where you want to be is necessary for one to realise a significant improvement in their personal skills.They are taught to maintain personal progress booklet to plan on what and how they will achieve their personal progress goals.

3. Effective communication
 In all job opportunities that are available effective communication is needed for one to get employed into those opportunities hence personal progress development ensures one is able to communicate with others effectively.  This is achieved by learning being made student centered whereby students are made to speak to each other on various topics so as to boost their self confidence and expand on their grammar

Other areas pointed out in personal progress development include;

• good correlations through good understanding by the individuals involved.
• It promotes more awareness of how to apply your learning to new problems and contexts
•  One develops greater confidence in the skills qualities and attributes they bring to the career of their choice