Reflection on the term from Sept to Dec, what I have developed/the targets I’ve worked towards.

During the Sept to Dec term I worked towards reaching target that I first set out in my personal development plan; these targets were that during this term I would work towards improving my work’s presentation, the neatness of my own handwriting, and my skills when talking to those I am not confident with.

With my handwriting I used a number of techniques to work on improving its neatness; such as practicing and getting feedback on my work, comparing to the writing techniques of others to develop my own, and practicing writing at a slower rate to slowly work at making myself to write neater at faster and faster rates. Overall I personally feel that in the short term this has only done little to really help the neatness of my handwriting, however this is purely because the improvement of handwriting is not a quick change but rather one that usually takes years to see significant improvement even with practice.

On the subject of the target of improving my presentation similarly I used a number of techniques to help myself improve as I did with my handwriting target. This time some of the methods that I used once again viewing and practicing other individuals methods, viewing guides online aimed at self-improvement, as well as checking over my own work by writing to eliminate any possible errors before it was too late. From my perspective I believe that at least with this area I made considerable improvement, I’ve noticed that in my written work I am now having to go back less often to make corrections, and I am also noticing that if I do make errors I notice them a lot quicker.

Also with my final target of improving my confidence with speaking with those I am unfamiliar with I also feel I have somewhat gone towards reaching this goal. I reached this by simply talking to others I was unfamiliar with more frequently, asked for advice from others to see how they deal with similar situation along with others that I mentioned in my personal development plan. I now feel that I can feel that because of the progress I have been trying to make I can perform my goal much easier even if I am not completely confident, a little more work on my own and I should only get even better.

In conclusion I feel that at least at least with the goal of improving my confidence with others and improving my presentation I have made clear and visible improvements that I myself can see, therefore I pleased with my progress there. Although I did not progress visually far with handwriting though, I know that if I continue using the methods I have thought out after the listed personal development plan weeks I will undoubtedly improve with time.

What personal attributes are and why they’re important to businesses looking for good employees

A personal attribute is a quality or characteristic of an individual, they are also character traits or personality traits that are unique to each person that they make up. They are important to businesses looking for good employees as each business/job role often requires people with specific attributes to work in their environment and complete the required tasks that often need doing at work. Some examples of personal attributes would be independent working, having good planning skills, being punctual, and being an dependable individual.

What are interpersonal skills and how are they used daily?

What are Interpersonal skills? Well by definition are the skills of communication between one personal and another be they verbal or non verbal.
We use these skills daily whenever we communicate between each other, be it through speaking, shouting, or any other method of communication. Examples of these non verbal skills that we use could be body language such as nodding, smiling, or using hands in gestures, whilst examples of verbal skills would be shouting, and persuasion techniques.

How to effectively communicate with someone during a presentation

Here are some on how someone can ensure that they communicate effectively during a presentation:

• Look at those who you are speaking too as then will appear more confident and your voice will be projected better into your audience.
• Do not put all that you are going to say on the screen, as reading out what is already in front of them can be seen as an insult to their intelligence. Instead have the majority of your notes in front of you to read.
• Speak at reasonable pace so that everyone can keep track of what you are saying.
• Use visual aids such as laser pointers and diagrams to help your understand and draw your attention to something.
• Do not  stay in one place, simply staying on one spot for the whole time will make you seem less confident and people would likely pay less attention to you.

How a good CV helps someone get a job

A good is important in convincing a potential employer that you are indeed the correct person for a job, it is meant to show your skills, qualifications, and assists in helping the employer get an idea of what you as a person are like. So bearing all of this in mind that is why a CV always need to be of a high quality and contains the appropriate content, because after all you are also judged by how you present the CV itself as well.

How does a personal development plan help me improve myself?

A personal development plan is a document containing a number of things an individual would like to improve in themselves, it also contains a number of boxes listing a numerous weeks which the individual must fill in what they did to try and reach their targets. The aim of this is to motivate someone to improve their selves by showing their personal progress so that they can see how far they have come, and allow them to think ahead on what they need to do further.


I personally have set out with a personal development plan and I am finding that it is indeed as effective and helpful as I described above, and so far I feel I am progressing well towards my targets.

Tool Tips 5: Eye Dropper Tool

Now I shall talk about by far one of the most important tools in Photoshop, and it is one you will undoubtedly need to use frequently. The one purpose of this tool is to choosing a colour as the one you will use by clicking on a colour already in front of you, this is helpful if you had previously deselected a colour you were using as this particular tool allows you to reselect it once again.

(The location of the Eye Dropper Tool)

Tool Tips 4: Paint Bucket Tool

The purpose of the Paint Bucket tool is for transforming the colour of one area into another, for example if when using the tool you were to click on an area that was blue it would change that colour to whatever colour you had selected at the time. This tool is particularly useful if you wish to colour all of one area a single colour.

(The Location of the Paint Bucket Tool)

Similarly as with the Magic Eraser Tool, this tool also had the issue of that since the Photoshop colour recognition system isn't perfect it may also alter the colours of similar ones nearby to what you have clicked on, so if this occurs once again draw around the edges of the colour you wish to change on another layer so that only that colour changes. Once again I hope this edition of Tool Tips has been useful, see you all next time!

Tool TIps 3: The Blur Tool

Hello and welcome to another edition of tool tips, and today we will be discussing the ever useful Blur Tool! So as the name implies the Blur Tool's purpose is add a blur effect to images, this can be useful for creating the illusion of motion in an image or creating the effect of eye focus.

(The location of the Blur Tool)

It is highly important to know how to use this tool correctly simply using with little thought will lead to an image that is of a poor quality, before using this tool look at images with blur in them to see where they are used and observe where it is best used before trying.

Tool Tips 2: The Pencil Tool

Today I will tell you a bit more about the Pencil tool, by far one of the most important tools in the entire application. The Pencil Tool is a tool sometimes used of the Paint Brush tool when drawing fine lines, it can also be used for underlining or circling objects.

(The location of the Pencil Tool)

Although this tool is good for much finer lines I would not recommend it for use when editing non-drawn images, as since the line it draws is so fine there can be an issue where it looks clearer that the image looks like it has been fabricated. However if you are only changing smaller parts this tool can be used to edit areas.

Tool Tips: The Magic Eraser Tool

I know what many of you are wondering, what is the Magic Eraser Tool? Well the Magic Eraser Tool is a tool used for deleting all of one colour within a boundary, this tool can be useful as it means that you don't need to manually erase it all but since the Photoshop colour identification system is not perfect it can sometimes erase similar colours as well, so therefore it isn't always effective.

(The location of the Magic Eraser Tool)

If you have the issue where it erases similar colours it is recommended that you put a barrier of another colour on another layer around area you want to erase so only that area is removed when you use the tool.

Week 1 Reflection on work done so far:

In my ICT lessons so far I have been learning about and explaining interpersonal skills (which are the methods of communication between two or more people) , personal attributes (skills and qualities of an individual), and constructing this very blog.

Overall I believe I have succeeded well in the tasks set by the exam criteria, but at the beginning it did take slightly longer than usual because of me having to get used to the new work structures for class.  Later on however I feel that since I got used to it I found the work easier to complete.

Welcome to Photoshop tips!

Hello everyone, my name is Morgan and I would like to welcome you to my new blog 'Photoshop Tips'! The aim of this blog is to hoepfully provide a few basic tips and tricks for Photoshop (CS5/6), and therefore help improve your experiance when using the program. Posting will begin quite regulary soon, but for now I'll be adding finishing touches to this page.