Self Reflection 2

Reflection on N307 Course

 

Professional Communication course (N307) is one of the English courses which we did in the Higher Colleges of Technology. It is also our last course of the English in our Bachelor studying. In this report, we will discuss what I have learned in this course.

 

At first, we started to learn how to organize our C.V’s. This is one of the most important papers that you need to have when you want to be an employer in a company. Next, we learned how to write the cover letter. For example, when you are looking for an internship position or a job position, in some companies they need a letter which provide them information about you, what you are doing at this time, what is your knowledge and what are your skills. Then, we started to learn something different which is the meeting. Our teacher split up our class into groups of four and last group was three students. There were two meeting one for practice and the other one was the final one. In the practice meeting each group choose his topic and there was couple of days to prepare for it, but for the final meeting the teacher gave us a different topic and gave us from five to 10 minutes to prepare and start the meeting. Next, the same groups in the same organization had to write a draft report about a different topic which relate to our major. Our topic was about Dubai Metro. After that, we did a presentation about the same topic. Finally we wrote the final version of the report about Dubai Metro. This was done by fixing the mistakes in the draft report.

 

To conclude, I learned new things from this course. That is to say that I learned how to write a good looking CV, A letter when I need to look for a job or an internship, I learned how to do the meeting, how to write reports and how to do the presentations. This was really a perfect course and I am going to use what I learned in the future. This will benefit me in me next courses and in the field of the work after I graduate.

 

Word Count: 373

Metro Dubai ( my sections )

Material above Ground

 

There are such materials that were used to build the above ground shape. The materials are piers, pier caps and viaduct deck segment.

Pier:

It is the column that we put above the pile as a completion of the pile. That is to make it a strong and stable to the body of the project (the Viaduct form), so it will not be affected by the weather such as air storm.

Pier cap:

It is the completion part of the pier which we put above the pier. There are holes that are required in the pier caps to attach them with the piers which have the reinforcement bars. That is to make in one shape.

Viaduct deck segment:

The shape of the piers jointing with the pier caps are made to carry the viaduct deck segment.

This figure give’s the engineers an artist’s impression of the viaduct which was proposed at the conceptual design stage.

 

 

“The viaduct superstructures were typically formed from U-shaped cross sections. The post-tensioned precast segmental deck segments were cut using either long line or short line moulds” (Hendy, C et al, page: 4)

These two figures illustrate the previous idea:

                 

 

“The viaduct substructures generally comprise reinforced concrete piers, with flared pier heads to support the deck, and reinforced concrete abutments” (ibid, page: 4). The pier heads are for the single spans. The spans which were constructed by using the method of thin precast reinforced concrete shells are twin spans and station spans. “The pier heads for the single track and 3-span continuous internal piers are of in situ reinforced concrete construction. All piers and abutments are founded on large diameter bored piles” (ibid, page: 4).

Material Underground

 

There are such services for the underground like, water supply, sewage drainage, electrical cables, military services and telecommunication. Before we start the construction building we have to do piling. That is to say that piling is the foundation for the whole project. Before we put the piles in the ground we have to excavate sand from the ground because if excavation work has not been done, this will affect the pile works underground and it will damage services underground also. Pile is one part of foundations, pile is used for bridges and high buildings that contain 30 floors or more and last for long period of time. The pile is placed underground after using heavy equipment’s like rig machine. “This machine is used for drilling the ground to reach the hard level of soil of the earth” (Mohamed Ali, 2010). After drilling and reaching the hard level of soil in the earth the structural steel is inserted like rebar and concrete is poured to the ground level. Pier is a part that supports the body of the project structure which is the pier cap. “All piles and piers are casted in the construction site” (Mohamed Ali, 2010).

Tunnels

 

Two lines of the metro system are currently under construction. The red line is not totally constructed, but it will have twenty-nine stations four of them will be underground, the green line will have fourteen stations six of them will be below ground and they will have interchange between them. The work for new tow lines underground is extended due to financial problems.  Blue line and purple line are the two lines that will be constructed underground. Before beginning construction work underground there are several tests that must be done for the tunnel. These tests are bore holes and insitu-test within bore holes, lab testing, pumping trials and surveys. To make the tunnel underground first of all we have to dig with a big digging machine and every step they finish underground they put wood, concrete and steel bars to make it more safe and good for the reinforcement.

Reflection on Meeting

Reflection on Meeting

 

 

          Meetings are one of the most important things to do when you want to add or remove things in your company. It becomes so effective when it leads good results at the end.

 

 

          We were three colleagues. My role as a chair man was to begin the meeting, pick up the points which we were going to discuss one by one and gave the participants some ideas if they got stuck. I really felt that this was a good meeting for us and we learned new things that could help us in the future.

 

 

At the beginning and before we get to the real meeting, we had a practice meeting with our teacher. The difference between them is that we choose the topic in the practice meeting, but the topic of the final meeting was chosen by the teacher. Another different is that we had more time to think for the practice meeting, but for the final meeting it was five minutes to come up with the ideas and start the meeting.

 

 

Actually I was worried about the final meeting because the topic was not known, but I knew later that it was not hard. I really feel confident after we did these meetings that I can handle the meetings even if I did not prepare for them and this is because what I learned from these meetings which we did with our teacher.

 

 

          In the future when I become a manager, we will have a lot of meetings in our company. I think that at first each department should meet together and discuss their ideas. Then, they meet the head of departments to come up with the final decisions.

 

Meeting Agenda

LSEC N307                  Meeting Agenda        Section: CGB

Date of meeting: 30-10-2012

Time of meeting: Start at 12:55, Finish at 1:15

Venue: J 06, ADMC

Members’ Roles:

Chair: Mohamed Awadh

Minute’s taker: Ahmed Abdulla

Group members: Ahmed Tariq

 

 

 Venue preparation: Tables, waters, papers and pencils

 

Topic: Student Enrolment in ADMC

Agenda: need not be 6 points!

1.      high school graduation percentage

2.      Adding new majors

3.      Bring females

4.      Stipend each semester for students

5.      Entertainment

 

 

Objective(s)/ Product: To discuss increasing enrollment in ADMC

 

+Action Points:

1.      Talk to management about the IELTS band score

2.      Make a research about the probability of adding new majors

3.      Lectures on increasing the number of females

4.      Request the management to offer stipend each semester for students

5.      Organize trips, competitions and games.

6.      Advertisements shown on T.V, newspapers and F.M.