If I look back to the moment I walked into IBIS. Due to these development that I made, I now use some of them in my private life as well. But let me start off with dividing each class in a separate paragraph for organization and structure. So here it goes:
KICK-OFF WEEK IBIS:
It was very cool, the propose of the kick-off week was to get a better insight of what IBIS really is. And it worked, it is doing a lot of research, listening and doing. Visiting the companies was very cool for me as well, because I think that after the visit I was very motivated. The guy who owned House of Eleonore is only 4 years older than me, yet he has a business. So I think that again visiting the companies had immediately a huge impact on me, not a negative one but a very positive one. Also, at the end of the kick-off week we made a poster presentation over the issue that we tackled and came up with solutions. I think we nailed it as a group, because we had some great innovative ideas. Our issue was that the NS has delays, and we came up with an idea that NS and Uber should work together during these situations in order to get people to their location on time, it’s more cheaper and it’s very efficient (and innovative of course). We called it the NUber+ app. I think during this week I gathered a lot of information about IBIS and had great insights about being innovative in a way society needs now. The keynote speakers were cool as well by the way.
International World of Business:
The first thing that Mr. Kentson told us was that we were getting into a time machine and looking back to events that shaped new economies, new social societies and new political powers. I was very interested in this class because I always was good in economics, and combining them with history is great right? But to be honest, in the beginning it was very difficult for me, due to the English language and due to the new English words I would be hearing during the presentation. But as time passed by and I showed a lot of attention, I managed to understand the class fully. For example, the first trial poster presentation I handed in to Mr. Kentson was an A4 paper, a single one, and it was in big events about the Industrial Revolution of Great Britain. But, because I was paying attention during class, I managed to deliver him a trial poster presentation of 2 meters the second time, about the Great Depression in the USA. This is what I mean by developments during the class of International World of Business, I participated actively in class, worked my ass off, but I was making steps forward. And then, after the feedback I received from him, I made the final one. This one was about the European Debt Crisis. I think I managed to make a very good one, although I was a bit nervous during the presentation (first time for a grade lol). But coming to a conclusion, I made huge improvements and learned a lot about the major events in the history of the International World of Business.
Fundamentals of Business:
During the Fundamentals of Business class, I already learned a few of the subjects on my previous educational program. But the BMC and Value Proposition Canvas was totally new for me. The first time we needed to make the Business Model Canvas, it was very terrible. I still can remember it, it was about HelloFresh and I totally mixed up all the 9 building blocks of the BMC hahaha. It was very terrible, but I was in a learning progress and the teacher, Mr. Van der Sleen understanded that. Than we came up to the Value Proposition Canvas which we needed to make about Volvo Cars. Again, mine was terrible, due to the fact that I had a marketing background. But as time passed by we needed to make one about Phonebloks, which in this case my Value Proposition Canvas was almost perfect. I started to understand it and during the classes I was reading a lot of the book “Business Model Generation” as well. On a certain point, I think in week 7, we needed to make a fully assignment about Ed and Tom bakery. So, in means of making the Business Model Canvas, the Value Proposition Canvas and the Customer journey touchpoints canvas. I came up with ideas how to improve and how to counter the competition that is around, and some of the ideas weren’t told yet. So you could say that I fully understood the propose of the BMC by this time, which is very funny. If you look back at class 1, the BMC I made was terrible, and here I was with a very good one of tackling issues and coming up with innovative ideas.
Personal Skill Development:
Writing is Thinking
In the first class of Writing is Thinking Mrs. Duchak started off with explaining what it means. Basically it’s critical thinking, how to know how something is true. There is a lot of stuff involved into it though, things I never knew before. Like your system 1 and your system 2. Your system 1 is the system that reacts immediately on something, for example the question how are you? Your system 2 on the other hand, is the system that takes it time to react, it thinks before it does something, for example filling in a governmental form. Well, till this point I was already on a new territory, I knew that everything that you hear and read doesn’t need to be necessary true, but I didn’t knew that there was actually an logically explanation for it. Just like fallacy’s, there are several kinds of fallacy’s in which people can trick you in for example. The most important thing of all is to see if it is credible or not. I can proudly say that I am using the developments I made in the class of Writing is Thinking in my private life as well. Sometimes I can already hear from the way that the person across me is building their argument that it isn’t credible. Sometimes I use my system 2 as well, just to think before I say something. I think that in the beginning I didn’t bother the lessons but moving on during term 1 I got more interested.
For examples:
I think that by now you have seen the essays and the blogs which represent my developments in Personal Skill Development. I am not sure if I am allowed to post pictures of the Fundamentals of Business assignment on my website, due to privacy rules with the company. But below are some pictures about the International World of Business assignment, so check it out. It is about the European Debt Crisis in which we currently are living through.
HTML/CSS
Actually, I did not liked this lesson at all in the beginning. It was all rocket science for me. I have some experience with design programs so I knew a little bit about CSS but further on nothing. But the thing is, if you stop paying attention and don’t show initiative, you won’t be gathering information as well. So I started to read the book that we needed to purchase for the lesson and started testing some of the things. Also, I tried to keep my mind as much as I could at the lecturer during class, since she was the one who was giving away the most valuable information. So after a lot of testing and a lot of failures, I managed myself to set up a nice website. Now the designing part, which wasn’t quite difficult. It was difficult because I didn’t knew what the codes for designing was, but I naturally like designing so when you’re interested in stuff it automatically goes faster and better. Looking back to my website I now can proudly say that I did very well, since the fact I didn’t like the lesson at all but still kept my attention and showed the initiative that the teacher expected from me.
Research
The first time that we followed this lesson with the class, we mainly used google search. How to get the maximum efficiency out of the search mode. To be honest, I learned some new tricks, for example using hooks and type in the word on your Wikipedia page to get to the part from where your subject starts. The next class was more about mind mapping, which I thought was very cool because you’re actually brainstorming and writing all the search queries down. By the way, for my second trial hand in poster for the International World of Business I used this technique as well. It was very efficient so I think I will be using mind mapping a lot more. Then we moved on to the databases, which for me is great. Now I have access to unlimited, credible information of people who took their time to make the report and based it on facts. There was not much more than this, but I think that the classes we had, had a good impact on me and like I said: the tips that has been given to the class are being used.
What’s in my backpack?
I really had no idea what to expect from this lesson when I saw it for the first time on my timetable. And to be honest I really wasn’t that much interested in it. This remained this way until we were doing personality tests. In the beginning it was very boring because the tests that we needed to make, were very long and slow. Next to that, like it isn’t bad enough already, you had limited time to answer all the questions. All these negative thoughts disappeared when I found out what my business personality was though, and I could see the resemblance of it as well. The funny part of it was that actually, the whole class could see it. As we needed to present our personality, Mrs. Jolly saw that nobody in my group (including me) could sit still, and the crazy part of it was that it was a characteristic of our business personality as well. From there on I was very interested in the lessons, because we were making elevator pitches about presenting yourself and coming up with solutions to deal with failures (since people are not easy to hang around with it). I am still reading the book Strengths Finder 2.0 in order to mainly focus on my business personality to get the maximum efficiency out of it. The videos we watched of Ted were informative as well for me, some of them I knew already but the other ones, wow. There was this keynote speaker who was telling the story of a little girl that couldn’t sit still. So the mother goes to the doctor with her child and the doctor puts on music and walks out of the room. The mother and doctor witness the little girl dancing and the doctor says: Miss, your child is not sick (because she can’t sit still), she is a dancer. 40 years later the same woman who couldn’t sit still would be the most successful musical producer/actress. Moral of the story is that if you have a talent, mainly focus on that and leave the weaknesses aside. Developing your talent is important, since it is the thing that is given to you from the beginning.
English
I can definitely say that I have improved my English language. With most part consisting of the vocabulary bank. I did not reached the level of using them every day yet, but I am trying to. But some of the words are easy to use and to memorize, which causes me to use them easier than some difficult words. Although I am making improvements in my vocabulary and that is the important part of it I guess. My English grammar improved as well, I don’t know how exactly. Somehow paying attention and joining the class actively is most of the job. By making notes of everything we do I first of all understand it better and always can look back to my notes. Well, like I mentioned before, my vocabulary bank was almost awful. But by participating actively in classes and reading them back every evening the same day I wrote them, I improved myself on the territory of English vocab. In the first few classes we worked with grammar, and I think that that went well for me. I knew already most of the rules of English grammar, so making the tests in the study books was not difficult for me. Now I am not trying to say that I am an expert, because I think there is still a lot to learn, but the grammar part was easy this term for me.
I am planning to buy a good English (with British vocabulary) book in order to train my vocabulary and grammar even more. By doing this and combining the daily routine of speaking English in the IBIS program (English as well), I think that the improvements will even go faster than normal and I (hope I) will be able to make the Cambridge test soon.
