Your support and next steps

Have you had help from others in the same way as Mo? Are there people in your life now whom you think will help you towards achieving your aims?

Activity 5.1 My support networks

Timing: You should spend around 15 minutes on this activity.

Think about the people who have helped you or who might help you in the future with any plans you have.

You can make a spider diagram like the one for Mo – on paper or online by going to bubbl.us [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . The bubbl.us website has instructions on how to use this free online tool. If you prefer not to use this, or don’t have access to the internet, don’t worry – pen and paper will do just as well.

Use your notebook or the the activity sheet provided.

OR

Go to Activity 5.1 of your Reflection Log. Once you have completed the activity, make sure you save the document again.

Then, if you want to, share your spider diagram with the others in your group and discuss it with them. Alternatively, share it online by posting it on an online forum or via social media.

You have nearly reached the end of this course. Activity 5.2 involves planning the next move towards your goals – you need to think carefully about where you are trying to get to.

Remember, there is a lot of information and advice available if you would like further guidance on planning your future, or if you would like help with issues that this reflecting on your experiences has raised for you. You can visit The Open University’s Careers Advisory Service, or any of the websites listed in the Resources section.

Activity 5.2 My long-term goal and first ‘next step’

Timing: You should spend around 15 minutes on this activity.

Starting from now and where you are at the moment, think very carefully about what you need to do to get to where you want to be. Think back on the activities you have done, and what you have learned from:

  • your past experiences (Activity 2.3)
  • the skills, qualities and abilities you have (Activity 3.2)
  • anything that will help you, as well as any difficulties you may need to overcome (Activities 4.3 and 4.4)
  • any people that you know will be there to help you (Activity 5.1).

Fill in a table with your long-term goal and the actions you will take to achieve it. Use this information to write a sentence starting ‘The first step I am going to take ...’.

OR

Go to Activity 5.2 in your Reflection Log. Once you have completed the activity, make sure you save the document again.

Share your plan and your sentence with the others in your group or online if you want to, or you can just share your sentence if you prefer.

If you would like to, you can make a ‘word cloud’ out of your sentence. This shows you which words were used most often and are therefore the most important to you. Figure 5.3 is a word cloud of what Eric, whom you met in Session 3, wrote in his plan.

Image of a word cloud
Figure 5.3 Sample ‘word cloud’
Show description|Hide description

This diagram is an example of a word cloud, where words from a piece of text are arranged in a cloud shape. The words are written in varying sizes to show their frequency of occurrence in the original text. In this word cloud, the largest (and most often used) word in the text was ‘study’. The next most important words in slightly smaller text are ‘placement’, ‘care’ and ‘nursing’, as these relate to what is being studied. The third group of words, also in smaller text, includes ‘understanding’, ‘job’, ‘work’, ‘course’, ‘university’, ‘health’, ‘career’, ‘provides’, ‘OU’. The smallest words (and the least frequent or least important) in this word cloud are as follows: ‘encouraged’, ‘home’, ‘applied’, ‘employment’, ‘paid’, ‘programme’, ‘assistant’, ‘broad’, ‘going’, ‘future’, ‘skills’, ‘social’, ‘offered’, ‘choice’, ‘hopeful’, ‘allows’, ‘qualities’, ‘continuing’, ‘think’, ‘full’, ‘commitments’, ‘carrying’, ‘help’, ‘company’, ‘longer’, ‘part-time’, ‘currently’, ‘successful’, ‘application’, ‘degree’, ‘open’, ‘developing’, ‘option’, ‘ways’, ‘different’, ‘prepare’.

Figure 5.3 Sample ‘word cloud’

To make your own word cloud, go to TagCrowd or your Reflection Log. If you haven’t used TagCrowd before, click on the ‘Help’ page included on the site.

Note that The Open University is not responsible for third party websites or the information you choose to share with them.

If you prefer not to use this tool, or don’t have access to the internet, don’t worry – pen and paper will do just as well. Write down your answer for Activity 5.2 and then read it over. Pick out or underline what you think are the key (most important) words for you.

Introduction

Review your table