Although at GearFire we pride ourselves in being the content, not just a way of getting to the content, I found something that I could not resist sharing with you, it is a “manifesto” on ChangeThis about presentation skills called:

“Presentation Revolution: Changing the Way the World Does Presentations”

The idea of ChangeThis is to circulate ideas that challenge what is generally accepted, particularly the views drilled into us by the media. In addition to this, it provides some revolutionary concepts that are designed to prompt discussion, whether their thinkings are right or wrong.

This particular manifesto looks at public speaking, and how in so many instances, peoples skills in it are flawed. If you have to deliver a speech in class, this will certainly offer you some advice at how to do it well.

Most prominently in the article is the idea of being a rebel, and this is why speeches are remembered. Think of the greats, Martin Luther King for example, his speech wasn’t remembered because he was saying the same as everyone else. It lived on and became world famous because he had an idea that at the time, was controversial. This is one of the major reasons why speeches are remembered, because they offer something different, something new or something original. Being a rebel is not only done via the content, but by other aspects such as design too (bullet points are not always your friend!).

Take a read, it really could make a difference to your presentation skills.

If you want to discuss the ideas presented in the manifesto, feel free to do so in the comments section below. I would love to hear what you all think.

I would like to thank Bloggy Award for their recent review of GearFire. Bloggy Award review blogs of all topics and every month award some of the best blogs they have seen with either a gold or silver award.

For anyone joining us from Bloggy Award website, welcome to the site! If your looking for where to start, our sidebar to the right shows a list of recent posts and our most popular posts.

With regards to our actual review, it was for the most part, complimentary. Our overall experience rating was 9/10. Part of the review reads; “All I can say is that I wish there was Gearfire back in the day.” We really take pride in our writing here at GearFire and we are glad that we are able to provide useful content that is appreciated by others.

If you are interested in reading the full review, it can be found here.

On a side-note, during the review, we received the comment “some of the posts didn’t make use of very good English grammar and structure”. I am always looking for ways to improve and want to know if this applies to me. If you would like to help improve GearFire, have a look through some of my posts, and let me know whether you think my grammar and structure could use some improvements and if so, how? You can let me know in the comments section below.

Q10 is a minimalistic word processor. By minimalistic, I mean it strongly resembles a type writer, with a few added extras such as word counts, timers and editing.

The twist to this piece of software is that it works in full screen, in addition to being simple. This makes it great for when you just cannot focus, it’s designed not to come with the bells and whistles of other word processors that just distract us from what it is we are doing - writing.

Once you have finished writing, the document is saved as a text file and can then be imported into normal word processing software for formatting, saving you from being distracted by formatting whilst working.

I’d strongly recommend this software if you struggle to focus when writing, particularly if you get distracted by complicated menus or other computer programs running in the background. The software, and Q10’s website, can be found here.

© Hannah Boettcher

Back to school is looming, and some of you will be going back to start your A-Levels. You may have heard what you may think to be rumors of it being possible to be able to get a new A star grade at A-Level, this post should help de-mystify what this is.

Who can get an A* at A-Level?

The A* grade can be awarded to anyone starting an A-Level on the new specification; this is anyone starting A-Levels from 2008 onwards.

What are the requirements to get an A*?

The A* grade is awarded to anyone who gets an A grade at AS-Level, which is 80% UMS marks, and then goes on to get 90% UMS marks or more at A2-Level.

Can you get an A* at AS-Level?

The A* grade is only awarded to anyone sitting the full A2-Level.

What UCAS points are awarded for anyone who gets an A*?

From what I can see on the UCAS website, this has not yet been determined. I would imagine this would not be confirmed until 2009 at the earliest; being as the A-Star will not be awarded until 2010. I have however sent off an e-mail to UCAS and will let you know if I get any response.

What effect will this have on university admissions in 2010?

2010 will be the first year that the A* grade will be awarded and many people are asking how this will effect university admissions. The answer will vary depending on which university, Oxford for example has confimed to the BBC that they will not be using A* grades  in the first year. There has been a document circulating saying that Cambridge will be using the grade sparingly as well until they can identify things such as the proportion of people who will be getting the A* grade however; I can’t find the link to it anymore.

Bear in mind that at AS-Level (the grades that go on your UCAS form) it won’t be possible to get an A*, therefore the only way that the universities would be able to judge whether you are a likely candidate for one is by UMS marks or teachers references. This means good UMS marks at AS level (ideally 90% or more) is the best way of showing your potential for A* grades.

Sources

• BBC News Article - Oxford Delays on A* Grade Offers
• What I’ve been told during sixth form induction week
• UCAS Website
• Specifications for any new A-Level on any exam board

As a side note, congratulations to anyone who received their A-Level or AS-Level results today and best of luck with whatever you go on to do next, be that University or the workplace!

If you have any other questions, post them in comments and I will do my best to answer them and add the answers to this post.

Like a lot of high school and college students, I’m really dependant on my computer; for researching and writing, chatting with my friends, keeping up with the news, and some general goofing off of course (who hasn’t wasted 3 hours doing random stuff on Facebook?). Being as I spend so much time glued to my laptop, I’ve taken it upon myself to hunt down the best, free apps for students. Maybe some of these might be useful for some of you, as we all go into the upcoming school year.

I am running a Mac, so a lot of these apps aren’t Windows friendly; I’ve noted which are Mac-only, and which are cross-platform.
Read the rest of this entry »

© Sanja Gjenero

As I write this post, I’m decisively low-tech. Not by choice, I hasten to add, I’m having problems with some computer hardware so the computer’s off and the most technological device draining power in my room at the moment would have to be the light bulb.

It made me think, what happened to the lost art of writing with pen and paper. What I’m doing now has for the most part, gone. Replaced by computer and keyboard, or even ‘ePaper’. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of technology (I’m a blogger, how could I be!) but I think people often forget that technology can be a burden, as well as a blessing.

So why is pen and paper so great?

You can work anywhere
Pen and paper are staggeringly portable. You can all tell me a laptop is portable, but I don’t see many laptops that weigh about the same as a piece of paper, and can be folded to fit in your pocket.

The benefit of paper being portable is, you can change scenery without lugging round a load of computer equipment. The park; a cafe, in the middle of a field, take your pick with where you want to work.

The great thing is; the change of scenery can really help invigorate you. During exams, I actually took some revision material into the local cafe and found it a great change from my desk.

Much easier to focus
With technology, comes a wealth of distractions. Instant messaging; social networking sites, e-mail and internet, it’s easy to lose focus on what you were doing, I sometimes find myself forgetting what I set out to do in the first place by the time the computer is loaded up and my IM account has started itself up.

With pen and paper, there really is no excuse for losing focus, sure there’s background noise, but it is rare that this can command your attention as much as a new e-mail in your inbox.

Improved spelling and grammar
When working on paper, we consider what we are writing much more. Mistakes feel much more final, because if anything is being written out as a final copy, a mistake could mean having to start again. This means you’ll be trying your hardest to make things sound their best, and they’re more likely to do so.

Also, so much of our work has to be typed up anyway. This means, once you go back to type up your work, you will notice the spelling and grammatical errors made the first time around, which can then be corrected. Often, the use of computers make us so reliant on spell check, we do not even check our work through. By using pen and paper, you are likely to tweak and improve things as you type your work up.

Nothing gets deleted by accident
There is nothing like the frustration of having written half an essay, only to have a power cut and lose it all. With pen and paper, this isn’t going to happen. Of course, there’s ways your paper could be destroyed; the dog ate it and spontaneous self combustion, but these are much less likely in comparison to the probability of a computer going wrong. That I think we will all admit.

I urge you all to go back to using pen and paper every now and again. Don’t let writing become a lost art, reap the rewards. And that’s not just when the computers broken!

 So many of us are engaged in an endless quest to become “productive”, yet never ask ourselves, why?

Why is it important to know why we want to be productive?

Firstly, the danger is that if we don’t know what we are doing it for, what will we do once we are more productive? For some people, their lives just become more crammed with endless lists of unfulfilling tasks. If we are to pursue productivity, there must be a purpose or a reward at the end of it.

Secondly, if it’s a goal to us, how do we know we have fulfiled it. For those of you who know about goal setting, you may have heard of SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Related. We must know when we have met the goal (that it’s measurable), even if it is just through a feeling, such as fulfillment.

What do you want from productivity?

There are many things we want to achieve through productivity, and there is no one size fits all approach. Some of us want to get great grades whilst having a great social life, whilst others want to start a business or change the world as well as go to school.

It really is up to you what you want to achieve, but make sure you aren’t just pursuing productivity for the sake of filling your life with more un-fulfilling tasks.

I will leave you with a quote, which I feel summarizes this post quite nicely, reminding us to make sure we do something worthwhile with the time gained through being productive, even if it’s just having a great life full of adventure and enjoyment:

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!
(Og Mandino)

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This is Carl Hickson’s regular “Tuesday Tips” column, writing on all aspects of student productivity to help you become a more effective and stress free student.

One of the biggest “productivity killers” we encounter is having big projects sneak up on us. You’ve got a nice, organized system set up for keeping track of all of the things that you need to devote time to; to-do lists, calendars, planners, sticky notes. But then, as you commence working on a big paper, you suddenly realize that the deadline for that study abroad application is in 2 days, and you’ve got 3 projects connected to your extracurriculars that you need to deal with. Suddenly, you’re swamped with work that you hadn’t anticipated.

Enter the yearly outline. Read the rest of this entry »