My Learning Line

Literature Review – Is Deep Sea Mining a viable option?

The ocean seabeds all around the globe offer up a rich and plentiful supply of untapped mineral resources.  The extraction of these resources could go some way towards easing the pressure of dwindling supplies of minerals on land according to Fujita 2001; they state that extracting the rich deposits could be a financially viable option with the next 10 years.  In years to come we will become ever more dependant on the rich seabed deposits according to an article titled deep Sea Mining.   With the recent oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico still fresh in the memory, McCarthy 2010 states that this disaster has only served to increase tension and worries surrounding the prospect of deep-sea mining.

References

Birney, K. Griffin, A. Gwiazada, J. Kevauver, J. Nagai, T. Varchel, D.

“Potential Deep Sea Mining of Sea floor Massive Sulphides, A Case Study” (Internet) http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/documents/ventsthesis.pdf (14/10/10)

"http://geology.uprm.edu/Morelock/resdeep.htm" (Internet) (14/10/10)

McCarthy, M. (2010) "Deep-sea mining adds to fears of marine pollution" (Internet) http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/deepsea-mining-adds-to-fears-of-marine-pollution-2016292.html (16/10/10)

VARK questionnaire

Having taken the VARK questionnaire it revealed that i am a strategic learner.  On the whole i agree with the statement about my approach to learning, however i am not surprised by this.  I do feel that i can see a part of myself fitting into deep, strategic and surface approach respectively in one way or another though, for this reason i do not think that i have a least favourite method of learning, i tend to feel that i will always just get on with the task with whatever approach gets the job done.  Maybe this approach could be looked at in a way that could make my learning a little more effective.  I do set myself high standards so anything that can raise the bar so to speak would be beneficial to myself, for instance, i sometimes switch off and become distracted to easily whilst studying at home.  With regards to the deep approach to learning, sometimes if i find a particular area within a subject interesting, i tend to go a little to in depth than is required just to satisfy my own interests.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• Always willing to persevere with the task in the hand
• A desire to learn 
• Enjoy taking on responsibility
• Very thorough in my approach to things
• I have always enjoyed proving people wrong in respect of my own abilities
• I have carried out many types of engineer job roles such as a Royal Engineer, a Telecoms Engineer and a Sky Engineer.
• I have travelled the world with the Armed Forces and experienced both sides to being a soldier, i.e. peace keeping & war fighting.
• Work experience within the Army allows to you to become diverse in all manner of situations and jobs, not always your own trade either.  This diversity has allowed me to go on with confidence and re trade myself to become an Engineer.
• The picture to the right is of myself in the summer of 2010 receiving an award from the college for, Best Full Time National Diploma Student in Engineering, this was the last thing on my mind when i started the course in 2008, especially after nearly quitting the course after 4 months because of family commitments.  The award meant a lot to me because it was recognition of how far i had actually come in terms of knowledge and understanding.

Weaknesses:

• Tendency to always allow people in to quickly instead of keeping them on the outside, in other words i am to trusting to quickly.
• Enjoy my own company to much 
• I take criticism to seriously and personal on occasions
• Extremely competitive
• I sometimes expect people to see the bigger picture from where i am standing
• Since leaving the army, my personal standards are still set high. I can find myself judging others by these standards, this can lead to frustration as i cannot understand why others would not complete work or projects to the best of there own abilities, even though it is of no concern to me.

Opportunities:

• By completing the degree course i hope to maximise my chances of getting into industry, simply having the BTEC at my age is not adequate enough to convince employers to give me a chance.

Threats:

• Having returned to education at a late age meant that my mathematical skills were not up to scratch in the beginning, this has been a constant battle to improve and stay on top of.  In an effort to get improve i voluntarily took an evening class at the college, where i sat my GCSE higher tier maths again.  I dint get the grade i wanted but it was still an improvement on what i managed all those years ago at school.  To achieve on the degree i am well aware that maths will always be one of the hardest modules for me.
• My lack of experience in the mechanical engineering sector worries slightly due to my age and the fact that i am not able to gain an apprenticeship.