OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

Faculty Science And Technology

Semester 1 / Year 1

OUMH 1103

Learning skills for open distance learner

MATRICULATION NO : 911129015025001
IDENTITY CARD NO. : 911129-01-5025
TELEPHONE NO. : 017-4620901
E-MAIL : najibroslan91@oum.edu.my
LEARNING CENTRE : Sabah, Kota Kinabalu
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

Question 1
I agree with the statement, information itself can be wrong or right. To determine which
information is relevant or not is vital for learning, the irrelevant information can lead to wrong
understandings and can affect an outcome to fail, to find and gather the relevant information is
necessary to be an independent student, one cannot just depends on being spoon fed by the
teacher, to go out and look for relevant information by themselves is a good step to being
successful .
All of these can help the students not just in studies but later on in real life as well, an
example can be seen later on at their job, all the boss knows is the job needs to be done, the boss
will not teach the employee how to do it, the employee needs to find the solution on his own with
a few help from the colleague. If the employee is waiting to be spoon fed for the answers, the
task might not be done on time, or might not even be done properly and that can cause a
catastrophe result. To be independent and knowing the relevant information is important too,
gathering all the irrelevant information can be useless as it can waste time and energy, an
example are when a student needs to do a debate, the relevant information regarding to the topic
must be known while irrelevant information will help nothing to win the debate.
In conclusion students’ needs to prepare themselves for the real world, there will be no
one to protect them. A student must be independent at all times, exercising all this abilities can
help them immensely in the real world. No matter how independent a person can be, we
sometimes needs help, a student must also know the difference between asking for help and
being spoon fed.
(307 words)
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

Question 2
Information comprehension skills assist me in my studies by making me indulge myself
in new knowledge by understanding it. Without proper comprehension skill i cannot summarize,
differentiate between opinion and fact, problem solving or even draw conclusions from the
information. An example is when after finishing reading an essay I can summarize it, put it in
short form for my own understanding. Problem solving an information that I do not understand
helps a lot, I know how to get the answers, make sure it’s correct or even where to find the
answers, by properly researching the subject. Drawing conclusion from information helps a lot, it
makes sure I understand it, I can choose sides on it whether to agree or disagree. Lastly
differentiating between fact and opinion is also important, an opinion cannot be taken into a
discussion as it does not mean anything while a fact can be taken and even win in a discussion.
Information processing skills assist me in my studies by making me do something with
the information, analyze it, link it with my experiences, or determine the value of the
information. An example is when a new topic arrives; I can understand the topic by relating it in
my own way such as my experiences, such as a vapour lock in a pump, I can easily memorise it.
Another is analyzing the information, when a new topic comes I can divide it into piece by piece,
see which is related to which. Putting value on information can help too, every information has
weightage on it, such as learning to memorise information is more important than to draw.
In conclusion both these skills complement each other, both are equally important
however in terms of helping studies; these are not the only skill that’s needed, many more such
as reading, writing, note taking, drawing or even IT skill are important to succeed in studies.
Therefore do not limit yourself as the possibilities are endless.
(327 words)
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

Question 3

Renewable energy are energy sources that are continually replenished by nature.

Why?

● limited supply of fossil fuels

● To meet energy demand

● Cleaner emission

● Stability of energy produced

1 Bioenergy

● Energy derived from biomass (organic matter, such as plants)

● Some companies can create large quantities of unused or residual biomass which can
serve as bioenergy source

1.1 Biopower

● 2nd leading source of renewable energy

● Some companies replace coal with biomass, it’s cheaper and greener

● Gasification (convert biomass to gas) used in gas turbine to produce electricity

● Decay of biomass produced methane, can be burned in boiler to produce electricity

● Biomass can be heated without oxygen to produce pyrolysis oil (a type of fuel)
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

1.2 Biofuel

● Biomass converted into liquid is called biofuel

● Easy to transport and high energy density

● Most common is ethanol

● flex fuel vehicles can run on gasoline and ethanol mixture (cleaner emission)

● Biodiesel is also biofuel, can be made from vegetable or animal fats

1.3 Biobased Product

● Corn, wheat, soybeans, wood and residues can create chemicals found in petroleum

● Commercial development is underway to make thermoset plastics, like electrical plastic

switch plastic cover, from wood residues

2 Solar energy

● use the power of the sun to produce energy

2.1 passive solar lighting

● No pumps, fan or mechanical device used

● South facing windows to fill home with sunlight

● Dark tile or brick floors to store the sun's heat

● during summer, window overhangs block the sun to keep the house cooler

● combined with energy efficiency can go further such as energy saving appliances or good
insulation
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

2.2 solar water heating

● use collectors on a south facing roof, to heat water or a heat transfer liquid

● The heated water is stored in a tank.

● Flat plate, evacuated tube and concentrating (types of solar collector)

● Most common, flat plate collector, an insulated & weatherproof box containing a dark
absorber plate

● evacuated tube collector consist of rows of parallel, transparent glass tubes.

● Each tube consist a glass outer tube and inner tube, or absorber, covered with a coating
that absorbs solar energy

● Concentrating collectors for residential applications are usually parabolic-shaped mirrors

that focus the sun's energy on an absorber tube.

● Passive solar water heating system use natural convection or household water pressure to
circulate water through a solar collector.

● An active system uses an electric pump to circulate water or nontoxic antifreeze.

● Active system are more expensive but more efficient.

● relies on electricity

● the amount of hot water or solar water depends on the size of the system, the sun, proper
installation or the tilt angle of the collector.
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

2.3 solar electricity

● Converts direct sunlight to electricity

● Prime power source for space vehicles.

● During the last decade a strong market for urban homes as a result of advance solar
technology

● basically contain three items: modules that convert sunlight into electricity, inverters that
convert electricity to AC, and batteries

● Modern modules can be built into skylights and walls

● the energy produced by the solar can be sold back to the electricity company known as
net metering

● Grid connected PV system requires no battery, some have batteries for backup

● What type of system of purchase depends on the location, budget and so on

2.4 solar thermal electricity

● convert sun's heat into electricity

● Mostly used in large scale power plants to power cities or communities.

● concentrating solar power technologies convert solar into electricity by using mirrors to
focus sunlight on receiver

● The receiver transfer heat to a generator.

● Three types of CSP system: power tower, parabolic troughs and dish / engine system

● a power system uses large field of mirrors to concentrate sunlight in top of a tower to a
receiver
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

● parabolic concentrates the sun's energy through long parabolic mirrors; it heats up oil to
boil water in a steam generator.

● A dish / engine system uses like a satellite dish to focus the sunlight. it heats up fluid, the
fluid expands against a piston and produce mechanical power.

3 Hydrogen

● High in energy, use as fuel and only creates water as waste

● Most abundant element and most simple

● today's industry produce more than 4 trillion cubic feet of hydrogen annually

● produced through a process called reforming

● Hydrogen fuel cells offer tremendous potential to produce electrical power for distributed
energy system and vehicles.

● Eventually researchers would like to produce hydrogen from water using solar, wind, and
biomass and biological technologies

4 Hydropower

● Most mature and largest source of renewable energy

● convert flowing water energy to electricity (dam on a river)

● produce no air emission

● can disrupt wildlife and flow of river

 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

5 Geothermal energy

● The heat from earth’s core ( can reach 9000 F, 4000 miles below)

● can form underground reservoir of hot water or steam

● These reservoir can be used for electricity or heat buildings

● Geothermal heat pump can be taken advantage of the shallow ground's stable temperature
for cooling or heating building

5.1 Geothermal electricity production

● Geothermal power plant access the underground steam or hot water

● The steam or hot water is piped up to drive a steam turbine which powers an electric
generator

● Typically the water is returned and complete the renewable cycle

● Dry steam power plant draws from reservoir of steam

● Flash steam and binary cycle power plant draw from reservoir of hot water

5.2 Geothermal direct use

● A well is drilled into a geothermal reservoir, provides steam or hot water

● most pump the water through a heat exchanger

● Heat exchanger keeps the hot steam or water separated from the medium that needs to be
heated

● The working fluid will distribute the heat directly for usage through piping
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

● can be used to replace traditional heat source

● Also used in agriculture

5.3 geothermal heat pump

● Geothermal heat pump draw on this stable temperature (50 C - 70 C) to heal buildings

● a GHP discharges heat from the building to the ground in the summer

● in the winter, the process is reversed

● because GHP move heat between homes and earth, instead of burning fuel, its clean and
efficient

6 Wind energy

● Wind turbine operates more efficiently compared to old windmill

● The wind spins the turbine around a hub, that’s connected to a shaft which powers a
generator.

● generates electricity between 50KW to 1 / 2 MW

● Large projects can have hundreds of turbines over acres of land

● Small turbines (below 50KW) are used to charge batteries, electrify homes, pump water
and so on.

● Wind turbine can also be placed in the shallow water, near coastline to take advantage of
strong offshore wind

● increasing at an average rate of 25% per year

 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

7 ocean energy

● produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun's heat, and mechanical energy
from the tides and waves.

● Ocean thermal energy can be used for electricity generators.

● Electricity conversion energy of both tidal and wave energy usually involves mechanical
devices.

● a dam is typically used to convert tidal energy into electricity by forcing water through
turbines, activating generator.

● wave energy uses mechanical power, to directly activate a generator, or to transfer to a

working fluid, water or air, which then drives a turbine / generator
 OUMH 1103 Learning skills for open distance learner

Question 4

I use myVLE to help me in learning by downloading necessary notes for my subjects.

Look at the courses available and its content so I can plan my studies on which course to take
now or for next semester, check up on announcements to see if there is any changes on the finals
exam date for me to plan my studies, any new edit on notes for me to delete the old ones to avoid
any confusion. There is also an open forum to check up and see what other students are
struggling with, to ask the lecturers on what I don’t understand.
I use myINSPIRE to help me in learning by firstly creating an app for it so I can easily
access it, I use the courses I take and look at any notes or any updates I have missed out. I can
also check my grades so I can push myself more for the upcoming subjects and I can check all
the participants that are in the same subject for easier communication.
(174 words)