An Eggs-cellent Way to Plan
First of all, I want to say that my team was the best team I have ever worked in during my entire school life. Seriously, I have never seen so much enthusiasm, dedication, and creativity as in this team. I am still wondering what moved us to be our best. Was it the 5 points? ... Or was it the planning stage? ... can it be the planning? ... i am not sure. Now I wish I finished that chapter on group dynamics. Was it the "planning" planing or was it that the planning helped us to get to know each other by sharing ideas, which in turn contributed to a better team work? In a word, did the planning "create" our team so that the team could create the contraption?
I wish Professor Kurpis could comment on that.
So, anyway. We definitely went through Step 1. We discussed among ourselves and asked Professor about the time constraints, the materials, and how the end product should function.
I think that we completed Step 2 as well . We identified the resources available to us, such as straws and mask tape; as well as resources clearly unavailable to us us, such as scissors : )
I think we skipped Step 3. We did not develop several strategies. Our primary goal was to come with one solid strategy that would work for sure. Maybe if we had more time, we could come up with more than one plan.
In Step 4 we did talk about the details of implementation but we did not divide the roles. The role division would have to be done by the team captain but we didn't have one because we did not need one.
I think Step 5 was the best part. As soon as we got our hands on the materials, brilliant ideas on how to connect the straws, adjust the shape, and strengthen the structure started popping up! Amazing! If you ask me what prompted such creativity and excellent team work, I don't know.
The Unbreakable was one of the best contraptions and that what matters. Great job, guys!
posted by Anastassia @ 5:53 PM
9 Comments
9 Comments:
Hi, its great the you had such a wonderful experience. I always struggle with group work, it feels like someone is trying too hard and someone is not trying at all. What was it about your group this time that mad it so good, except the enthusiasm? You said there was no captain, but was there a leader, or someone organizing all of you? Also I'm not really sure what you are saying in your opening paragraph, sorry. Anyways, I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed this so much, hopefully the professor will give us more crazy fun stuff to do :)
Olya,
Thank you for the post.
Never mind about the first paragraph. It's just a free flow of thoughts.
I think that our team was guided by the time constraints rather than a person.
I am very intrigued by your blog. You seemed to have found a group where everyone was on the same page which is extremely rare. I still have yet to find that group. Also, it seems your group worked effortlessly and the creation of your contraption just came together and succeeded. I believe your team has all the qualities you stated; enthusiasm, dedication, and creativity. Plus a little incentive never hurts.
Andy,
Thank you very much for your comment. The success of our group was definitely due to fact that we all trusted each other.
Anastassia
Hi Anastassia
You asked me to comment on group dynamics and so I shall. We will be talking more about grops later in the semester, after we have more group activities under our belt.
I believe that managing group dynamics will lead you to being better planners, because you are able to communicste, motivate and trust one another. This allows you to more effectively understand the goals, evaluate resources, come up with alternatives, etc. The planning process itself will not make you more effective group members, because so much more goes into group effectiveness than the systematic structure the planning process provides.
I hope that gives a bit of insight. We'll talk more later.
--prof K
Hey Anastassia,
It is so great that you like working with a group who agreed on doing one thing without any kind of trouble. Otherwise, people waste their time on finding what is right and what wrong. The way you have right about your group seems like you had a great experience with them. I hope that next time you work with same group in class and with same kind of enthusiasm and co-ordination.
Wow, you were satisfied with your group work. You said that all members in your group had much enthusiasm, dedication, and creativity. haha.It sounds like you found the best team member.That's really important thing. Sometimes you could work with someone who is not enthusiastic. It's really bad sign..
As for my group, they were great,too. I could see they were all into it and even felt that they were so excited.haha,,we yelled each other with joy after we made device.
you wondered what moved you to be your best. However,by reading your blog, I could feel you went through all the planning steps. That's why you could make it.
Congratuation on winning ~~
Good luck for this semester.
Congrats on having such a great team. Its rare to find enthusiasm, dedication and creativity with so many people in the group! My team also had a lot of enthusiasm and dedication but I guess we lacked a bit of creativity. It seems like everything worked out smoothly and I hope your future group projects goes as well as this one did. :)
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