Professor Kurpis introduced to us our new topic of the week - Decision Making. He approached this topic by giving us a new activity on Monday (March 15th). Last week, our class took our first exam, and most of us were not satisfied with the grades we got. The task was simple: come up with a solution that will satisfy 100% of the class.
In this situation, I took a compromise approach. Everyone wants to reach the same goal, getting a higher grade and making the next exam easier for each of us to take.
In the beginning, the professor allowed us to make the decision as a class, and everyone must come to a 100% agreement, and we have until 7:05 PM to make the choices. Everything was given to us, but what held us back was agreeing with each other.
Everyone yelled suggestions across the room, but what really helped was that a student had volunteered to facilitate this decision making process. She really helped mediate the situation, and without her, we would have been arguing and yelling the whole time. there were a like of people who would compete to win, and many of those who are in the avoidance approach. One student in particular wanted to collaborate into groups, but the entire class disagreed with this idea. It was funny, because Prof K told us that this method was actually better at achieving a goal.
My part as a compromiser was that I believed everyone should be equal because we all need to make the same decision before handing it to the professor. I actually agreed with almost every suggestion listed on the board. The only thing that made me a little upset was that someone in the class did not believe in an open book exam. I agree that having an open book exam is time consuming and messy, but it would be great as a reference tool. You can always take the exam, then go back to check if your answers are correct. It would work if you're prepared, which you should be for every single one of your exams.
In the end, we decided to drop the lowest of the two test grades and double the highest and leave the format of the test to the discretion of the professor. This final decision doesn't seem so bad, and it benefits everyone, including Prof K.
I'm not a leader-type of person because I don't know how to take initiative. I am what you call a follower, because I like to learn before I do something. If I don't know how to do something, I'll only just wait until I do know. Therefore, the collaborating method is the best choice for me to interact in a group to make a decision.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Humpty Dumpty, not an eggs-cellent plan
Class project: plan a design to protect your egg from break after a 10-ft fall and execute the plan.
Professor K assigned us a task to make a plan on how we will be creating this design and building it so that the egg will be protected. Before beginning, we were told that the supplies were 8 straws and 2 feet of tape and the design must show at least 50% of the egg. Another challenge is that we were not allowed to touch the materials while planning so that our team will learn to organize an effective plan. The time limit for planning was 25 minutes long, and the building process was only 10minutes.
Step 1: Define your goals and objectives
My group definitely began with this step. We knew what we wanted to do and when our deadline was. What we needed to do was create a design that was effective in protecting the egg from breaking when we drop it on the floor. We knew we were given 25 minutes to continue working on our plan.
Step 2: Determine your resources and current status vis-à-vis objectives
We understood our supplies were limited to only 8 straws and 2 feet of tape, and the rule is to make sure that the egg is at least 50% visible. Most of us spoke about our ideas, whereas some we're just going along with whoever was speaking. Something that held us back was that a few of our group members strongly believed their design was better and they refused to see that the other ideas might work or that it might be better to incorporate all the ideas.
Step 3: Develop several alternative strategies
One idea was to was the straws all around the egg so it would cushion the fall. Another idea was to make the straws stick out of the egg so it would look like the egg is going to run away on many legs. Another idea is to create some sort of basket for the egg to fall into. All these ideas a fun and crazy, but would they work? The first idea might work. The second idea would not work because the straws are too flexible and would bend right when it hits the floor. The third idea would have worked if we had more time to create the fort.
Step 4: Make a tactical plan.
The plan that most of us decided on was the to go through with the first idea. Our flaw was that we didn't elect a leader, and everyone argued our way through the design. This step was halfway done.
Step 5: Implement the plan and evaluate results
Our group was very good at contributing ideas and building the egg contraption, but our organization was messy. We had a few designs in mind and we decided to confirm one of the designs when we get the materials. If I could, I would definitely redo this task with all the planning steps.
Mostly we failed during the 10 minutes. We had a hard time getting the quiet group members to contribute. They had to be told what to do, while the ones with the ideas wanted to go forth with his or her own plan. We went through with every step in the planning process, but it was very sloppy. We are suppose to be a team of one, and that was what we should have expressed in the beginning of the planning phase.
Overall, I had a fun experience :)
Professor K assigned us a task to make a plan on how we will be creating this design and building it so that the egg will be protected. Before beginning, we were told that the supplies were 8 straws and 2 feet of tape and the design must show at least 50% of the egg. Another challenge is that we were not allowed to touch the materials while planning so that our team will learn to organize an effective plan. The time limit for planning was 25 minutes long, and the building process was only 10minutes.
Step 1: Define your goals and objectives
My group definitely began with this step. We knew what we wanted to do and when our deadline was. What we needed to do was create a design that was effective in protecting the egg from breaking when we drop it on the floor. We knew we were given 25 minutes to continue working on our plan.
Step 2: Determine your resources and current status vis-à-vis objectives
We understood our supplies were limited to only 8 straws and 2 feet of tape, and the rule is to make sure that the egg is at least 50% visible. Most of us spoke about our ideas, whereas some we're just going along with whoever was speaking. Something that held us back was that a few of our group members strongly believed their design was better and they refused to see that the other ideas might work or that it might be better to incorporate all the ideas.
Step 3: Develop several alternative strategies
One idea was to was the straws all around the egg so it would cushion the fall. Another idea was to make the straws stick out of the egg so it would look like the egg is going to run away on many legs. Another idea is to create some sort of basket for the egg to fall into. All these ideas a fun and crazy, but would they work? The first idea might work. The second idea would not work because the straws are too flexible and would bend right when it hits the floor. The third idea would have worked if we had more time to create the fort.
Step 4: Make a tactical plan.
The plan that most of us decided on was the to go through with the first idea. Our flaw was that we didn't elect a leader, and everyone argued our way through the design. This step was halfway done.
Step 5: Implement the plan and evaluate results
Our group was very good at contributing ideas and building the egg contraption, but our organization was messy. We had a few designs in mind and we decided to confirm one of the designs when we get the materials. If I could, I would definitely redo this task with all the planning steps.
Mostly we failed during the 10 minutes. We had a hard time getting the quiet group members to contribute. They had to be told what to do, while the ones with the ideas wanted to go forth with his or her own plan. We went through with every step in the planning process, but it was very sloppy. We are suppose to be a team of one, and that was what we should have expressed in the beginning of the planning phase.
Overall, I had a fun experience :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)