Friday, October 10, 2008

Since the 8 September 2008, where my group “ Brad’s Bad Children” , first sat down for a formal meeting, discussing the possible research topics and the allocation of designations for the research project, my group has indeed learnt from one another during the one month spent writing the report.

For instance, my group members and I had varied writing styles and thus , when combining the different portions of the report which we were each assigned, it was not an easy task as the report tend not to be cohesive. Thus, extra time was spent in editing to adopt one particular writer’s style in order to ensure the smooth flow of the report.




My group's favourite meeting haunt (:


Another challenge we met, which I assumed most of other group members likewise faced too is packed schedules. Adding on to that, some of us had three to four mid term exams during the week before we handed in our first draft, thus we had to juggle many “variables” in order to ensure that there was sufficient time to do the report and to prepare for the exams.

Teamwork was thus demonstrated in overcoming this challenge as my group mates helped one another out whereby when one has finished the assigned task, he/she will help the other who was facing a difficulty in completing the task due to the large workload.
How sweet !!

Thus, to summarize, if I had to comment on strength and weakness of my group,

Strength :
Everyone would put in the extra effort to source for information for others in order to make everyone’s workload lighter.

Weakness :
We tend to lose focus easily and maybe rather disorganized. However, we managed to overcome this by deciding on the agenda of the meeting and ensuring that the objectives of each project meeting were met.

In retrospect, working together with three people of different personalities has enabled me to realize the importance of effective communication. It is the channel to ensure tasks assigned are carried out efficiently and a solution to any disagreements that occurred due to differing opinions.

My group learnt to employ this tool, which thus has enabled us to come up with a report, which we are most satisfied with.


9 comments:

Gwen said...

Hi! I must say your group definitely have an interesting name.

You had discussed the relevant challenges which my group faced too! I agreed that every each of us have a different style of writing. It is a challenge to ensure that the report has only one voice. Must efforts and time are required to do that.

Anyway, you have a nice meeting place! I guess it would accelerate the progress of work! :)

Brad Blackstone said...

Thanks, Hannah, for this critical reflection. I'm glad everything went well with your group. To quote you, "how sweet"!

Now I look forward to reading the report!

Desmond said...

Thanks for the post, Hannah!

That was a very concise summary of your research project experience. It is nice to hear how your fellow group mates are willing to go the extra mile to render assistance.

I think most groups faced the same problems of writing cohesion and busy schedules. However, I don't think too much can be done about those, except maybe to have an editor that would integrate all 4 voices into a final uniformed voice for the research project.

Thats my two cents.

Cya on Monday!

cheers,

desmond

qwergo said...

Packed schedules and difference... sounds so similar to my scenario to haha. It is challenging, but I guess when everyone works hard together to solve the problem, the warm, fuzzy feeling you get at the end is defenitely worth it! Right?

Benjamin Ng said...

Hello Hannah,

I found myself nodding with agreement when you mentioned ‘packed schedules’. Time was definitely a luxury we did not have throughout the duration of this report, and I am still amazed at how we managed to churn it out.

I also agree with you about the team’s weakness. I guess having so many other irrelevant things to talk about (such as Yilei’s photo from JC) were always going to be distracting but I’m glad that we overcame that eventually.

Our effective communication definitely played a large part in getting this report done. That being said, there was actually a period I was starting to get really bogged down with other projects and somehow the three of you seemed to naturally pick up the pace to cover up for me even though I didn’t say anything, for which I am very grateful for!

Kheng Aik said...

How come your group has such a neat name? I wish mine did as well. :(

Anyway, I agree with you on the packed schedules as well as the necessity of teamwork in such a report writing. If my teammates weren't there as well, I would have been overwhelmed by the enormity of such a task in so short a time.

Here's to fantastic team members as well as unhealthy foods. :)

vijani said...

I like the name of your group Hannah...:)

and I know how tough it must have been to tackle the time and meet up at a convenient time for all..everyone is busy especially when we have final year students in a group..what else can we expect..

I like to read your report..I happened to read it during the peer review..and it really sounds interesting..:)

2D 2012 said...

Hello !!

Hmm. seems like you guys are very interested in my group's name (:
Actually, there is a story behind it.

Here goes :
One upon a time, Benjamin, Yilei, Yuk Lum and Hannah forgot to bring their ESbook to class. yes, all four of them actually forgotten.

Brad walked past, and saw what happened. He shook his head and said " Aiyoh,Bad children ! Bad children !"

So that's how our group name came about.

Up next is the preparation for the oral presentation. I believe teamwork will come into play again for eah and every group.
I am looking forward to it (:

yilei said...

Having an agenda prepared for every meeting was really useful. They made our meetings focused and organized and productivity was greatly increased!

I too feel that taking initiatives in doing the report saved us a lot of precious times as we willingly covered and complemented one another. This is probably why we went through the report quite smoothly even though everybody’s schedule was so packed.

Had a lot of fun working together! But please delete my JC photo from your laptop, it’s really….><