WEEK 12
The final week!!! Today we have presented our posters to the tutors and the rest of the group. It has to be said as a group we are quietly confident with the work we have produced, and feel we know enough about what we are trying to achieve to hold a conversation and answer a number of questions about the workshop. We were very happy with the presentation of our poster, once it was printed. Although ours did look a little inferior compared to some of the huge posters Rashika had printed for some of the other groups! we still confident though! The question and answer session part of todays presentation all went smoothly and thankfully we were all confident in answering any questions posted to us by the tutors. All in all the project and the poster appears to have proved a success.
Now the course for this semester has ended and i have had time to reflect on my learnings over the semester and feel i have actually benefited a great deal more than i ever anticipated i would at the start of the course. I feel the most beneficial factors of the course have proved to be the multiple problem solving tools we can all take with us and hopefully us in some context in the future. For me personally however the biggest positive i will take from the course has been the improvement to my presentation skills. The fact i have been asked on a weekly basis to present my findings to the class has helped me improve my speaking in front of groups and will hopefully stand me in good stead when i'm required to do presentations for any number of subjects in the future.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
WEEK 11
sad as it was last week was our last problem solving task!!!! today we just had a general overview of what we need to achieve for the rest of the course, including our hand in dates. We were actually only in class for 20mins today which allowed us to crack on with other work we had due. As its a pretty hectic time at the minute with assignments coming at us left, right and centre!! fortunately for us our poster is all but finished, and we have kept reasonably upto date with our portfolio meaning the pressure isn't on us quite as much as it seems to be for other groups. To be honest i think all our group members have their minds on submissions for other courses at this present time! I feel we at some stage before next week just need to sit down as a group together and organise all our weeks work into one portfolio, Then hopefully that will all be sorted and we can finish and present our poster to finish the course!
sad as it was last week was our last problem solving task!!!! today we just had a general overview of what we need to achieve for the rest of the course, including our hand in dates. We were actually only in class for 20mins today which allowed us to crack on with other work we had due. As its a pretty hectic time at the minute with assignments coming at us left, right and centre!! fortunately for us our poster is all but finished, and we have kept reasonably upto date with our portfolio meaning the pressure isn't on us quite as much as it seems to be for other groups. To be honest i think all our group members have their minds on submissions for other courses at this present time! I feel we at some stage before next week just need to sit down as a group together and organise all our weeks work into one portfolio, Then hopefully that will all be sorted and we can finish and present our poster to finish the course!
WEEK 10
Ethics was the subject of the course today. A brief outline of the dilemna we were given is; Would you sell your product to a large company who has offered to pay 50% above retail price, even though this will mean you can no longer offer the product to 10 customers from the public who have already been promised the product at a 10% discount. Actually quite a difficult ethical dilemna to solve! Looking at the issue from many different angles has allowed us come up with multiple solutions to the issue. Suprisingly enough (or not) all of our group members actually felt a different approach was required to solve the problem. personally from the ofset i felt the most viable option would be to offer some form of comprimise to satisfy all parties. More important than the actual outcome itself was the process we went through as a group, comparing and discussing all our different opinions before reaching an agreement as to the best solution. i felt the biggest positve to come out of today was the high standard of the presentation we produced, and our groups presenting skills back in class. Today was one of the first times we all individually knew what we wanted to say to the class, and we were all able to present without the accompanyment of notes. I feel this was due to the fact qwe all had our own opinions on the situation, and were in a way arguing the case of our own opinions. I believe my confidence in the level of our work today was duely noted by the tutor. Atleast we hope so!
Ethics was the subject of the course today. A brief outline of the dilemna we were given is; Would you sell your product to a large company who has offered to pay 50% above retail price, even though this will mean you can no longer offer the product to 10 customers from the public who have already been promised the product at a 10% discount. Actually quite a difficult ethical dilemna to solve! Looking at the issue from many different angles has allowed us come up with multiple solutions to the issue. Suprisingly enough (or not) all of our group members actually felt a different approach was required to solve the problem. personally from the ofset i felt the most viable option would be to offer some form of comprimise to satisfy all parties. More important than the actual outcome itself was the process we went through as a group, comparing and discussing all our different opinions before reaching an agreement as to the best solution. i felt the biggest positve to come out of today was the high standard of the presentation we produced, and our groups presenting skills back in class. Today was one of the first times we all individually knew what we wanted to say to the class, and we were all able to present without the accompanyment of notes. I feel this was due to the fact qwe all had our own opinions on the situation, and were in a way arguing the case of our own opinions. I believe my confidence in the level of our work today was duely noted by the tutor. Atleast we hope so!
WEEK 9
Our problem solving focus today was the idea of using consensus as a decision making tool, Personally i felt from our efforts today it was actually quite an effective tool. As the focus of our consensus today we looked into professional bodies related to our companies project. As we are exploring the idea of a boat builders workshop, it seemed obvious to research any new Zealand marine professional bodies. This actually proved to be a difficult task as there were only one or two suitable options, meaning any comparative work between the options was very limited!! Personally i felt the idea of using consensus as a problem solving tool was very effective, especially within our group. The idea that consensus allows all our group members to have their say and express their opinions on the subject means we actually get to look at the issue in hand from a variety of perspectives. In todays case we basically all agreed on the best choice of PB, however we did still discuss all the options which proved effective. I actually believe we will use a similar system in weeks to come, as this tool seemed to suit the style of our group perfectly.
Our problem solving focus today was the idea of using consensus as a decision making tool, Personally i felt from our efforts today it was actually quite an effective tool. As the focus of our consensus today we looked into professional bodies related to our companies project. As we are exploring the idea of a boat builders workshop, it seemed obvious to research any new Zealand marine professional bodies. This actually proved to be a difficult task as there were only one or two suitable options, meaning any comparative work between the options was very limited!! Personally i felt the idea of using consensus as a problem solving tool was very effective, especially within our group. The idea that consensus allows all our group members to have their say and express their opinions on the subject means we actually get to look at the issue in hand from a variety of perspectives. In todays case we basically all agreed on the best choice of PB, however we did still discuss all the options which proved effective. I actually believe we will use a similar system in weeks to come, as this tool seemed to suit the style of our group perfectly.
Week 8
During course this week there were some problems with the internet system throughout unitec, this meant we were not given a problem solving task for the day. Instead my group decided our time would be best spent deveolping our poster. The poster is starting to come along nicely now, we have a general setup and lay out of what we would like to achieve. its realy starting to look nice! We really need to start developing the information we want to display on the poster now though. We have so much to say but dont want the poster to be too text heavy, so were currently in the process of deciding what our preferences for info are. A positive from today however is we have confirmed with the print shop our formatting of poster is all ok as we were worried about the specs of the poster. Hopefully the group can carry on developing the good start we have made over the next couple of weeks.
During course this week there were some problems with the internet system throughout unitec, this meant we were not given a problem solving task for the day. Instead my group decided our time would be best spent deveolping our poster. The poster is starting to come along nicely now, we have a general setup and lay out of what we would like to achieve. its realy starting to look nice! We really need to start developing the information we want to display on the poster now though. We have so much to say but dont want the poster to be too text heavy, so were currently in the process of deciding what our preferences for info are. A positive from today however is we have confirmed with the print shop our formatting of poster is all ok as we were worried about the specs of the poster. Hopefully the group can carry on developing the good start we have made over the next couple of weeks.
Monday, June 6, 2011
WEEK 7
During course the main focus this week was to look at another critical thinking problem solving technique. This was in the form of De Bono's six thinking hats. The system of hats, is to allow you to simply look at the issue in hand and gain six different perspectives on the issue. for example when thinking with the 'white hat' on you need to take a neutral view on the issue. In some ways i found today's task easy to relate to and a simple technique to use, however on the other hand my very limited knowledge of the treaty of Waitangi, meant my views on the issue were very limited so i actually spent a lot of time looking into the treaty itself and not actually contributing to much to the actual analysis of the issue in hand. having said that i did find the simplicity and the way you break the issue down using the 6 hats perspective a very simple and effective way of analysing a particular issue. Unfortunately this week as a group we were not really able to collaborate due to attendance, however we did all go away and do our own analysis and critical thinking, and have since then combined all our work into one document which is now looking good! On another note, we also received our second written assignments today, and in all honesty i was quite confident about the topic, as i have looked at something very similar in the previous year, as well as my confidence being high after gaining a very satisfactory mark for the first assignment.
During course the main focus this week was to look at another critical thinking problem solving technique. This was in the form of De Bono's six thinking hats. The system of hats, is to allow you to simply look at the issue in hand and gain six different perspectives on the issue. for example when thinking with the 'white hat' on you need to take a neutral view on the issue. In some ways i found today's task easy to relate to and a simple technique to use, however on the other hand my very limited knowledge of the treaty of Waitangi, meant my views on the issue were very limited so i actually spent a lot of time looking into the treaty itself and not actually contributing to much to the actual analysis of the issue in hand. having said that i did find the simplicity and the way you break the issue down using the 6 hats perspective a very simple and effective way of analysing a particular issue. Unfortunately this week as a group we were not really able to collaborate due to attendance, however we did all go away and do our own analysis and critical thinking, and have since then combined all our work into one document which is now looking good! On another note, we also received our second written assignments today, and in all honesty i was quite confident about the topic, as i have looked at something very similar in the previous year, as well as my confidence being high after gaining a very satisfactory mark for the first assignment.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
WEEK 6- The course is really starting to move ahead a quite a pace now. This is down to the fact, deadlines are fast approaching, along with the first written assignment based on the given case studies. I actually found the first assignment quite an interesting proposition and feel i did a good job of analysing my chosen case study, lets just hope my mark reflects my confidence! Back to today's lecture and we are now working on our final presentation posters for the collaborative section of the course. Today i learnt that getting good marks for a poster does not always mean its the most eye catching one, and that the information it has is just as, if not more important that pretty pictures. This was due to the fact we were given the opportunity to see some past students work, along with the given grade. funnily enough the most aesthetically pleasing poster was actually awarded a FAIL, however another piece of work which at first seemed less appealing actually got graded A. Lesson learned!! With the knowledge behind us that we were actually expected to produce an academic poster, as opposed to something a lot more basic, me and my group got hard to work on our presentation. Believe it or not our biggest struggle as a group was finding an appropriate program to even start to produce our poster, this was down to both our lack of knowledge and experience in using such programs, and also i feel our high expectations of what we actually want to achieve. After fumbling around for a couple of hours we finally decided on an appropriate program and got hard to work. My distinct role on this project, is based around what information we would like to display on our poster, as to date i think this is coming together pretty well, and from what I've seen the presentation is starting to look nice. Lets just hope we can publish a finished project that meets not only ours but the tutors high expectations!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)