Okay, I have a bone to pick. Unlike last semester, I am not going to hold my tongue, or in this case, my fingers. This semester I am going to take advantage of the reflective blog forum and express what I am really feeling.
I am upset and, more importantly, I am disappointed. I feel that most, but not all, of my classmates let me down with their assignment proposals.
Reading their proposals I found myself asking the following questions:
1) Did they forget that this is an emerging educational technologies course?
2) Did they even read the Assignment Specifications?
If they did read them, 3) Did they purposefully or accidentally overlook the part that reads "Relevant to emerging technologies"?!?!?
And 4) What about the part that clearly spells out the need for the proposal to (and again I quote from the assignment page) "Address[...] higher levels of cognitive learning (according to Bloom's Taxonomy) and utilize critical thinking skills"?!?!?
Seriously, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!
Please do not get me wrong. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. As I sit here writing this reflective blog entry and reading once again the instructions that I admonishingly request my classmates read, I noticed that my group's proposal could have been done better too. Our proposal could have been clearer on the sort of deliverable or learning object it will produce.
But even having said that, at least my group remembered that we are taking a graduate level course in emerging educational technologies!
And speaking of groups, I want to take this opportunity to write about my group and the experience of working on this assignment proposal together.
It was like Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. It was "the best of times and the worst of times."
One of the members was totally on the ball. She took charge and ran things for our group. She caught the things that I and the other member missed. Her efforts clearly made our group more than the sum of its parts. Thanks to being able to work with her, I clearly saw for the first time the up side to working in groups.
Last semester I worked with a number of good group members. However, none ever reached the positive, contributory, and motivating level of this one group member. It really was an honor and a positive learning experience to work with such a highly functioning and focused classmate.
In contrast, the other group member seemed the proverbial "yin" (the dark side) to the first member's "yang" (the sunny/light side). She was so focused and devoted to her own point of view that she seemingly would not or could not accept a different point of view. Nor would or could she work with us in our efforts to accomplish our 2/3 agreed upon course of action.
That is not to say that she did not try. Oh, she made a great effort. I just do not think that we were all on the same page. Heck, I do not think that we were even in the same forest. Other than being in the same group and at loggerheads with one another, there really was not much of an exchange of ideas or positive cooperative energy.
They say that experience is what you get when you do not get what you want. I believe that is a true statement. The group dynamic was not what I wanted. I do not believe that it was what any of us wanted. We all wanted to work together and to succeed as a team. We all did work hard. That was not the problem. The problem was that we could not come to a meeting of the minds. We were never united as a focused team. At least we gained some more experience working in groups.
Despite the fact that our group's proposal received the lowest number of votes, and despite the fact that our group was not united in either its ideas or efforts, thanks to the colossal efforts of both myself and especially the "yang" member of our group, I believe that our group's proposal was one of the best generated by this assignment. It deserves to be selected.
Of course, it will not be selected. If it were selected, in order to complete the proposal, we, the students of ETEC 647E would have to read the instructions. That, it seems, is just too much to ask!
Don,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts and comments regarding our group assignment. I wonder if you could elaborate more on what you would define "emerging technology" to be. To me, web 2.0 and mobile apps are still consider emerging technology since many educators are not using them in the class room, much less utilizing its potential. As one of my professional goals is to provide support for teachers and students to integrate appropriate tech tools into the classroom, I find it's easier when the tools are simple to use. With that in mind, I do agree with you that some groups missed the mark with higher level thinking.
You're also right to point out that group dynamic can make or break the final product. When group members don't gel or agree on the idea, it's hard to be successful. I have definitely experienced my fair share of poor group dynamics. I think it comes down to compromise. All relationships are give and take. I thought your group had a great idea, but the assignment you've proposed was not very clear in its instruction and what the final product/deliverable should be. But then again, the group assignment itself was rather unclear in nature, and very open-ended... so it's up for interpretation.
Best,
Nan