For this post, look at Appendix 2 of the skill builder Documenting Reports 6: Peer Review. Use the questions there as a
guide for writing about one aspect of your learning experience, be that your success in teamwork, communication amongst
your group, problems encountered, etc
Let’s face it! We all have cursed under our breath, vented our frustration out and raked our brains to perfect this research project. And my my, can I tell you that despite all this tedious and time-consuming project that we have to do, I’ve thoroughly came out of it with a positive experience. It wasn’t a smooth ride though. We had some minor scares and a whole lot of editing along the way. However, my group mates (Huimin and You Fei) are pretty satisfied with the report so far.
When it comes to communicating with my group members, I had my reservations at first. After all, they were really good friends and I may feel really awkward just being in the group. However, there wasn’t a moment where I was made feel uncomfortable. Assigning of task was simple and most of our meetings were very focused. We got most of our work done on time and if any one of us slipped up, there is always another who are ready to solve the mistake. Hui Min was great at spotting all my grammar mistake (Yup, all that maths has totally made my English rusty!) and updating the report. You fei was really good at phrasing out our sentences, given that Hui Min and me had a hard time trying to express our opinions on paper. Well as for me, I tried not to be my usual ‘klutzy’ self and since I was much more familiarize with the topic, I tried to fill the group in with details. Everyone was pretty much a team player and not any of us had any major attitude that would have caused problems in the group.
In terms of research, the Internet was a great source and I also emailed some links of some local arts scene WebPages so that the group would take a look at. There was also no problem crafting the survey questions, as we just had to cut out those that we didn’t want. We had to spend a whole night mass emailing the entire NUS Science students since our deadline was drawing near and we have not reached 100 respondents. Let’s just say emailing a whole faculty of students was really tiring! However, our first real scare was when we could not access our survey result. I remembered vividly when Hui Min called during dinner and said we had to pay US$25 each just to access to it. Apparently, the three of us were so engrossed in the number of respondents that everytime we logged in to Zoomerang, none of us spotted the notice in red. However, we managed to contact Zoomerang office and they were nice enough to extend our membership for a week so that we can access our result. That incident really had us on edge but with a stroke of luck, we recovered from it. The report was the dreaded part of the project; partly because something is always due in every lesson and that it clashes with all our exams. We cringed everytime we got our report back and saw all the purple markings all over the paper. Since it has been ages since I wrote a report, I was glad that I had the textbook and the 7C’s of writing to guide me.
Our upcoming team project is our oral presentation and I can’t wait for that. I like presentations as compared to writing but I have some problems in it. Like I said in my 1st post, my major problem was finding a balance between professional and informality so that the audience doesn’t go ‘ZZZ’. The non-verbal cues that I learnt earlier in the module may come in handy and some of the writing methodology may help in making my presentation slide. Oh well, we have to see how it goes later on.
I did enjoy working with my group and pretty much like our project topic. =)
Just a little side-note, do give the local arts scene a try! They have some good works and some of them are recognized internationally. If you are into films, try Eric Khoo’s 12 Storey or there is always Army Daze. By far, Eric Khoo is the best Singapore filmmaker. Or try check out some local music! There's some great music under WakeMeUpMusic, a local records label!
6 comments:
Hi Illya, I agree with you that the project is really tedious. However, having good project mates who help you with the editing, phrasing and ideas, you will know that you are not alone. Therefore, being able to push yourself more to achieve the goal of completing the project as you do not want to let them down. Having effective communication is important as well because it allows us to get things done as we will be able to split up the tasks and assign the best man for completing the task.
Hi Illya, after reading through you blog post, I can see that you and your team members have persevered and succeeded in conquering the research project after overcoming all odds.
It is good that you can recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your group members so that each of you can help to compensate for whatever that is lacking and make your team stronger and more complete in a sense. This will definitely enhance your team spirit and the interpersonal relationships among all of you because this clearly indicates the self-awareness, self-honesty and empathy that each of you possesses.
I was surprised that Zoomerang got such a problem as my group was using Survey Monkey and we did not encounter any problem with the survey program. The account that your group created for the survey was not a free account? I thought that Zoomerang was a free survey program... Paying USD25 to see your survey results can really be quite traumatic...
Anyway, this research project is really a test of good teamwork and communication skills because without any of it, it will likely be more difficult to complete the report and the outcome experience will have been more negative and unpleasant with conflicts arising. Hence, I can see that your group really does have the teamwork and effective communication skills required to tackle this project.
I think Zoomerang has a free and a paid version. I've used both and the main differemce is the survey results never expire (and you can download them / create cool charts) with the paid version. I like them better than S Monkey because they are owned by a large market research company and I feel I can trust them more with my data - anyhow - just my 2 cents!
Hi Illya, I totally agree that this is quite draining doing this project, especially when it clashes with our mid-term exam. It's definitely a test on our time management skill. I guess there's always some hiccups while doing any project. But I'm glad that your group had managed to solve all the problems that you guys have met. It's also nice to see that you guys work so well together where each of you contributed in any ways you are able to.
Anyway, give yourself a pat on the back for the hard work done.
Hi Illya, I think there are certain difficulties we have to encounter in all projects. How fortunate that you get to work with two lovely groupmates. I like the idea that three of you have strength in different field and are able to help each other on different matters. It is also better to have a group of people with different strength than to have the same type of group members. This may add more interesting elements to your report.
I can see how passionate you are regarding your topic on local arts. Alright, I think I shall pay more attention on Singapore local art from now on. Looking forward to see your presentation.
Hi Illya,
Thanks for the honest, informative and reflective post.
I'm really happy to know that you had a positive experience out of "this tedious and time-consuming project".
As Chen Xin has said, looks like you're quite passionate about the arts here. I must confess I have not been to an arts event in ages. I actually do like going for musicals, local performances, etc. Hope to be able to do it when I'm freer :-)
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