In it to win it!

I personally think that Professor. Edward B Kurpis created an environment in the class here had very low power and left us in control.  He gave us the resources and encouragement to make our decisions. He did not play any direct role in group deliberation and allowed us to make decisions within a reasonable limit. This being said, he created an environment for us where each of us had to act in some way, because everyone had something at stake there.

Silence was broken by Vinny, who  suggested working in  groups. Nobody, including my humble self, supported his idea.  This caused Vinny’s withdrawal, which impacted my behavior in many ways. It is much harder to hear out 60 people than 5-10 structured group opinions.  

But everyone was ready to start expressing their opinion immediately and class began turning into chaos. A single leader took charge and I personally felt safer after that.

 I did not exactly like the way he was handling the situation. Please, don’t make it mean I could have done better, but he was not able to maintain a safe brainstorming setting.  5 minutes in the discussion I couldn’t sit in my chair any more. I acted according to a “compete to win “pattern.  I suggested the voluntary extra credit assignment, which was a part of the common agreement. I behave assertive, because my grade was at stake.  However, I am present to the fact that I was in it for everybody to win.

How this could be done differently? Groups... Perhaps. If we had more time. 

I am not sure of the outcome, but I would be interested to know what the result would be if professor would leave the room during the discussion?

Plan your work and work your plan

Hope you guys found this exercise useful, I did;-)

There were 8 members in our group. Working on the project we went through all the steps in the planning process. I think it comes  intuitively. 

  First, we defined our goal, which was to drop the egg from 10 feet  and not to break it.

Our Objective was to make such a structure out of tape and straws which will allow this n(our goal)  to happen.

We had several alternative strategies which were presented by different group members. We had 3 legible plans for action. After evaluating all three of them we determined their strengths and weaknesses. One of the three was to break the egg and take out the yolk. This idea was rejected by the professor. 

During the last period we analyzed the alternatives and came to the conclusion that we should use a synthesis of the two.

We implemented the plan successfully and reached our goal.

Team’s ultimate performance was effective. However, with better division of labor, we could have completed the task quicker and more efficient.

 It occurred to me that one member of our group was not engaged. 

On my part, I did not try to engage her in the process either. Possibly, she could have contributed to the team and benefited from the game herself.

One more time, great experience and great work team!!!