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?
Katya hello:)
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you, that there wasn't really enough time for discussion and it felt awkward to come up with a conclusion in that short period of time. During the debate, I was thinking for professor to give us a time to go home think and vote for the options that we had. But since we didn't have options in hand, we had to come up with the it in the class, as well we made a decision. Your extra credit assignment suggestion was great! Two thumbs up.
First, good idea on the extra credit assignment. Second, I agree about the grouping of the people to make it a little more democratic. As for the time factor, I think that was the whole point of this thing. To give us a chaotic scenario and see how well we can deal with the situation. Going home and thinking about it would be too easy lol All in all, you did what you had to do, stick up for what you wanted and it payed off. Some people were actually upset that we had an extra credit assignment. Then again those people have deeper issues than what was going on with that class lol
ReplyDeleteAfter the process was complete, and once I started to write in my blog I realized that Group discussions could have been more beneficial, by allowing many more people put ideas and thoughts forward. Kudos to Vinny for coming up with that idea, critical thinking is important. Second, I would like to thank you for the extra credit part, that was a great way to boost our grade. I favored more of a compromise approach, but with few people completely against ANY ideas, I felt that I had to play my part in approaching them and letting them know that other people's grades and greater good are at stake. I like my stake well done, and WELL DONE to you for your efforts in helping us all!! lol
ReplyDeleteI agree that Prof. Kurpis did not present any power over the group and left us in control. I was looking at his reactions and at one point he was getting upset. I agree that the best solution was to divide the class in groups and have everyone to decide.
ReplyDeleteWhen the professor said that he will let us to decide on this proposal i thought he was playing. This was a great opportunity were we will no get to another class. I do agree that the groups would helped a lot.
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