Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Modified Visual Essay Collaborative Process Reflection
Write a paragraph in which you reflect on (not simply summarize) your role in your group's collaborative process. How did you facilitate the collaboration? What would you do differently next time to better facilitate the collaboration? Be sure to reference specific examples from your group work.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Overall, I really enjoyed doing the collaborative visual essay project.
ReplyDeleteEven though my group did a good job working on this assignment, there are various aspects of the collaborative process that I could work on. I wasn't a very good listener and was a bit bossy. When someone was trying to share their idea, I didn't really pay attention and I'd keep advocating for my own. Part of being a good partner is taking in other people's viewpoints and ideas, even if you don't necessarily agree with them. This is an important skill that I should work on. Also, my group got into arguments towards the end. I should have tried harder to put an end to them by realizing how unproductive we were being. The time we spent arguing could have been used to work on the project. While we did have some flaws in our group work, we also had a lot of positive things going on as well. For example, we all worked together to come up with ideas for our pictures. This means that there wasn't one person controlling the whole project, which was nice. Secondly, when we disagreed on something, we'd make sure that everyone agreed on that subject before we moved on. This ensured that there was no one feeling left out. We also shared the work load pretty evenly. Each of us toyed with the pictures and shared ideas. This is extremely important, because it is what makes group work GROUP work. Lastly, we had fun. Part of a successful collaborative process is having fun with each other. Just because it's schoolwork, doesn't mean that it has to be so serious. There is room for having a laugh, as long as it doesn't distract from your work. I believe that our group did good job balancing that out. Next time, I will try to be a better listener, be less bossy, try not to get involved in arguments, take in other people's viewpoints, and be a better partner.
My group did not get the chance to fully finish the assignment today, but we do plan to finish it tomorrow and we have set a time to work on it. This is only one example demonstrating how our group consisted of collaborative problem solvers, myself being one of them. While taking photos, my phone ran out of storage and no one else had a phone we could take photos on so we borrowed another peer's device. I initiated this idea as well as took photos. I assumed somewhat of a leading role in this collaborative assignment and next time I am going to try to hand over some of the leading work to my other classmates. While I did control some of the project, I also asked for input and the opinions of my group mates throughout the entirety of the affair. An example of this is during our brainstorm of characteristics and photo options where I repeatedly asked input from my group members. Overall, I think I did a decent job of collaborating effectively to get work done, but in the future I will try to let go of the reins a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI had a great time doing this group project. I think, for the most part, our group did a good job accomplishing the goals we had set out for ourselves and getting past obstacles. For example, a few of the pictures that we had planned to take did not exist on campus for whatever reason. Aside from our overall product, there were definitely some things we could have worked on as a group. I think I needed to "go with the flow" a little more. It is good to be able know when an Idea is good or not, and accept it when it is decided not to be used. In other words, I need to not grow as attached to my Ideas. What is important is to find a balance between putting in no work and being bossy. I think for all of us at one point or another, we took complete charge, and were not as inclusive as we should have been. What happens is we have an idea in our heads that seems so amazing that nobody can stop you from executing it. And sometimes the finished product won't look nearly as good as it did in your head. This could come across as bossy, and one person will be doing all of the work, and the others do none. But what can be hard is to find the balance between that and not doing enough work, and putting it all on your group mates. I think I did a decent job of playing my role in the group. Overall, I wasn't bossing others around, but I still did my fair share of work. Next time, we would need to learn to accept each others ideas a little bit better, but also be able to make decisions on what to do and what not to do.
ReplyDeleteI had a group with Spencer. Overall it went pretty well until the end. We first decided to go up to the library to take pictures of an old dictionary and and we both agreed this would be a good picture for our slideshow. We brought it out to a deck and took our pictures. We then realized we were locked out of the library! We had to call Van to come and unlock us from this balcony. In the end we took good pictures of the book. Next we both decided to take a picture of trophy to show power. We disagreed on weather or not we should make the picture sideways or not. I said we should make the picture straight so it shows to stability, so he was persuaded. Next we took a picture looking down on Spencer and we did this with no problems. The main problem was in the end when we disagreed on whether or not all the pictures should be black and white or only the ones that were trying to portray old-fashioness. I said that we should make only the ones that are trying to portray old-fasionness be black and white. We disagreed for a few minutes, but then I gave in and just let him make all the pictures black and white.
ReplyDeleteI greatly enjoyed this group activity. Also, I thought my group worked very well together. At the beginning of our picture taking, we ran out of storage on the phone we were using. This was a bit stressful at first, but we decided to ask someone else for their phone. We then used that phone (which was a much newer model) and took pictures of what we thought displayed our character's traits. One of my favorite parts was just walking around campus and seeing other groups doing the same thing. My group agreed on all the things we did, and we had a great time. We stayed on track while also getting time to talk for a bit. Overall, I thought this was a fun collaborative experience.
ReplyDeleteI thought my group worked very well. Although we were down a person, the two of us remaining used our time wisely. We shared the work evenly and had extra time to take a few more photos. We also solved our problems quickly and efficiently. After not being able to find the computer lab, the folks in the Haega house directed us to the South Campus's equivalent; the photography room. This room demonstrated perfectly what we wanted it to. Instead of trying to find another idea for a picture, we solved our problem and were able to spend more time finding even more ideas for pictures.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the visual essay and felt that the collaborative aspect really helped make the project successful. I think my group did a good job at establishing our goals and then meeting them. After we decided on our character and character traits, my group started brainstorming different ways to represent these traits with photos. I feel like brainstorming is a good tool to use in a group because when brainstorming nobodies judging what you say so it allows for all ideas to be out in the open. After brainstorming, we went outside and 'photo brainstormed'. Basically what we did was take as many photos as we want to allow us to have many options when we make the slideshow. I don't feel like there was the explicit facilitation of collaboration, I feel like my partner and I just said what was on our mind. One problem with our brainstorm method is that it did take some time. Even though we did finish our project on time, we didn't get to do everything we would've liked to do like edit the photos.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed working with my group on the visual essay. Everyone in my group was very vocal about their opinions and what we should add and what we should not. My group and I were all cooperative and were able to decide a character. We selected our characteristics and with each characteristic, everyone had a unique idea for a way to represent it in a picture. While we were taking our pictures, we ran into some problems. We originally wanted to take a picture of the drawing and painting room in Boswell, but there was a class going on so we were back to square one. Each one of us kept on coming up with ideas, and if they did not work we would do something else. I think in that situation, we worked really well in brainstorming on the spot. Yes, we did have our disagreements on certain things, but we always came up with a way to combine the two into one. Overall, I think that the whole experience was a fun and it would not have been the same if it was a solo project. It almost felt like it was not a school assignment. It felt more like a fun collab project.
ReplyDeleteEven though I did not get to finish the project before I had to leave I still was able to glean some info on the creative process. In the fifteen minutes that I was able to work with my group we were able to scope out our locations and start taking shots. The day before we were able to decide on our character quickly and we all agreed on where and what we were going to take our shots on. Even though i was not able to actually help facilitate the photo shoot, i felt like our group worked well together from the preeshoot, and from what I can gather we worked well during the shoot. I have found that there are three core things that must happen for effective collaboration to take place. First the group must have a common goal and a game plan in mind. Next the jobs must be split up equally, if there aren't different jobs everyone must know what role they play in the group. Third everyone must accept and encourage new ideas and concepts. In my mind these are the three keys to perfect collaboration.
ReplyDeleteI thought the my group for this project worked very well. We were able to make decisions together easily most of the time especially when we chose what to shoot. We would through out ideas(brainstorm) and then at some point we would both click and we would have our photo. For example, when we were in the Hega house there were lots of cool old things, but when Calvin thought of the idea of the clock we both clicked. It was that easy. Everything was easy going until the end. At the end we didn't quite click when it came time to edit. Calvin, like the good partner he was, let me choose how to edit the photos. In general this project went well, but if their was one thing we should've done it would to have split up the jobs more evenly. Other than that everything was perfect and I think the final product is great.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this project and thought we got over the obstacle(s) smoothly and had fun in spite of it. The phone we were using ran out of storage, but we quickly found another phone and didn't get stuck on the problem. We all had a good and equal part in this project, one of us taking the photos, another arranging/setting up the shots and another providing muffins and ideas. I think we all contributed good ideas, and beautiful-talked those, and we worked well together in that respect. We were sort of able to apply beautiful talk to our project, and that was helpful, because when we talked in that way there was no arguing and lots of flow, cooperation and jokes. Next time we do a collaborative project, I think I would do the same because it went well, including the muffins.
ReplyDelete