Reflecting on this SciFest process has made me realise that I completely failed with regard to groupwork. For the purpose of SciFest, the class was divided into four pairs, and it has been interesting to see the dynamics within those different pairs. Some groups worked hand in hand on all the stories, while others (such as myself and Arther)ended up working on our stories on our own.
Each individual in the group was meant to produce one SciFest new media package and one photo slideshow - yet you were supposed to work on these stories as a pair. I found this concept a difficult to wrap my mind around, because I felt unsure about what level of investment Arther should have in my stories and vice versa.
This type of group work is best suited to a situation where the two indivuals are skilled in different areas and thus can assist one another in producing wholistic multi-media stories. This was problematic in our case because apart from my experience with photography, we were on equal footing with writing and audio recording/ editing skills.
On the first day of SciFest we headed out on every story together but I clearly felt the division between "my stories" - the ones i had come up with - and the one's Arther wanted to cover. He came with me to a couple of my lectures, but didn't really contribute anything to them or my follow up interviews and i largely was the same with his.
After the first day we ended up focusing on our different stories and apart from advising Arther at his photo story shoot, sub editing one of his stories and taking a couple of photos for him, i wasn't of any real assistance to him. Similarly, he has not contributed to either of my stories.
I attribute this to a failure on both our parts to fully utilise what could have been the benefits of working in a group. I really felt the struggle of working alone at some stages in the process, while in other ways it seemed more natural to me than having to take another individual into account along the way.
I know i will be taken to task on this issue and i can only say it has been yet another learning curve along the tumultuous road of SciFest. It has taught me to make group work arrangements from the beginning and develop a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities from the outset. Similarly, it would have helped if i had gained a clearer understanding from my lecturer regarding group work and the division of workload on the four stories between the two of us.
The best i can do is to work towards being a better group worker in the future!
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2 comments:
I think it was Satre who said " l'enfer, c'est les autres" or "hell is other people".
Groupwork remains a challenge for us all - in our study and work life.
Personality type has a lot to do with determining the kinds of strategies that we adopt in these circumstances.
Notwithstanding, group work was and will continue to be necessary as rich multimedia reporting (as opposed to just online video which uses auditory and visual modalities) is complex, time-consuming and requires more than one pair of hands. We are also working with fewer hands than teams did last year due to class size and the need to ensure skills transfer.
The time constraints of a bootcamp is not necessarily most useful for producing the best quality work - but it does provide a learning experience that will usefully inform future decisions. Those who rose to the occasion - and you did - will only improve with successive projects.
Thanks for rising to the occasion.
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