Group Work

Always the best part of group work, right?

Back in high school, I used to HATE group work because I would always get stuck in those groups where everyone would look at me and say “Well Julia, what do we do?”, or even worse, they would just sit there and wait until someone told them what they were going to be doing. I would always despise this because it turned into a project that I was running that everyone else would get credit for. Since I myself wanted a good mark, I would end up doing most of the work anyway. Don’t say I didn’t try, either. I would always ask the other group members if they had any ideas, input, etc. and I would continue to get blank stares. Then I was right back where I started. Doing the majority of the project solo. Grrrr…….

ANYWAY…throughout the years of strenuous group work, I developed some skills for getting other people to contribute to these group projects. I believe the main ones are taking control, listening, and asking questions.

If no-one stepped up to take control, I fulfilled this role. I find that it’s hard for a group to function without some form of control. If there is no-one starting things off, bringing up discussions, asking questions, etc. then nothing gets done. Due to the fact that I was in crappy groups in high school, I have a lot of experience with this to the point where it almost becomes second nature to me.

Hearing what other people in the group have to say (if they say anything at all) is key because that’s what makes it GROUP work, not YOU work. To be clear, I don’t mean just listening to the other people talk, I mean actively listening. This involves hearing what the other person has to contribute, understanding what they mean, and responding. Initially, I had issues with listening because I was in so many unfortunate situations that I started to believe that no-one had anything intelligent to contribute and I was going to be forced to do it all myself anyway. Yes, I recognize that this isn’t exactly a nice way of thinking, but believe me, I was in a LOT of s***ty groups. As my peers grew older and a bit more mature, their ideas began to appear and I discovered that these people actually had really good ideas!

When you ask a question, it opens the floor for the rest of the group to contribute. This is super important, like listening, because it almost forces the other group members to speak. When you ask a question and nobody answers, everyone starts to feel awkward so someone speaks to break the silence. Sometimes you end up in groups where no-one breaks that awkward silence. That’s fun. Most of the time, asking questions is a great facilitator and I’ve learned how to use this tactic for getting other group members to speak. I think it works pretty well.

Signing off in 3…2…1…

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Bloom’s Taxonomy

Alright, long story short here:

Once upon a time there was this guy named Benjamin Bloom and he developed something called “Bloom’s Taxonomy” which basically explains the stages and requirements of the thinking process. Then later, two of his students came along and decided it wasn’t good enough, so they revised it. The end.

Oh yes, I should probably mention what those stages of the thinking process were. In order from lowest to highest, they are:

Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating

If you would like a pretty picture of the subdivisions and such, please look below.

So, I see no issue with any of these categories. I fully agree with the revision that his students made. The reason for the ordering of the specific skills or stages is that you cannot move onto one without first conquering the previous stage. So basically if you can’t remember anything, you’re screwed.

Personally I find that I have no issue getting through the first three stages. I have a pretty decent memory that likes to remember the most random things, I possess the ability to understand the information by making connections, and I have no issue applying the knowledge to area of my life. However, I find myself a bit stuck once I reach the analysis portion. I find that I sometimes require a bit of help from someone else in order to properly and fully analyze a piece of knowledge. This may be due to the fact that I can doubt myself sometimes. I may believe that my own personal analysis is not appropriate or totally off the beaten path (which has been the case on more than one occasion), so I seek the assistance of other minds to help me fully analyze something. I don’t, however, view this as an entirely bad thing because when two or more minds collaborate, you get a full rounded picture as opposed to a narrow minded portion of it.

After the whole process of analyzing is complete, I have little issue advancing through the next stages. I have a (bad?) habit of always seeking perfection, so I am constantly critiquing, checking, and judging my own thoughts, knowledge, and creations. After I have attained as close to perfection as I can, I get to move on to my favourite part, which is the creating. Sometimes I rush just to get to this part because I like it so much.

I’m still not good with conclusions…so I’m just going to end it riiiiiigggggght…..

now.

Signing off in 3…2…1…

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21st Century Skills

As a digital native, there has never been a point in my life where computers and the internet did not exist. With that being said, I have should developed a set of what we can call “21st Century Skills” when it comes to technology usage. Let’s make a list, shall we?

KNOWING WHAT TO PAY ATTENTION TO

You can imagine how important this is. Lets pretend you are writing a multiple page assignment on cats (yes, we are back to cats again) and you are browsing through many web pages looking for the information you need. When reading through all these websites about cats, you need to be aware of what you are looking for. Are you needing to know how to train a cat? Care for a cat? Breed cats? By knowing exactly what you are looking for, you will be able to determine what information is useful when you come across it. I find I can have some trouble with this sometimes, but I think that is because there are times when I do not know exactly what I’m looking for.

ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH GOOD INFORMATION FROM CRAP INFORMATION

Let’s play a game. Just a small game. It won’t take much of your time, I promise.
Which website will give you good information and which one will give you crap information?

#1: Why is the sky blue?
#2: Why is the sky blue?

Okay…so that one was easy. But what about this one?

#1: Why do dogs spin in circles before they lie down?
#2: Why do dogs spin in circles before they lie down?

Not so easy, right? It’s hard to know what information is actually credible. The way that I have been able to work through this problem is by looking at multiple websites. Have you ever been told the same thing a bunch of times by many different people? This is taking the same approach. By seeing what other people think, write down, or believe, you can start to build an understanding of what is mostly true. I say “mostly true” because we cannot always believe what the majority of people say. Thinking back to my example, many of your friends could say that so-and-so did this with this other person (yes…remember those high school rumours?) but does that make it true?

Another way to help sort out the crap from the good stuff is to check the credibility of the authors, which I find I usually do. What is more reliable: a University professor’s thesis or a 12-year-old’s blog post regarding the subject of weather patterns in Toronto? Again, I think my point is fairly obvious.

ABILITY TO EFFECTIVELY USE A SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITE

This skill is SO important for so many people in today’s society. Social networking websites are key factors in business promotion and communication between members of a society. Think about all the business you know that have a Twitter and/or Facebook account. How many businesses or organizations do you follow on Twitter and/or Facebook to get information? Social networking has become such a key factor for advertisers and business people because it allows them to instantly communicate with the demographic that they wish to target. This has elevated our business related activities to a whole new level. This skill is a key skill because EVERYONE does it. When I come across people that are unplugged from the social media world, I find it hard to communicate with them about current social activities because they are completely unaware of them. Myself, being a user of Facebook, find it easy to obtain the information I need very quickly because everyone else is using the same networking website to communicate.

USING A SEARCH ENGINE PROPERLY

Believe it or not, many people do NOT know how to use one of these things correctly! I’ve seen people getting frustrated because they aren’t finding information, but when I go to help them I see that they aren’t even using the correct keywords for their searches. Knowing how to use a search engine can save you LOTS of time and LOTS of swear words. Due to the fact that I usually pick research topics that are hard to find information on, I had to learn how to use a search engine correctly to avoid causing myself a lot of stress. Some search engine tricks can be found here: Using Search Engines

More white text to get the correct spacing

Signing off in 3…2…1…

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