LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT WAS

CARLOS CARABALLO

     

    It is not my first time carrying out a group activity, much less the first time in which we had to organize ourselves to divide points of exposure, discuss how the order of presentations was and those details. But it was my first time doing it totally online. I honestly liked it. Thanks to the guidelines and strategies given by our professor, it was possible to choose a group leader, which greatly facilitated the process of separating the topics of each one together with the communication of the group towards the same teacher. There were also people in the group who were very good at handling electronic resources, and easily set up the communication bridges necessary to make this happen. When they created the Power Point in which everyone could enter to modify the part of it, everything became simpler and more intuitive than it already was.

     To be our first time collaborating on a project and being all totally unknown, in general the exhibitions were super good. I can highlight a single error, but very specific and individual, which was in a member of the team who made a mistake in the plates that he was exposing, taking those of another person. A small setback that was corrected on time without major repercussions.

    I loved the themes; all information that we add to our knowledge increases knowledge, but this time it goes a little further because we touch on social issues that nurture us at a cultural level. My group spoke about "Intercultural communication". We discussed cultural differences between individuals, at the same time that we talked about cultural subdivisions within the same group of people.

    Putting together the exhibits didn't take a lot of teamwork. Everyone did their part and loaded it into the Power Point without much complication. Where we worked as a team again was at the time of exhibiting, we were in contact to be able to direct the order. I must highlight an excellent job by our leader. He kept track of all the exhibits and that each member said what he had to say at the correct time.

    The professor's interventions were always appropriate, clarifying complicated definitions and highlighting the most relevant points for our learning.

 

    The other two groups had great exposition themes. For me, our topic had to have been the last one, I say this because the other two could be used directly in this same activity.

 

    The second group talked about “Communicating in groups”, which was ideal for the group formation stage. The topic that I liked the most was the "stages of group development" in which they raised the necessary base of knowledge to create, manage and develop an active and effective group. For this
reason, I feel that it would have been better if this group presented itself before ours, due to the very useful information that, although well received, would have been better used by us for the activity.

    Something similar happened with the third group. They spoke about “Leaderships and problem solving” which, as a personal opinion, should be the most important topic for us. In fact, it is the one that I would propose to be the first to be exposed. All the exposed topics help directly with practical and effective realization of the exhibitions.

    They excellently exposed the theme of leadership, which was crucial for the activity, I emphasize that without the participation of the assigned leaders this had probably been chaos. When they talked about "Effective meeting" I understood that, although my group has done well, we had several defects when it came to distributing information and synchronizing, this because, although we had meetings, none were scheduled or merely regularized under the standards that the boys from group 3 exhibited.

    The little mishap that my group had, and that I talked about a few paragraphs above, in which one of the members had a mix-up when reading someone else's slides, very likely it would not have happened if we would have better applied the methods for effective meetings explained by this group.

    The most important point that they came to explain, in my opinion, was that of "systematic problem
solving" in which they explained how to find a flaw or a problem within a procedure that is being carried out in the group, determine which is the best solution for it and execute it effectively to solve it. All topics are relevant and important for a group to function as well as possible, but this last one is decisive for the success of its objectives.

 

    These exhibitions led me personally to address the differences between individuals in the same community with a more human approach, a more tolerant attitude and with a more understanding spirit. Also, to increase my experience with decision making at a cooperative level, open the panorama of how intrapersonal relationships really are even with strangers and more than anything to develop my skills in problem solving issues in a group, more specifically in conflicts of interest that arise within it.