Writing reports as a group with fellow group members is nothing new for me. As an Applied Chemistry student, as early as the 2nd year, we were already grouped in groups of three for our labwork. This was again repeated in the 3rd year. Not only that, I have taken quite a number of courses in NUS where one has to work in a group of two or more for graded presentations or researches.
So, what is new in this?
Nothing much, except for the people I work with that is. And this is one of the better groups I have worked with as well.
by lieaIt certainly helped that right at the beginning of the very first lesson, the four of us were already sitting together in a small group and introducing ourselves to each others. This did introduce a sense of ease and familiarity among the four of us that when the research project was initiated, we could get right into business. If one were to compare this to say, being forced to work with unknown strangers, there would certainly be awkward moments as each of us try to get used to the others' attitudes, personalities, and styles.
So, we hit it right off the bat. Dare I say smooth sailing all the way?
Certainly not.
There were definitely problems. Each of us has our own schedule independent of this ES2007S module. In addition, the fact that 3 out of the 4 of us are in our final year means there was even more inconvenience in setting up meetings to discuss our progress.
So, what to do?
We improvised. We used e-mails, chat rooms, and most importantly, we used what spare moments were given to us during our lesson time to actually plot and chart the directions of our report and to assign individual tasks to be performed before the next meeting.
There was a sense of empathy as well when one of us faced difficulties in completing his or her assigned tasks due to assignments or tests. The remarkable thing was then this, that despite all of these complications and road bumps, we rallied back furiously. Somehow, things were done and tasks were completed, albeit not always by our own self-imposed deadline. By hook or by crook, we managed to find the time to perform our parts successfully, in spite of our other commitments.
There was no instance where one of our members totally slack off and push away his or her responsibility for the others to bear. For that alone, I am very grateful.
Oh yeah, the almost endless supply of snacks during every meeting helped too. :)
Therefore, I have to give my props to Jacky, Joyce and Liang Fu for being such terrific team members. I am glad to be given the chance to work with them as part of a team in this course.
by blades7816I have them to blame as well for inflicting this on me...
10 comments:
Hi, you mentioned that this research project is similar to science practical?
Although I am not from Chemistry department, I believe the lab work is a bit different from this project.
For me, as a Physics Major, we complete our practical as a pair work. However, the report and presentation is individual work.
The content and job scope wise is different too. For example, we had to conduct a survey for this research which i believe would never needed for lab.
Regards
Haha. Hello there, Gwen. Applied Chemistry is different. We did our experiment in a group, and we did our report and presentation (if there is one) in a group as well. In fact, we only needed to submit a single group report. The labwork in Applied Chemistry is done in a separate lab even though we take some of the same modules as those from pure Chemistry. Ours are more focused on teamwork than anything. At least that was true when I was in my 2nd year.
I would agree that the scope is different, but then such is the case with every other group I have been in from my modules thus far. In fact, the only time I have to do a survey in NUS is in this very module. That does not deviate from the fact that such a report needs teamwork though, its scope notwithstanding.
Ever heard of Maths practicals? Well not really in terms of doing experiments. Actually, in Maths practicals, we use the computers in the the Maths Labs to write complex computer programs with real life uses or to solve algorithms normally unsolvable by hand. Another more practical use is to solve usually tedious Maths questions by typing some simple commands on the computer program. The best thing is our report consists of simple fill in the blank questions. Thanks for the insight on the various lab works.
Thanks, Kheng Aik, for a clearly delineated, honest reflection. This post is very good in that it presents some of the key aspects of your research process in a casual but critical style. I like that approach. I'm also happy that your work group managed to be so cohesive.
I look forward to reading your report!
@Zhiyi: I have taken Maths modules before, so yes, I am aware how the labwork is being done. :p I agree that the best part about the lab is the "just fill in the blanks". In fact, I was stunned about it when doing my very first Maths practical.
@Brad: No problem. :) Just give us a good grade. :p
pocky is expected for every meeting and it is not the end yet for us on this project. I am looking forward to having more pocky in coming meetings on oral presentation. :p
Maybe you shall try to adpat yourself with greetea favour. ^^
Haha... actually the chocolate and strawberry pockys are so passe... There are so much more new flavours now and are more yummilicious!
On another note, I like your style of writing and thanks for including me as one of your terrific team members! Hopefully we'll do even better for our oral presentation. Let's work hard together! Whee! =)
Btw ALL types of snacks are rather sinful NOT only pocky. So don't be bias!!
I have to be biased here, strawberry flavour is still the best!
I totally agree with what you said about adapting to each others' attitudes, personalities and styles. Truly coming together to work requires coming to some sort of equilibrium.
I'm glad we managed it so well and formed a really cohesive group!
I am glad as well for that. :)
Also, yes, snacks are sinful, but I have yet to encounter one more sinful than Pocky. Maybe ice-creams and chocolates would fit the bill, but they are hardly considered "casual snacks" to be consumed anytime and anywhere.
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