Reflection Attempt 2

Cole Feeney

5/1/2014

Reflection Essay

            There were several aspects of the this class as well as this project that impacted my semester.

            This project made me struggle and grow. My largest struggle was the group work. Personally, I think group work is the worst thing in any situation, but it teaches patience and how to work with others. Well, I definitely learned that. Oddly enough I think my biggest struggle was also what made me most proud, my ability to negotiate with those in my group; as well as learning how to manage my peers without being condescending. The only change I would make to this project would have been to assign it at the beginning of the semester. This would have allowed groups to set up interviews with a larger time frame. My role was Coordinator in the group. However, I found this to really mean set up every interview, make sure people can go to events, email people to find out about events and all the details in between. In my role, I gave a interview, wrote our script and did the voice over in the documentary as well as tried to stay in contact with both Four Paws for Ability as well as Wildcat Service Dogs. Luckily, our group began a group text first off. This allowed for no miscommunication about who asked for what when because we would all get the messages. I would also offer to help with the more technical side, despite the fact that one of my group members said they would take care of it. I wish our group had set a time frame with more time to edit and see the progress. Someone once told me that if you think you are putting in more effort than your peers, you are probably putting in just the right amount; I find this to be true. There is always more work to be done than people think there is. I feel that I put in significant effort and time into this project and contributed a more than fair amount in this project.

                                                       

Being forced to essentially create our own group and then decide in how we wanted our audience to interpret our organizations was a lot of free reign. It did assist me to hone my critical thinking skills. Probably more beneficial than these group skills was to master the technology. I found it interesting that even the smallest detail has a purpose in a documentary. Before this class I had never really been forced to used technology in a class. I’d never done a blog post, or thought much of communication technologies. I found it genuinely interesting, learning about the different perspectives and what that meant. I really liked how the blog posts were set up and allowed me to predict the homework or even get it done early. Last semester I took CIS, and realized how little I liked writing papers about myself so I was far happier with this set up. I really liked your style of teaching as a professor. I found it easy to chip in a thought or be a part of discussion. It felt laid back, but also productive. It removed the formality slightly, but it allowed at least myself to feel as if I could come up to you and seek advice. I really liked how we began the semester with the shark tank proposals and then transitioned into other items on the agenda. Honestly I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for an amazing semester!!!