How often have you been in a classroom and you think to yourself, "Self, why are the chairs always behind the desks??" If you're anything like me, it's forever. Never leaves my mind. Well Thursday January 12th, 2012 marked the day that changed my life...
The class was instructed to separate all the chairs from the desks in the classroom in an entertaining way by working as a team instead of merely a group...the difference of course being our teamwork working towards a common goal rather than just a collection of people with the class in common. The plan of how to go about solving the problem was rough at first, full of soft spoken individuals and indecision, but once we got started we figured it out as we went. By the end, we had worked together to make a fort from the desks and a throne from all the stacked chairs! It was glorious.
1. Do you think it was a team or a group experience?
Definitely it was a team experience. It was a little slow going at the start, but once we found our rhythm things picked up and we had people communicating and cooperating to achieve the solution to our posed problem.
2. What was your contribution to the exercise?
At the start, I was mostly involved with moving desks. I helped push the desks toward the back of the room while a portion of my peers arranged them to make a fort. When we had to dismantle our creation at the end of class I multitasked where I saw openings to help out, switching between moving desks and chairs back where they belonged.
3. How effective do you think the exercise was?
Very - and fun too. We fulfilled the project's criteria and in time, too. Everyone did their share and because of it, cleanup went really fast by the end of it.
4. What would you have changed about the exercise?
Personally I would have liked to keep the fort standing, but that's just me.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Skills for KIB
So earlier we were talking about my involvement with the field of New Media Arts and Science, yes? Well at the moment it is my Teambuilding in Technology class that brings me here, specifically to this blog. To think, this whole majestic place would cease to be without its inspirational syllabus. (Nothing says majesty like shameless comedy, I always say.) So, without further adieu, I present for your viewing pleasure and general information, a questionnaire I was recently issued to fill out for KIB, or for those of you not in the know, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. With your help we can, well, y'know...what the name implies.
1. What is your favorite thing to do outside of school?
My favorite activities include creative writing and role playing, drawing, making movies in iMovie, chatting with friends, watching tv and anime series, listening to music, drinking tea, making jewelry and other crafts.
2. What is your favorite class and explain why it is your favorite?
It’s too early in the year to know which class so far is my favorite, but I’m most looking forward to my Intro to Creative Writing course. The teacher is fun and engaging and it incorporates reading and writing with emphasis on structural and technical development.
3. What are you good at doing in New Media?
I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in any field of new media, but I know my way around iMovie, photoshop, a bit of illustrator, and powerpoint technically as well as artistically and aesthetically.
4. What are you good at doing outside of New Media?
I have an eye for fashion and interior design from a developed sense for balance, symmetry, and asymmetry. Between personal experience and readings over the years I’m also adept in the understanding of philosophy, psychology, and spirituality in addition to emotions and emotional healing.
5. What is your favorite area of New Media (you don't have to be good at it, but you have to like
whatever you talk about for this one?)
My favorite area of new media is making movies. It’s so much fun, although my skills are still amateur, in my opinion.
6. Do you prefer to work independently or in a group? Please explain why.
I used to prefer to work independently simply because it’s the only way to ensure that it gets done and gets done on time, but lately I’ve been wanting to explore a group construct when it comes to projects.
7. What New Media classes have you had?
I’ve had a course in adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Digital Storytelling, and Foundations of New Media.
8. In a group project explain what you usually end up doing.
Usually I’m stuck with the visual and artistic component if not the entire project.
9. In a perfect group what would you like to end up working on? (i.e. hands-on work, research,
presentation, web development, planning, etc.)
I’d like to work with writing if at all possible. I’m good at incorporating a lot of elements and ideas into a cohesive piece in a creative project.
10. What is your opinion of group work? Please explain why.
Ideally, my idea of group work is that each person in the group has their own job and manages it independently after a series of brainstorming with the other members. By the end it’s just a matter of putting it all together.
11. How do you think other people would describe you?
I’m honestly not sure how others would describe me as a group member, though I’m always there doing my part.
12. How would you describe yourself?
In the past I’ve had to play bad-cop in a group in order to rally everyone to do their share, but that was long ago and far away. Nowadays I’m more flexible though it can be a frustrating endeavor.
13. What do you do when a group project goes bad?
In the past what I’ve done is try to do it all myself so my grade doesn’t suffer. Sometimes it turned out all right but other times, having to do every portion myself, the final project suffered from the demanding task.
14. What is civic engagement in your opinion?
I’ve honestly never heard of the term before but if I were to guess civic engagement refers to respect and civility (such as active listening) and participation when involved in a group needing to collaborate to achieve or complete a task.
15. What experience have you had working with community partners, either on your own, through
school, church, or in any other capacity?
Not much, even when I completed my community service it was a personally designed project that I completed myself with little assistance, such as a canned food drive for the Wheeler Mission.
16. What do you know about Keep Indianapolis Beautiful (KIB?)
I know it is a program with the initiative to make and maintain Indianapolis as a clean and safe community that we as citizens can take pride in.
17. How do you think New Media (the program and all its resources) could help the community in
general, and KIB in particular?
Since New Media is primarily a source of communication we could help spread awareness of its events, needs, and goals through our talents.
18. How could YOU help the community, and KIB, particularly in terms of New Media?
I’m not sure.
19. What are your goals for this semester?
I want to learn how to work in a group in a stress free way, be fair to the creative vision of everyone in the group, and combine our talents to make something great.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a novelist and animator.
About Me
Hello everyone reading this!~ I'm Allison Schwein, IUPUI sophomore majoring in New Media Arts and Science, specifically for animation. Now what brings me here you might ask? Good question. I'm not much of a blogger to be honest. Heck, I didn't even know how to set this up really. I mean, I gotta say, I'm pretty skeptical about who actually reads these things, save the class and teacher this is intended for, and when I found myself about to google search the word "blog" to set it up, my friends had to stop me before I would apparently see more than I ever wanted to. Yes the internet is a glorious thing, is it not?
I was born in a log cabin in the outskirts of town.
Call me Ishmael.
80085.
Herp derp.
So is sarcasm. Beautiful wonderful sarcasm! It gets me through the day. Kinda hard not to laugh as I type this, but I digress. As of now there has been set the challenge to fill this page with information about myself, my goals, and my skills. Though I could probably rant on something fierce, let's just get down to it, shall we?
Eh, well, one might say I have a flare for narration. I hope so, I've been writing since I was ten. One of my goals is to finish the novels I've been chipping away with over the years and someday get them published. After that I'd like to turn them into an animated movie or series, thus my major. I am, however, studying creative writing and also business at the moment because it just makes good sense. I draw a lot - ever since I could hold a pencil, my mom always says - and I don't think that'll ever change.
Well that's all we have time for today. Till next time boys and girls!
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