For this assignment, you will keep a learning journal based on several key events/activities your team will experience in the course. Applications/insights will be on two levels – for your team and for yourself. This is an individual assignment; while it’s okay to speak together as a group about what you’ve collectively learned from the activities (and in fact I encourage your groups do to so), your work on this journal should be your own and reflect your insights.
It is important that you thoughtfully integrate course readings and concepts throughout your entries. You should also incorporate a wide variety of readings and concepts to illustrate that you have thoroughly read and digested them. This is your chance to illustrate what you’ve learned about these principles and how to apply them. You must do this well in order to get an A or A- on the assignment.
Each entry should be about a page, single-spaced in a standard font (e.g., Times Roman 12 point or equivalent). Assemble them all into ONE Word document (not pdf) and submit the file by the due date. Put in a title page. Feel free to add any appendices (charts, figures, etc.) that are helpful, but this is optional. There is a potential of 50 points on this assignment.
Note – Don’t wait until the due date to write up each entry! A substantial part of the learning that comes from this process is doing it iteratively – if you wait until the end you’ll miss out on a lot of insights and growth opportunities. I consider this a way to enact the Honor Code – write up your entry within a few days of the event/activity.
You will write one entry for FIVE of the following team events/activities; note the first 5 are done during Residency Week:
- Marshmallow Challenge
- Team Building Activity (agree/disagree statements)
- CSI: State College
- Ancient Tale
- Hollow Square
- A “regular” but “meaty” team meeting (e.g., working on a team paper; team feedback session) – make sure that there is adequate material to write an insightful entry.
Use the following questions as guidelines for your entries. How much space you take on answering each question will likely vary considerably across events. Take more space for the questions that are more helpful/insightful for you. But realize you’ll be evaluated on all major parts (see rubric for details). Also, if there are important insights you have about your team, yourself, or teams generally that are not covered by these questions, feel free to add that into your entry. My goal is to help you learn a process of structured experiential learning – ways to make sense of and learn from your day-to-day experiences – that transfer into your professional and personal life. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask, call, or email. Please use the headings of ‘My Team’, ‘Me’ and ‘Teams in General’ in each of your 5 entries.
- My team
- What interesting things did I observe about my group’s behavior during this experience? (E.g., topics on the “What to Observe in a Group” handout)
- What might be the implications of those observations for our team? (E.g., how might our behavior and discussion affect any or all of the 3 Ps – performance, process, personal improvement?)
- What might these observations and implications imply for how we can improve in the future?
- Me
- What interesting things did I observe about MY behavior, thoughts, and emotions during this experience?
- What might be the implications of those observations about myself? (E.g., how might these observations inform me about my habits, styles, or patterns in a team?)
- What might these observations and implications imply for how I can improve in the future? (E.g., how can I change my behavior/attitude/language to help myself and my team?)
- Teams in general
- What might my insights from the previous questions tell me about teams, generally speaking? In what ways do my insights transfer to teams I’ve been on in the past, or am likely to be on in the future?
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