Never again… no way EVER!

I’ll start with my sob story first then get into the boring, ahem, the other stuff. 

 

Damn life. Sometimes it feels like it conspires aagainst me. I have had some personal issues since starting this paper including both my kids having chickenpox and ear infections and um, how to put this… they were around all the time, like ALL the time - after all it is school holidays at the moment so of course they were around. Then my ex-husband came visiting the kids for Christmas as a last minute arrangement, my mother was in hospital following a stroke, I got news of my brother needing medical attention following a fall and news that my uncle is in a very bad way health wise. And we started fostering a SPCA puppy, which was a cute distraction at the end.

Between the report and seminar processes, family issues, two kids on school holidays to entertain in the heat of summer my enthusiasm and drive for this paper became zapped. I think the paper is worthwhile and has great content, but I would never, ever do a summer school paper again. 

Regret is a strong word, but I find myself regretting doing this paper now. It’s been the worst time to do it. But that’s life isn’t it? An ideal time may never present itself anyway. 

It’s been good to learn the ins and outs of effectively writing, albeit in my distracted manner given everything else going on. I know I have a lot more skills to acquire on this front and will take skills from this course as building blocks for future development.

Take home tid bits from this paper include:

1.   Inductive and deductive styles – good to know what they are and how to structure different types of writing in these styles
 
2.       Belbin roles (not sure I’ll remember them all in 15 yrs but the general concept that team members fills different roles I will probably remember)

3.       How important it is to consider the reader/ audience and how that can determine the style of writing you use.

I know I need to work on planning and focus, AND, cracking on with work earlier to alleviate stress and to give contingency for when other areas of my life impede on study life. 

The course is structured well. It takes you nicely through things step by step. In the beginning it felt like information overload and all the communications saying “you should have done this by now” were overbearing. I get the subtle hint concept, but it became daunting to try and keep up with the expectations. 

Personally I’m not a fan of group work, which featured heavily in the course. It’s very challenging when we are all students and in theory on equal footing. In the real world there is a boss/ leader already in place who has the authority. It’s my experience that in student set up groups like this, one or two take over as leader and can be bossy. I was lucky with my group, but still I think group work is fraught with issues and not at all like in the ‘real workforce’. I question the relevance and the hassle of them. I have seen at previous educational facilities how friendships were strained and even ruined following group work. Yes they were 18 year olds fresh out of school, but still!

I feel the peer-review rating should extend over assignments 2 and 3. Just limiting to assignment 2 does not give a fair representation of total participation to all group work. I also feel that all topics from assignment 1 should feature in assignments 2 and 3.

The technical issues with slides and audio not playing correctly was a major annoyance throughout the course. This is something that needs to be rectified or a different method used for future courses.

A big shout out to Pete for his amazing help with super-hero like swift responses to group and personal questions. 

Last blog done - woohoo.

Team - wow what a team!

Our start up process was extremely easy and we joined forces prior to the paper officially commencing. Bonus! Score! Phew! Because of this we were named Team 1.

I feel quite chuffed to have been instrumental in pulling the team together following my quick posting on the team setting-up forum. Which by the way was very useful, and the guidelines to follow for introducing yourself were immensely helpful. 

Given that the team were scattered between Tauranga, Wellington, and Christchurch I feel we managed to co-ordinate meetings extremely well over Skype and online collaboration using One Note. At times not everyone could attend and in that case we generally typed messages over skype so that a trail was left behind for the missing participant to catch up on later. 

I definitely found strong personalities and people with a fair amount of drive in the team. This was good as it helped keep us chugging along with the assignment. 

My topic was the topic culled. No issues there, although at times I did have that ‘what can I do feeling?’. However, I was pleasantly pleased and relieved when the team were open to my slightly more out there recommendations. One involved using ultra-sonic to triangulate possums so they could be herded up easier, and then ideally (in my view) shipped back to Aussie where they belong. No need for poison – just relocation back home after a way too long stay in the lovely and tasty New Zealand. My ex-in-laws have had their ‘pet’ possums move out of the garage so I know of some empty space for possums in the Australian Capital Territory.  

Getting back to our team…

I think our team achieved our objectives very well. We were always at the ready with tasks to work on and complete and we volunteered what we’d do rather than being assigned it, which made it easy for jobs to be shared out seamlessly. 

Our team leader Catherine, displayed great eagerness and I found her leadership style democratic and particitive as in the Style Theory of Leadership. Catherine was heavily involved in setting up OneNote online and the Powerpoint online for us to use with Assignments 2 & 3. This I feel taps into the Skills Theory of Leadership whereby she displayed technical skills and thus earned credibility. In addition to her leadership qualities Catherine definitely is a great team worker and co-ordinator and exhibits the desired strengths of co-operation, diplomacy and confidence. 

I personally experienced her diplomacy when I had a family commitment early on in the piece and during that skype call it was decided who would do which role.  I’d previously said to the group I was keen to do an interview. However, I was absent on that call and it was agreed that others would do the interviews. I was a tad disappointed, and I feel she sensed that and later on suggested that I do the interview instead of herself. This was nicely handled by her and I appreciated it. 

Our faithful and confident Editor Liz did a superb job pulling together everyone’s work for Assignment 2. It was a role that she was suited too and had the skills for. At the start of the editing process I would say Liz displayed democratic and particitive skills, but that morphed by the end when time was getting slim and a more authoritarian style appeared from the Lewin leadership styles. Which given the nature of the task was probably needed, so power to her to stand up and take charge. Her Belbin team role as completer/finisher came in strongly as our Editor.

Meg was very organised, and swift acting. This in itself created kudos and respect. We welcomed her planning ideas and suggested direction for the report. The Trait Theory of Leadership slogan of “be like this and they will follow” comes to mind when thinking on Meg’s leadership style.  Her team spirit and co-ordination complemented by her ability to promptly and quickly research information whether it be in the course material or primary or secondary literature was outstanding. 

All in all, I feel this was a great team to be a part of for this challenging distance group work. 

All the best ladies for your future endeavours. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you all and collaborating with you. 

P.S. I was going to add some female superheros images for each of the group members but decided they were all too raunchy looking for a school assignment...

Speech anxiety - brutal

Think of the audience naked. This is common advice given to speakers. Personally I would find that more distracting than helpful, and possibly a tad scary. That is unless you’re speaking at a Naturalist convention or something and in that case everyone will be in their birthday suits so it would be the norm. Or it could be distracting in another way if you fancied someone in the audience (blush).

Public speaking - successes and failures

The advice given by Toastmaster International is rather different, and kinda dry in comparison. They suggest:

• Be prepared. Your audience is giving you their time and consideration, so rehearse enough to be confident you'll leave a good impression.

• Start strong. Begin your speech with a powerful opening that will grab your audience's attention, such as a startling fact or statistic, an interesting story or a funny joke.

• Be conversational. Avoid reading your speech word for word. Instead, refer to notes or points from an outline to help your speech have a more free-flowing, conversational tone.

• Speak with passion. If you're truly invested in what you're saying, you'll be better able to keep your audience's attention.

• Be patient. It's easy to get frustrated if you make a mistake. But remember that public speaking is not easy and it takes time to hone your skills. Keep practicing and you will reach your goals.

Yeah – um nice advice but boring and obvious. 

Whereas, Sidney Sinek (one of the most viewed TED talks presenters) talks about being successful speaking as result of facing fears and  erasing them, trial and error and tireless practice, on and off stage. 

That advice rings true for me. 

The knowledgeable University of Pittsburgh breathes a realistic breath of reality into view. They talk about how most people feel speech anxiety. Yes – I’d agree with that. Experiencing symptoms like shaking, sweating, butterflies in the stomach, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, and squeaky voice. Speech anxiety is normal. Really? Hoorah – does that make me normal? That would be nice.

Pittsburgh University gives advice on pin pointing what your anxiety is about. Is it that you feel you’ll look stupid? How so? They suggest to drill down to what is trigger the anxiety and then you can work with that. 

One sterling piece of advice is to talk about something you are passionate about. It makes research and delivery much easier. 

I’ve never been a fan of speaking in public and have suffered from speech anxiety in the past. I recall the time I was doing a reading on Remembrance Day in the Wellington Cathedral. I have never worked so hard in all my life to learn something so I could deliver it well. That was the key for me – familiarity with the text. Similar to the advice Sidney Sinek talks about.  

Once I was comfortable with the text I could breathe a little more, relax just a tad, just enough to get through it. And I did. I was the first and youngest female to be invited to do a reading so it was quite an honour at 19 years old. 

I think now in my ‘old’ age that I might be more comfortable speaking. More comfortable in my skin. More comfortable in my ability. Just a bit. Well, as long as I know what to say… otherwise I foresee speech anxiety kicking in, and kicking in hard!