Semester Wrap-Up

Although I took this class just as an elective I feel like it was a really worth while. Small group communication is something a person in every profession will have to use. I know that many of my classes, in both engineering and technology, have included small group project. Personally I wish that I had taken this class a lot earlier in my college career. All the topics discussed in that class I can relate to. Also after going through many job interviews I realized that topics in this class are very important to employers. In fact, many of the interviews for engineering internships I have applied for focused more on my communication skills and teamwork than my technical knowledge. Things we have learned in this class such as group dynamics, leadership, setting goals, and creativity are skills that I will use for the rest of my life. Being able to apply these skills in this class has been a great learning experience. The service learning project was a great experience, not only in group work but working with a professional organization. Overall this class is teaching topics useful to everyone in every discipline, I am really glad I chose to take it.

-George Vauter

Almost Done

It seems crazy to think that the semester is almost over, but it is. As the last couple weeks are coming up, it's going to be busy. I'm just glad that the group project in this class is just about done. I wish it were the same for my other classes. It's been really nice working with this group. Thanks every body for not waiting until the last second to work on it.

-David Hoff

Another Look at Our Mission Statement

I was thinking about how well our group did this semester and how much fun we had at the Boys and Girls Club. Then I started to think about what we originally intended to do with this project, so I look at our mission statement.

Our Mission Statement

As a team we strive to efficiently and effectively complete our goal of service to the community while completing all class requirements. Our first responsibility is to uphold the standards of the team to achieve our goal. As a working group we will support our organization and team members with integrity and a willingness to do our part.

Looking back at this statement, I think we did a great job of fulfilling each part of our mission statement. We always stay on task at our meeting and use our time wisely. We were very efficient with our work and utilized everyone's skills and abilities effectively. I think we have completely all the class objective for our group. We received high grades on all our assignements and put forth a lot of effort on all our projects.
I think our team was held to very high standards and acted accordingly. We treated our service project with a strong attitude and acted professional with the Boys and Girls Club. We took advantage of the grant opportunity and put that money to good use. We upheld the standards of the team in all situations and achieved our goals. We came together as a group to support our organization and all member took responsibility for their parts. We kept to our mission statement to make our group successful in all our goals and conducted a great service learning project.

-By: Geroge Vauter

Accomplished Semester

After more than 10 weeks completed in the semester, it seems to have gone by very quickly. Because of this, it seems like we have not done much, but working on the final presentation for our group service project I have seen how much we have actually done. Jasmine told us our presentation had to be 40 minutes and this is the longest presentation I have ever had to do. Now that our group had rounded up the information we will need to cover, that will not be a problem.

Going back to the beginning of the project, we had an in depth proposal to our project. Then we had to make quite a few changes to get the project to be beneficial to all parties involved. Then when the day came, we ran into some challenges with the weather and time change at the last second. This has been a lot to do and will give us a lot of material for our presentation. While things have not been perfect for our group, it has gone well and we have managed to work our way through the challenges.

By: Ben Schnepp

Evolution of a Team

In reflecting on how our team has evolved I am very proud of us. We started out not know what to do or how our group should function, but we work together very well. In the begining we did often conform to group think in the essence of time. We have become much better at stating what we really think and how we feel. This was evident when we were working on our final presentation for our project. I remember when we put together our first presentation and it took quite awhile. That is because we didn't want to step on any one's toes so no one would make a decision or take charge.

Now we have fit into our leadership roles and people understand what is needed from them. We are a more efficient team and our work is higher quality. We see a challenge (like putting together a presentation) form a plan to get it done, and then go to work. We still don't do a lot of brainstorming but our ideas are still creative and sharp. Our group has worked well since the beginning and while we occasionally lose participation we work together even better. Our creativity comes from talking and joking until someone throughs out an idea, often as a joke but the whole group likes it and runs with it.

-Christy Penner

Leading by Example

"The best example of leadership, is leadership by example."
- Jerry McClain of Seattle, WA

I found this quote online are really liked it. I think it is a very true statement about leadership. When I thought about all the major leaders in my life I realized that many of the things they through me where through example. A really good example that supports this quote is professional athletes. Almost everyone I know, including myself, looks up to many professional athletes. People look at Tiger Woods and study his golf swing because they want to be able to hit the ball like him. Bret Farve is a leader for quarterbacks everywhere because he has set an incredible example of what is possible and many people strive to become as good as he is. Michael Jordan was a huge influence in professional basketball and became a leader to all his fans, teammates, and basketball players of all levels. People pay a lot of money to go see these athletes play and buy their jerseys or use the same brands of athletic equipment as they do. These athletic leaders make millions of dollars endorsing products because companies know people look up to these athletes and will follow the example they set. Many of these athletes associate with charity groups, and some pro's like Phil Mickelson, even start their own charity foundations. I think it is pretty interesting how much we can look up to someone we have never even met. Professional athletes will always be leaders in our society and there will always be fans that idolize these athletes.

By George Vauter

Why Learn About Leadership?

In class this past week, we learned about leadership and what it takes to be a leader. We learned how being a leader meant that you had to be able to assign tasks as well as get feedback from those you lead. This is very important because many times the people doing the work may know, or notice something that you do not. The leader must also be strong in front of the workers but not scare them.

The most important thing to do is to choose a leadership style that suites you best. In class we did several activities that allowed us as a group to evaluate each other. This is very important since we have been in our groups for two months now and have experience working with each other.

Finally, many ask why it is so important to be a good leader and the answer is simple. We are in school to get a higher education, and this education will put us into leadership positions. Every place we work will have a hierarchy of command and no one will want to be on the bottom of that, so we will need to lead at least some people. Class has but given us some tools to be leaders, when we get the chance to, we just need to use them.

By:Ben Schnepp

Can a Leader Wear a Skirt?

In class on Wednesday, November 18 we talked about leadership; what makes a good leader, what doesn’t, who we think are great leaders, and why that is. We also came to the striking conclusion that we did not mention one woman in our great leaders list. That made me starting think why as a society it is so easy to pick out men as strong leaders but not women.

My initial thoughts were because of the double standard and stereotype a woman will be shackled with as a strong leader. Good leaders are often described by masculine words such as aggressive, strong, determined, driven, and competitive. Growing up as a woman we are natural more nurturing, supporting, and caring. Look at the games we are told to play and the toys we are given as children. Boys play football, army men, and superheroes while girls play house, dress-up, and Barbie’s. If a woman in power tries to take on some of those masculine characteristics she is call cold, annoying, or impossible. She may be using the exact same strategies and language as a man in her same position but society would never judge a man so hard.

I do not want to come across as too harsh because there are several women in leadership positions and they are a great success. Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Argentina, Ukraine, and Lithuania are just a few countries that have a woman as the head of state. I think we are moving closer to an equilibrium, but until we can judge a leader by their skills and not which restroom they use will we reach our potential.

-Christy Penner

Americas Best Leader's 2009

US News and World Report listed these men as the top 5 leaders in America.

Ben Bernanke

Federal Reserve ChairmanCory Booker

MayorJohn Chambers

CEOYvon Chouinard

Environmentalist and CEOJohn Doerr

Venture Capitalist
As I read through the list of America's best leaders I tried to figure out what these people had in common. One thing I did notice is that the top five people listed are men. As I read further through the list though, I saw that three out of the top 10 leaders were women. I was not surprised to see that a majority of the leaders were men. I was actually surprised to see how many were women. It seems that today's corporate and political world is working to always promote equality between men and women. The next thing I found in common among these leaders is that they have done something that has affected the lives of others. Cory Booker has reduced the murder rate in New Jersey.

Yvon Chouindard donated 1% of profits to environmental groups. John Doerr is working towards to tackling global warming. These are all issues that affect large groups of people and have in impact on their everyday lives. Another thing I noticed was that theses leaders have in common is they took a risk. Some took a financial risk such as an investment and some took a personal risk such as running in an election. Obviously these people were successful in their risk taking otherwise they would not have been so successful. Although all these people are very different, they all have some similarities that have contributed to their success.

By George Vauter

creativity activities

I thought it was interesting how different groups went about the creativity activities in class. When our group went, everyone seemed to stick with realistic solutions. I was expecting everyone to just go crazy. But then when the other groups did their projects people started to really get into it. People really started to have fun and bend the rules to accomplish the goal. I think this goes to show how people are not used to being creative in school. It took a while for everybody to get into the creative mood. I think that this creative attitude is something that should be encouraged more often in education.

-David Hoff

More Creativity

As we finish the creativity portion of our class, it is easy to see that there are quite a few creative people in our class. The teacher did make a comment about doing the creativity exercise sooner in the semester to learn more about group members sooner in the semester.

I feel that we would learn more about our group members, but the product of the workshop would not be as creative if we did that. I say this because early in the semester, we were not as comfortable with our group members and our class. I feel that would cause people to not want to be as creative. Because first impressions are so important, especially to people our age, the students would not want to do anything that may cause a bad impression. This is why I believe this creativity workshop is better later in the semester where the results will be more creative.

By: Ben Schnepp

10 Steps for Boosting Creativity

This site has an interesting list of things to do in order to boost creativity.

1) Listen to music by Johann Sebastian Bach
2) Brainstorm
3) Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you.
4) If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word.
5) Define your problem
6) If you can't think, go for a walk.
7) Don't watch TV
8) Don't do drugs.
9) Read as much as you can about everything possible
10) Exercise your brain.

http://jpb.com/creative/creative.php

I thought that some of these things were very intriguing. For example, I thing one could make a good argument about whether watching TV increases creativity. I think this greatly depends on what you are watching. There are some TV shows out there where I think the writers are very creative and people can learn a lot from watching them. I also thought the idea about finding a word in the dictionary was very interesting. I have never heard of this before but its sounds like it could really increase your creative thinking. I know going for walks is a great way for me to let my mind wander and come up with ideas. I think this is a good list of ideas to try when in need of creative thinking. Although some ideas on the list are very obvious, we do not always resort to them when trying to be creative.

By George Vauter

How Did Our Egg Survive?

In Friday's class we did the experiment where using given supplies, the group must construct a container that will allow the egg to be dropped from a height of 8 ft and not break. This happens to be a common activity for engineers.

Our group knew there were two things that at least one but preferably both must be done for the egg to survive. They are the impact intensity needs to be reduced, and the force of the impact needs to be dissipated to away from the egg.

For good measure, we decided to do both. The container itself we made out of two cups. Putting slits in the bottom cup, allowed for the cup to crumple and absorb some of the shock. Also, for good measure we put shredded paper into the cup and this helped the egg not have to stop its momentum as sudden. And the last thing we did was attach a plastic bag to the top of the cups to act as a parachute. This slowed the decent of the contained so the impact was less intense. Thankfully we were successful and our egg did not break.

By: Ben Schnepp

Creativity Activities

I have really been enjoying com class recently. Since we started talking about creativity, it has been a lot of fun. I really enjoy trying to solve problems, but so often the way school is set up limits your options. It seems to be much safer to just go with the standard way of doing things. I think creativity is the thing that gets people excited about learning and often yields the best solutions to problems. I think a lack of creativity in schools is why I have pretty much hated school since around the second grade. You have to keep things interesting and give people a chance to do something their own way. It's the best way to learn. I would enjoy school if more classes had creative activities to do like the ones we are doing now in com 320.

-David Hoff

Constructive Criticism for Me

This past week we were put into new groups to solve a crisis. While working in this group a third party observed our interactions in the new group.

According to the person that evaluated me, I did a good job of keeping my group on topic. I was able to contribute and voice my opinion politely. In doing so, my group listened to me and took into consideration what I had to say.

There are several things I do need to work on though. I need to speak up more, be louder. Sitting up is very important and I need to work on doing so. This will allow my opinion to be more respected. A very big mistake I made was voicing that I did not want to be there. Hopefully with this criticism I will become a better group member.

By: Ben Schnepp

Creative Thinking

Ive been doing some research on creative thinking ideas for our group presentation. I found that one man, named Edward de Bono, is very famous for his work in creative thinking. He is said to be the worlds most famous creative thinking consultant. He has written over 62 books and has worked with governments and major organizations worldwide as a creativity teacher.
He is most famous for his idea of Lateral Thinking. He developed this idea in 1967 to describe the process of breaking out of the habitual patterns of linear thought. It encourages people to change their direction of thinking and to look at things in a totally new way. It also encourages people to reinterpret what you are looking at in fresh, original or humorous ways.
He is also known for his idea of the "Six Thinking Hats. designed as a practical user-friendly way of thinking creatively and effectively. This is a results-orientated method is in use in businesses and schools around the world. It is constantly being taught to people and organizations eager to make the most of their creative potential.
There is a lot more I could write about Edward de Bono, and there are many web pages and youtube videos about him. I would encourage everyone to look to some of his work for ideas on what could be used for a creativity seminary.

By George Vauter

Creative Time of Yer

Today is October 30, the eve of Halloween and creative minds are working overtime. Above are a few examples of what thinking outside the box means. For some it is nearly impossible to come up with a custom that has that much character but for others it just seems to flow. I tend to find myself on the more creative side and have found it to serve me well. While at times it takes me longer to get things accomplished because I want them to be done well and creatively the end results are great.

If you are among those "creatively challenged" our textbook offers a few suggestions to enhance creativity:

-Write the specific problem down (ex. what to be for Halloween)

-Acquire a "try anthing attitude"

-The wilder the ideas, the better

-Approach each idea positively and give it a fair trial

-Try to make your ideas workable

So if you are still having trouble coming up with a creative custom don't be afraid to just let your imagination run wild. Have an open mind and you may be surprised what you come up with.

Christy

Service Project

On Friday afternoon our group went to the Boys and Girls Club to do our project. It ended up going very well. We all had fun playing with the kids, and I think all the kids had fun too. No major problems came up, but it wasn't the best weather outside, so we played inside. It was a good thing we had taken the time to plan out what to do if we couldn't be outside. Playing dodgeball, basketball, and throwing a football around with the kids was a blast. It was great to see them all having fun being active.

-David Hoff

Pictures from Our Game Day

Sadly George was the first one out on this round of Simon Says.

Who needs Payton Manning when you have a quarterback like Zach and Ben covering as a center!

Touch your toes! Ben may just be doing some light stretching but Christy was ready to win this round of Simon Says.

We were able to buy the kids a new air hockey table.

Poster boys for the United Way!

What We've Been Waitng For

Friday, October 23 the day when we would see all our hard work pay off as we got to interact with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. We all went in with our plan and what we expected to happen. Everyone knows we are the sports group who decided to share that passion with the children of Lafayette. However, on the blog today I'm going to share about what I hadn't expected that really made the afternoon great.

When we arrived we went to the gym to start setting up our first game and I volunteered to play a game with the kids that didn't want to play in the gym. Little did I know what I would be getting myself into. These kids were running around like crazy, talking over each other, and not being very agreeable. I got the kids together and really pumped up the idea of hide and seek. We played for a while and the kids still weren't real sure this was a cool enough game. So we switched to hiding a ping pong ball and playing the "hot and cold" game. The longer we played the more I realized it wasn't the game that mattered it was the fact that someone was showing an interest in them. We played "Simon Says" and "Red Light, Green Light" and the kids seemed to change right before my eyes. These crazy children were only acting that way because they wanted attention and to know someone cared about them

There are many examples I could share that assure me we accomplished our group mission of helping those in our community. One example is a little boy named Rylan. He was a first grader that thought he was a fifth grade champ. Rylan joined my group that was not playing games in the gym. I hadn't really noticed Rylan until all of a sudden he was standing in front of me on a couch and launched himself into my arms. I hugged him until it was time to go find the hidden ping-pong ball and from then on he was the sweetest little boy. He minded what I said and played every game with us. The second example child was a very shy little boy who joined my group later in the day. He never said much but his face would light up when we included him. Finally, as we were leaving to go home he tapped my arm and told me him got 3 A's and 2 B's on his report card. I was so proud of him even though I had only known him for an hour or two, but what a special little boy who just wanted someone to share his good news with.

Our group wondered why we didn't just collect cans or pick up garbage and I believe we now know why. I feel we did make a difference and I would love to go back and play with the kids again. It was only a few hours but I feel we did make an impact in the lives of lots of children.

Christy