UWS BA ePDPs

• Group and leadership
  • Was there a group leader?
  • – We did not assign a group leader, however, Owen, in particular stood out as the group leader
  • If informal, how did you know?  What were the actions that marked them as a leader? – Owen came up with the idea of a teepee, as it would be free standing so it was more original than building dens into the trees. He has also had experience of den building from helping out at beavers, so was familiar with tying the sticks together and how to make it as sturdy as possible.
  • How did this impact on the rest of the group e.g. was there some underlying resentment/ did anyone feel excluded? – Nobody felt excluded, as we all had our own ideas and we were able to make all of these work towards our final product.
  • What was most challenging for you about working in this group? (personal reflection) – the most challenging part was that I did not know everyone in my group well, but we all got on great and worked together very well.
• Explaining
  • How clearly did you think the group explained to you? – The other group explained their den very well.
  • What made this clear or unclear? – They made it clear by explaining HOW they made their den and WHY they made their den this way
  • What stage of the 5Ps might have been missed out?
• Environment
  • What was the impact of the environment on your communication? – I felt the environment was much more laid back and relaxed. I felt at ease, less tense and I felt as if my teammates did too. This meant there was a highly positive atmosphere and we all communicated with enthusiasm,
  • What changes did you make when explaining to others that you might not have considered in a typical classroom? – We used humour and pretended that our den was luxurious and available for hire! haha. This just shows how relaxed the atmosphere was compared to the classroom. We also stood randomly and in a circle kind of shape which would not usually happen in a classroom but it made it easier to discuss.
  • How challenging was it so speak above the sounds in the environment? – Very easy as it was easily forgotten about after a while. How can we make this communication easier on both speaker and listener?
  • When listening, did the environment distract you? How can we overcome this? – No, the environment was never a distraction
• Negotiation
  • Were your negotiations successful?  Why/Why not? – Yes, our negotiations were all successful as we managed to use all ideas, such as what sticks to use, leaves and how we tied it together.
  • What was most challenging about these? What was most challenging was deciding where the location of the den should be as we had a few different options. But we chose in the open as we thought it required a bit more initiative.

Group and Leadership

Everyone took this opportunity to work as a team. Instead of giving someone the responsibility of being the leader we used our individual strengths to provide the best result. This method was effective as it ensured that everyone was working together and included in the task. Strengths were highlighted for example the tallest team members worked together to create the roof of the den. The most challenging part of the task was agreeing on the most appropriate place and deciding on what structure to use to create the den.

Explaining

Any ideas or solutions were communicated successfully throughout the group. As we were in a practical environment use of materials and surroundings helped team members clearly share their ideas. Lack of planning may of restricted our den, as we had no time to plan the materials needed for the den the group had to depend on materials found outside instead of man made ones.

Environment

The environment meant our communication improved, everyone had to speak loud and clearly to be heard in the conditions, as well as the use of the materials to help explain our ideas. Planning and preparing for the task in advance may improve the quality of the den as some ideas may not of been executed due to the distraction and noise of other groups. As the we were in small groups it helped us overcome distractions of the environment as its easier to share ideas to a smaller audience.

Negotiations

Our negotiation was to gain a piece of equipment from another team. We were unsuccessful as every group had already used all materials for their den, therefore became unwilling to change anything. This was challenging due to lack of materials.

There was no designated leader in my group. Everyone contributed and put effort in to making the den. This created a relaxed and positive atmosphere.  I am quite small and this stopped me from being able to help the others fix parts at the top of the den. This meant that I mainly stuck to creating the bottom part of the den.

I thought everyone explained their ideas clearly and there was no confusion with what was going on. I believe that the instructions were clear because we went through them step by step and worked well as a team. We used the strengths that everyone had to our advantage. I think that we followed the stages of the 5P’s and this helped my group and I to create a suitable den.

When I was outside, I had a more relaxed tone. There was not a lot of background noise so I did not have to project my voice. My group and I were also in an enclosed space so we were quite close to one another. This was helpful because I could hear everyone clearly. When I was explaining my ideas to others, I was able to demonstrate my thinking and move around. I would not normally do this in a classroom environment.

Our negotiations were very successful. We easily decided on which person we wanted to join our group to help us finish the den. Everyone knew that it was more important to pick somebody that could give us additional support. As a result of this, there was no friction.

• Group  and leadership
• Within our group, we had a very informal leader
• It just came about by someone taking initiative and thinking of ideas for our den, which we went along with
• They were the leader as they came up with the decisions our group chose, and when they said we should add something, we did
• I think this made our group work well, as we all played a part and got to make our own decisions at the same time
• The most challenging part was communicating to people I haven’t communicated with before, but overall it was a good experience to have and has made me feel more comfortable talking to other people

• Explaining
• I think our group explained things well. We all helped out while explaining things to lessen the burden on one person
• However, in doing so it could have made our explanation more unclear
• One of the Ps we missed out on was planning. Whenever a group came for an explanation, we didn’t plan anything in advance just went straight to explaining it. Our explanation may have been more concise had we planned.

• Environment
• I think it made communication a little harder, as everyone in our group was scattered around the place. E.G. we couldn’t find our tape anywhere, but it was with a member of the group who was away off on their own gathering resources.
• When explaining we could point things out, or elaborate easier as we were explaining a 3D object which we had made, so we went into more detail
• It wasn’t necessarily more challenging to hear or talk to people as it was a relatively quiet day
• I did not feel distracted by the environment when I was being talked to. In order to make it easier, however, we could ensure we are in a non-crowded area so that there are fewer distractions like leaves rustling or sticks

• Negotiation
• Our negotiations were successful. Within two negotiations we managed to get two building materials for free, while we traded some string for some pipe.
• The challenging part was going about pitching your materials to the other group and trying to make it worth their time to listen to you

Overall this was a super fun group activity and I think it would be beneficial for younger people to do it too!

This is a photo of the den we built!

This blog is a review of chapter 5 of “Finding out about others: the skill of questioning”.

 This chapter is centred around questioning, with its aim being to show different types of questioning done by professionals, including teachers, as well as an evaluation of each type. Some of the main themes seen throughout the reading were how we communicate through questions, what good types of questions to use in situations, and the bad types of questions to use in situations.

Hargie makes a claim that “Questions are at the heart of most interpersonal encounters” (Hargie, 2011). He uses evidence in the form of a quote by Waterman to back him up in this statement “Asking questions is a fundamental part of communication, and as such will be an important factor in the work of many professionals”. One theory/argument Hargie presented was the funnel sequence, in which you start by asking very open questions and gradually turn them into less open questions to be more specific.

While Hargie is mostly unbiased and I agree with most of what he says, I disagree with process questioning. While he believes they are suitable for older pupils, not younger pupils, I do believe younger pupils can use them as well. In order to do this, we would have to prepare them, get them used to it and give them time, but there’s no reason why they cannot do it.

One theory I have put in my own words is the tunnel sequence theory. Within this, the person consistently asks questions of the same degree of openness to obtain information. Lawyers typically use this in order to get predetermined answers.

You can find this chapter here: ‘Finding out about others: the skill of questioning’, in Hargie, O. (2011) Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. 5^th ed. London: Routledge.