Homework - 16/12/11

Everyone - Ask around about t-shirt prices and sizes

Jacelyn - Edit project plan & create T-shirt sale poster & contact T-shirt making companies

Jia Yi - Create survey aimed at students for cross-collaboration

Mia - Contact schools for cross-collaboration & contact T-shirt making companies

Wen Wen - Create survey aimed at administrators for cross-collaboration

Gantt Chart - Worst Case Scenario 2

Gantt Chart - Worst Case Scenario 1

Homework - 9/12/11

Weekend Homework For Everyone:

Edit Project Plan based on the exemplar and points we discussed in class today.

Jacelyn - Brainstorm and finalizse "green" survey questions for parents

Jia Yi - Edit designs: 1. Finish "Bald"     2. Make "Hourglass" graphic      3. Make "Plant" fit better & make white border around plant and words

Mia - Brainstorm and finalizse "green" survey questions for students

Wen Wen - Figure out Gantt Chart & survey

Homework - 6/12/11

Jacelyn - Brainstorm survey questions &  continue to edit project plan

Jia Yi - Finish editing the designs

Mia - Edit the roles and responsibility in the project plan & send the pictures of design to Jia Yi

Wen Wen - Brainstorm survey questions

Weekly Meetings

Usual meeting times: Wednesdays

Meetings before winter holidays: Fridays

Meetings after winter holidays: Alternate between Mondays and Fridays

Meetings after Science exams: Wednesdays

Meeting - 1st and 2nd December

Two meetings this week.

On Wednesday our planned meeting was canceled because of another subject we learn in school,Science,is having revision classes on that day.

We met on Thursday but it was a bit rushed because there were things going on for activities some of us take part in ( International Award,signing up to represent the school in badminton.)

We discussed designs (which neither I or Jacelyn had at the time.) and agreed to send them out to Wen Wen and Jia Yi during the evening for feedback.

We discussed when we will have meetings if Wednesday is not convenient anymore. Jia Yi wants to play badminton on Fridays and Wen Wen wants to do art work on Mondays.On Tuesdays and Thursdays,our lunch periods are shorter.

We discussed when will we meet once class time for this project ends.

Jacelyn suggested 15th or 16th just 2 days after the holidays since "nobody goes off that quickly".

We agreed that on-line meetings is only for less important things since Jacelyn cannot keep up with the conversation as much as she would like to because of her typing speed.

We still need a particular day of the week we will meet up and see where thing are going.We decide on Fridays (though,I have a concern that if Jia Yi is on the school team for badminton,can she come on that day?) until science revision classes end.

Friday. We have a meeting again since yesterday did not cover everything we wanted it to cover.

We discuss which designs we are going to use.Things we like (the final five) :

• Tomorrow starts today.
• "Who cares? " and aliens.
• Bald Mr. Connor.
• " Don't break my heart"
• Hourglass (though,this needs to be improved so people can understand the message easier.)

Wen Wen's feedback is that we make the designs less sketchy and more graphic so we are going to photoshop the designs are make them look more graphic.

Jia Yi has some ideas of her own for designs (skull) and she can show that to us when she is done.I suggested we do a poem scrolling down the shirt and ends with 'DIE' in capital letters or a word similar to 'die' but they think it would not work well with a school environment.

I was not sure what to write about Wen Wen's role in our formal plan so I asked.To me,Wen Wen's role is not very obvious (Jacelyn the leader,Jia Yi the tech person) as she helps out in not only one area but as many as she can! After discussion, I realised this proves how spread out Wen Wen's abilities are and this is something to be proud of as she can help with anything (definitely not a Specialist!) . Jacelyn called her an 'adapter' which is interesting because as an Implementer, Wen Wen is supposed to be inflexible.

HOMEWORK: We need to look back at the plan and link it with the markscheme.

Tasks.

Tasks we have completed so far :

Planning
- Initial draft of plan
- Review of plan

T-shirts
Design
- Initial design of T-shirts
- Discussion of T-shirt designs


Tasks in progress :

Planning
- Edit plan (grammar and such)

T-shirts
Design
- Edit designs (Photoshop and stuff)
- Complete individual work as set by Jacelyn

Organising
- Come up with survey questions (Wen Wen and Jia Yi)

Reviewing team roles (continued)

Tuesday,29th November 2011.


The continuation of this post: http://u-nicorns.blogspot.com/2011/11/reviewing-team-roles.html


Jacelyn and Jia Yi did not know their third highest Belbin Team Role and the discussion was put to a halt.
But,now they know...


Jia Yi,like Wen Wen,is also an implementer.
Implementers are systematic so they probably like sensibility,knowing what is going to happen (this could drive them to be organised.) and hate change.This makes them dull (lacking charisma) and often inflexible.An action person.
Solution: Jia Yi is a plant as well as an implementer so she probably is not as dull as described above.Same applies for Wen Wen.


also...


Complete Finisher (Jacelyn) -action person
Gets whatever task done no matter what is thrown at them (flexibility? ).Nit-picky and a bit of a perfectionist.Fustrated when things do not go according to plan.Worried to trust other people out of fear other people's work will not be up to their expected standards (work better on more 'alone' type tasks such as research?).They are motivated by anxiety.
Solution: Remind Jacelyn not to take it too far.It will be a useless group project if only she does majority of the work.And,if she gets too anxious,we need to calm her down.


Roles we do not have:

• Resource Investigator.People person.Somebody with contacts and knows how to reach people.Personally,I always thought Jia Yi fit that role because she always got her e-mails replied and such.But,we shall have to make do and do our best if we want to find contacts.

~Wen Wen questioned these 'labeled' team roles,saying they are more of 'possibilities' to predict possible situations,clashes and conflicts in the future rather than 'accuracies'. ~

Homework - 2/12/11

While the tasks are numbered, you obviously do not have to do them in order. Without further ado, in alphabetical order, the homework:


Everyone

Review the Project Plan with the mark scheme to determine if we missed out any crucial points

Monday

Jacelyn


1. Formalise language on current Project Plan
2. Confer with Mia - think about possible questions for the survey of a green Nexus

All due on Monday

Jia Yi

1. Make a graphic version of the "Break Your Heart" sketch
2. Make a graphic version of the "Tomorrow Starts Today" sketch
3. Photoshop picture of drowning man into the "Hourglass" file
4. Edit the Gantt chart based on everything we have done so far.
5. Confer with Wen Wen - think about possible questions for the survey of the different T-shirt designs
6. (Optional) Colour in the "Young And Bald" photoshop file

All due on Monday

Mia

1. Edit / Update the notes on the Belbin team roles discussion

As soon as possible (preferably by Saturday)

2. Confer with Jacelyn - think about possible questions for the survey of a green Nexus

Monday

Wen Wen


1. Paste list of headings and subheading and tasks that we have completed so far for the Gantt Chart
2. Draw a picture of a drowning man
3. Confer with Jia Yi - think about possible questions for the survey of the different T-shirt designs

At your discretion (remembering that Jia Yi has to get it done by Monday)

ATTENTION! - Homework

1. Everyone - Please review the current project plan (on the google doc) and see if you agree or disagree with any points and be ready to bring up objections in our next meeting.

2. Jia Yi and Wen Wen - Please look at all 10 draft ideas and return comments for each one. We shall discuss during class tomorrow

3. Mia - You have yet to complete your personal rational (reasoning) for choosing this project. You need to complete this IMMEDIATELY.

4. Mia - I just realised that you did not update the Belbin team roles post, because of this I can't do the reflection, could you please edit it with haste?

Thank you

Belbin Team Roles

1) Assess what Belbin roled your group has.

2) Add to the Team Wheel

3) Assess which roles your group are missing/have too many of the same.

4) Discuss how to deal with this.

5) Reflect in your blog about your findings/discussion/solutions.

We have no specialists!

We seem to have a strong focus on the thinking roles and we consider it to be a very good thing because much of the mark scheme is graded on our thinking skills than the success of our actions.

All of us are Monitor Evaluators. We may be too critical of things that’s why we take too long for discussions because we consider everything and all factors. We should put time limits on our discussions so we are aware.

3 of us are plants except for Jacelyn. This is kind of contradicting to the fact that we are also monitor evaluators (balance out). The fact that we are off topic and give weird ideas sometimes, but when we sit down and become serious, we have good logically ideas.

Jacelyn is our only shaper. We totally agree everything about a shaper which she is. Except for the abrasiveness.

Mia is a teamworker. She evens out Jacelyn (shaper). She is our glue that puts us together. When we’re off topic, she brings us back.

We agree that we do not need a specialist because

Wen Wen is an implementer. Inflexible and inteferes with Jacelyn. She just needs to be convinced.

Reviewing team roles

Monday,21st November 2011.

What roles are too many? What roles are missing? Discuss who is the closest to doing the part of the missing roles.Discuss how to make sure same roles do not clash.

Monitor evaluator (all of us). -thinking

Serious minded,values accuracy over speed.

We may all be too critical of things.This is probably why we have such long discussions and it takes so long to make decisions.We look over all details and consider all opportunities,although,a good habit, has the potential to go a bit too far

Solution: Put time limits on discussions.

Plant (Jia Yi,Wen Wen,Mia). -thinking

Creative.Imaginative.Provide ideas.May appear loony.Have good ideas that may lead to solutions.Lack of attention to detail.Often solitary,alone,where they can think and let their mind wander.We have many plants,possibly too many.

Solution: All Plants (lack of detail) are Monitor Evaluators too (critical and detailed).The two roles the individual possess evens each other out.

Team worker (Mia) -people

Most supportive.Mild mannered.Concerned about well-being. Demonstrate flexibility.Indecisive in dynamic situations.Work well with shapers.

Shaper (Jacelyn) -action

Extroverted qualities.Considerable drive.Obvious leaders.Drive under pressure.Gets things done their way.Does not mind hurting people or barely notices.Evens out with Team Worker.

Solution: Remind Jacelyn to tone down a bit when she starts to get scary.And,chill when under pressure.

Implementer (Wen Wen) -action

Common sense.Self-control.Discipline.Not afraid of hard work.Systematic.Dull,inflexible.Ability to rise to top but often dull.

Solution: Mia’s Team Worker flexibility makes up for Wen Wen’s inflexibility.

Team roles we do not have:

• We do not have a Specialist.However,we do not mind much as Specialists only contribute to their area of expertise and are often are not able to do anything else outside that particular area.We think this is something we can do without and is not necessary.

• We do not have a Complete Finisher.However,as long as we all do our work,a sensible amount of work,at least,by the given deadline,it should be okay.

Product Survey

A reminder to my fellow group to please advertise the existence of this survey to everyone in the secondary Nexus community.

Here's the link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CW9MVD2

Although highly unlikely, I would also like to invite all secondary Nexus learners who have stumbled across this blog and have yet answer our survey to please spare a few seconds to answers this two question survey. 

Thank you.

Introduction

This is our new Younicorns blog. Here, we will post messages, work, progression, half-done work to be checked among us; basically, anything we would want to share. We chose to use a blog to organise our stuff because it is much more convenient than writing in the 'journal,' since pretty much no one can read that except me.

For any work/incomplete work you guys post, please include a rough percentage of your progress. (for ganttchart)

Just remember, please use suitable titles so we can easily search for past posts. Always, always put your names as labels before you publish a post.

I doubt any teachers will read this, but please be careful about what you post.

Keep this blog interesting! :)