Course Objective #6
Engage in learning activities with colleagues that will promote critical thinking and learning.
Reflections on Course Content
In Week 5, I collaborated with my change initiative group to set a plan for our project. As an introvert, collaborative projects often push me out of my comfort zone, but every opportunity to work in a group helps me to develop better collaboration skills. During our first meeting, we defined clear roles for the project, which was something that I learned really helps keep all members of a group accountable and on track.
In Week 8, I challenged myself to “break the ice” in my breakout room which was a big step for me. I took initiative in introducing myself first and starting our discussion about bullying in the workplace. I ended up having an intriguing conversation with my group members about the impact of passive-aggressive behaviour and gossiping can create a negative work environment.
In Week 10 I engaged with my peers by viewing and commenting on their change initiative presentations. I also worked with my group this week to ensure the finishing touches came together on our project. I also learned many strategies for effective virtual collaboration with a team. Some specific strategies I learned were the importance of using a common document sharing platform and how useful it is to use services like Doodle Poll to set meeting times.
In Week 11, my breakout room group worked together to try out multiple liberating structures. I learned how liberating structures can really help all members of a team collaborate and think critically and creatively. After our TRIZ trial, we discussed how the structure made us feel like we all had space to collaborate.
Reflections on Personally Discovered Content
Reflection #1
I am on the executive team for one of the nursing student associations at York, and early on in the semester, a fellow student from this class reached out to me to see if their group could work with our team to put on a blood donation information event. This event was one of the best collaboration experiences I have had this semester. We remained organized and had a few meetings to create a vision for how we wanted the event to look. The group and the nursing student association worked together to advertise and put on an excellent and well-attended event.
Reflection #2
One of my favourite demonstrations of the beauty of collaboration is flash mobs. I have always loved flash mobs. The above flash mob is just one example of the massive impact a collaborative effort can have. Every person in the flash mob is coordinated, playing their instruments together with a common goal of uplifting everyone in the hospital. I believe this demonstrates the value of collaboration and illustrates that with a little bit of organization, planning, creativity, and work, many beautiful things can be created.