Individual and Team Learning Experience - Personal Statement Example

Portfolio Reflection Individual learning experience My initial perception of the engineering course was that it would enable me to develop various personal and interpersonal competencies that will enable me to become a successful and competent engineer in future. In particular, I aspire to become independent in solving problems while at the same time being able to work as part of teams since as I understand, most engineering projects require one to be independent-minded and able to work with others. I was also guided by Leicester, Twelvetrees and Bowbrick’s (2007, p. 264) view that an engineer’s career is about lifelong learning since it involves the desire to continue learning and to come up with more radical solutions to the problems that exist in the world. I must say that my goals were met because the content of the course touched on various issues that will be applicable throughout my engineering career. This provides an opportunity for lifelong learning. Additionally, the course gave me an opportunity to learn new concepts that I was not aware of, such as problem solving skills, team dynamics and how to deal with emerging issues in engineering. My perception of learning is that it is a process of not only gaining new skills but also knowing how to use known and new skills. I had attended many classes before this course, so the concept of learning was not new to me. However, my view is that the experience that I gained in the course redefined my perception of learning. I have learned from this course that learning is not just about individual development but also entails the development of the individuals within a group – a view that is shared by Lapsley et al. (2008).This is something that I had never perceived from learning. Again, this course exposed me to a different learning style. This is because although technology is used in virtually all courses, this course utilised blended learning to a higher extent. In particular, the group interactions involved in the course required that blended learning becomes part and parcel of the learning process in the course. Also, I had a new experience in that while I was used to studying alone, I was required to constantly share my learning experiences with others in my class and the team in particular. This is in accordance with the notion that the engineering community continually learns more about the world and disseminates that information to each other (Leicester et al. 2007, p. 264). Based on my learning experiences in the course, I would like to improve my listening skills as well as the ability to interact well with others in groups. This is because initially I was used to studying alone and doing assignments with little help from others. However, in the new setting in the course, many tasks are done as part of group work. Therefore, I need to improve my skills in regard to listening to others and understanding what they actually mean since being from different backgrounds, the members of my class act and speak differently. By being an active listener and being able to form interpersonal relationships, I will be able to prepare better for future undertakings in the course and in the engineering career. For instance, in the future, I will have to undertake internships and attend conferences to share knowledge on emerging technologies as part of the lifelong learning experience (Naimpally, Ramachandran & Smith 2012, p. 9), and this requires that I be a good listener and able to interact with others effectively. Team experience I have learnt a lot about team membership. One important lesson is that it is necessary for the members to create relationships with each other in their undertakings instead of merely focusing on the performance of their responsibilities. Further, I realised the point that that defining the tasks to be done enables a group to attain the set goals (Weiss 1991, p. 30). This means each member of the team can be assigned one or more tasks as needed. Unfortunately, sometimes one may be compelled to assume roles that are considered to be impediments to the genuine initiatives to enhance team efficiency and satisfaction. Thus, in the event that the group members assume dysfunctional tasks, this can degenerate into inefficient team conducts. I have learned that leaders have important roles to play in ensuring that their teams can be able to achieve their goals. Team leaders should be able to explain the different tasks and activities that are to be completed in the project. This makes the team members aware of the tasks and activities such that they can work towards achieving them. Besides, in order to reduce conflicts among the team members, the team leader must establish effective team communication (Reiter-Palmon, De Vreede & De Vreede 2013, p. 256). The communication plan should incorporate the way members of the team will communicate. For example in our team, the team leader ensured that meetings were held every Monday morning. I also realised that it is very essential for the team leader to keep an open communication forum for the team members so that they are able to share their problems with the fellow team members as noted by the Australian Learning & Teaching Council (2009). This is important in order to ensure that all stakeholders in the project are kept informed so that conflict can be resolved in an effective manner. Although our team leader was a good communicator, he did not reflect all the other aspects of a leader, such as effective co-ordination and setting examples among the team members. For instance, while every member of the team should be aware of what they are supposed to do at what time, there were instances when this did not happen because of poor coordination. Failure to explain what needs to be done to the members of the team may be due to lack of proper communication channels that link the project managers and the members of the team. Effective coordination involves sharing of the information required to accomplish related tasks (Daft 2011, p. 315). Team members need to be aware of the different tasks that need to be performed in order to complete the project. However, for our case, there were scenarios where the team leader did not effectively coordinate the tasks among members, leading to delays in completing some activities. The changes required in the team include having a team leader who understands and focuses on the tasks to be done, maintains good working relationships among the members, and is able to adapt to changing conditions of the group (Dandy et al. 2008, p. 139). With my experience in problem solving and the knowledge I have gained through this course, I think that I can be a good team leader. Course experience I must say the proactive approach of learning established in this course enabled me to develop my independent and individualised learning. Through proactive learning, I realised that problems do not have just single solutions. Instead, there are many ways through which engineering problems can be solved. This type of learning is important for engineering students since engineers are required to come up with various solutions to known and new problems facing the world (Twelvetrees & Bowbrick 2007, p. 264). The personal and interpersonal skills gained from this course will enable me to develop the skills required for application in engineering projects. Although I initially found it hard to conceptualise new concepts in the course, I later realised just how important aspects such as professionalism and lifelong learning are to the engineering career. I have learned that engineers do not operate in a vacuum and must work with their colleagues and juniors in order to achieve their goals. This is an important lesson for me since it teaches me about what is expected of me in my future professions and how I should be able to handle issues relating to team dynamics and communication. Most aspects of this course impressed me and it would be difficult to pinpoint areas that require improvements. The only improvement I can recommend is to make the class livelier. I think sometimes we were too formal even when there was no clear need to do so. I also think that the teams were a bit larger in size. For instance, in our group, there were 22 members. Hence, some group tasks were somewhat challenging because of the large number of students required to contribute. In future classes, the instructor should consider encouraging the creation of smaller teams. As noted by Dandy et al. (2008, p. 139), larger teams should break into smaller informal teams to allow effective inputs from all members. References Australian Learning & Teaching Council 2009, Resource for project teams: communication strategies, viewed 28 October 2014, ] Daft, RL 2011, The leadership experience, Cengage Learning, Stamford. Dandy, G, Walker, D, Daniell, T & Warner, R 2008, Planning and design of engineering systems, 2nd edn, Taylor & Francis, Oxon. Lapsley, R, Kulik, B, Moody, R & Arbaugh, J 2008, ‘Is identical really identical? An investigation of equivalency theory and online learning,’ Journal of Educators Online, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-19. Leicester, M, Twelvetrees, R & Bowbrick, P 2007, ‘Philosophical perspectives on lifelong learning: insights from education, engineering and economics’, in DN Aspin (ed), Philosophical perspectives on lifelong learning, Springer, AA Dordrecht, pp. 258-274. Naimpally, A, Ramachandran, H & Smith, C 2012, Lifelong learning for engineers and scientists in the information age, Elsevier, London. Reiter-Palmon, R, De Vreede, T & De Vreede, G 2013, ‘Leadership and followership in science and technology’, in S Hemlin, CM Allwood, B Martin, MD Mumford (eds), Creativity and leadership in science, technology, and innovation, Routledge, New York, pp. 240-267. Weiss, DH 1991, How to build high-performance teams, American Management Association, New York.   Read More