It was difficult sourcing for literature review for our written report, as the idea of a pre-ordering system is a relatively new one and there are few articles, let alone books, written on it. Aside from the information we obtained from certain websites, we had virtually no other form of literature review.
Our written report was well balanced as we considered its pros and cons from various perspectives, such as from students’ and canteen vendors’ points of view. Through the numerous surveys and interviews we conducted with the different groups of people, we were able to get a relatively fair reflection of how the people in the school viewed the implementation of the system.
As an alternative approach, we could have interviewed other schools which have implemented pre-ordering systems that work on a slightly similar concept as ours, to obtain an even clearer view of the system.
Working on the GPP was the most time-consuming and mind-wrecking period of project work, as we had to think of an entirely new idea, complete with details, to work on. We had to decide on the information we wanted to obtain and subsequently come up with surveys to distribute to our target group. It was also hard deciding on the number of people to survey in order to get a fair representation of the general opinions of all the students.
Our brainstorming techniques included jotting all the ideas that the group members brought up during discussions, whether they seemed useful or not. This ensured that all suggestions were included and we were able to sieve out all the useful ideas to be included in our project.
The difficult part about preparing for the OP presentation was allocating appropriate parts to the various members. We found out that sometimes, parts of our speeches would overlap with another member’s, and we had to decide which to exclude. Also, we had a hard time structuring our presentation and deciding which points should go first, for example, whether our research or modifications should be presented first. Our OP slides are easily understandable as we only included the main points in the slides. The slides look neat and uncluttered and are easy on the eyes. This will ensure that the audience is paying attention to the content of our speeches and not merely the slides.
Throughout the preparation of the project, the members were cooperative and were open to suggestions during discussions. The appointed leader of the group made sure that all discussions were productive and beneficial to the progress of the project. For each discussion, we listed the targets we wanted to achieve that day and completed them so that everything went according to plan.
Through the preparation stages, I have learnt that there is always a way to tackle a problem, especially when brainstorming for ideas to overcome the limitations our project faced. I have also learnt of the need for open communication, as only then can group members express their ideas to others effectively. It is important to be tactful and sensitive when rejecting someone’s idea as disagreements between members can result in unproductive group discussions. As members often had conflicting views, it is necessary that each is given the opportunity to validate his view so that others may see the logic in it, and hence preventing conflict.
i love my blog i love my blog muack muack muack! it is SO handy and SO useful! i love you bloggy. haha..
