Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Decision making? uhhhh such a pain in neck within a classroom full of students
Honestly, last Monday's class was frustrating and tiring. Each and every one had more than one "wish". Coming to an agreement regarding the midterm and the kind of requests we had was a chaos. First of all we all wanted to be heard and our wish to be granted. Everyone was speaking at the same time, and we were not being that realistic with what we wanted. Some students got so frustrated that they wanted to leave, or withdraw totally from what was going on. The way we were going on, made us waste lots of time. At the beginning we had some one to write on the board, and we needed more of a leader to actually lead and direct our opinions and ideas. Afterward, when we realized that we were not achieving anything with the way the debate was going, we finally got a real leader, who did take the matters into hand and pushed us to wake up, be more realistic and come up with something fruitful. The interaction between the group and the leader was high. He made sure that we all were heard one by one, and that we all agreed on the final terms. It certainly facilitated the process, and it allowed all of the students to contribute and make decisions. There was definitely conflict and at times screaming was necessary :-) We all had different issues to address. The problems each of us had with the exam were different, so was difficult to please us all. Finally we came up with the list of changes that we wanted professor to consider for the following exam. Compromise and collaboration definitely took place. We bargained and negotiated with each other on the terms, and we made sure that every one was heard. The professor made it clear that if only one student disagreed to any change, that term would have not been included on the list. So I believe we all felt we were equal and we had the power to change things around even though the majority agreed otherwise. And of course Accommodation took place. I couldn't be selfish, I had to accept terms that I did not agree with, and I had to give up terms that I wanted to be included in the list. The New terms will be applied to all of us, so I did not object everything I disagreed with. It is difficult to please every one and I thing we all realized that. i would have not acted any differently. Even though I knew that if I was the only one to disagree, I could have changed things around, I wouldn't have done it because the exam is not only for me, it is for the whole class. We had to let loose sometimes. But at the end we came up with a good list, I believe, and within the time constrains.
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I think the term compromise highlights what you did, and what we all did. Even though the decisions we made did not help eberyone perfectly, we all had to compromise on it so we can all get the greatest benefit. I think a lot of us (including me) had good ideas that not everyone supported and had to give them up for others.
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ReplyDeleteI agree we all had to give up something that we wanted and compromise so the whole agreement would be fair to the whole class. I mean that is what really decision making is, trying to come up with the best alternative sometimes in the least amount of time. I think as a class we did pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree on the frustration part of the class. I was so frustrated that I didnt even care about what the outcome would be. I honestly didn't have that big of a "wish," which is just to drop the lowest grade and I'll be happy with it. But it turned out a lot better that I was hoping it would be, so that's good. Hopefully the prof. won't make us do something like this again.
ReplyDeleteIt is true, it is impossible to please everyone down to their every desire. However, we can compromise and come down to an agreement. This means that we all have to give up some and we will also gain some. I believe all humans are selfish to some extent and all they think about is me me me! I'm sure all can agree with me. At the beginning of the activity, everyone was frustrated and talking at the same time. However, as the time was ticking we all came to know that its either we reach an agreement or we all get nothing. As selfish humans, something is better than nothing. The arguments that we had is a process of a decision making. It is impossible to reach something if no one contributes. when contribution occurs, arguments are bound to as well. All these factors is like a domino effect of decision making. Everyone of us is different too, some decided to leave class, some chose not to speak, and some chose to participate and share their ideas. Our differences make it possible for a decision to be reached at the end, and i am glad we did!
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