For a leader who is very passionate about what he/she does, it is very unmotivating when he/she is not able to bring the group together, worse still, sees the passion and commitment of everyone slowly dying out. It is not a matter of whether he/she is an effective leader, it is probably also not a matter of the kind of group that was formed, there are too many unexplainable undiscovered reasons that we do not know.
However, I still believe that our mind is a very powerful weapon that will help guide us through and it is the responsibility and discipline of every individual to make things happen.
I am not sure if I am guilty of it, and there is no reasons/excuses if I am but just to be ashamed of myself.
I think I understand the cause of frustration and I thought I got a hint of discouragement (or maybe I think too much). Whatever it is, please don't!
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Thank you, ZiQi, for your sympathetic response. I imagine that some students may just say "bloody hell, we have enough to do, why should we bother?"
ReplyDeleteBut I think you see that there is a purpose and meaning to this whole (blogging) process as a form of communication development, and when the group commitment withers on the vine, the meaning and the purpose can easily be lost.
I'm not sure what I can do. As the old saying goes: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
At the same time, we can look at this as a challenge, as another communication problem to be solved. I'd be interested to see what you and any interested others can do in this last couple weeks to show that the behavior in the last two posts have been an anomaly and not a sign of the whole term.
I sincerely appreciate YOUR contributions!
Hey ZiQi, this is indeed a good post that you have made.
ReplyDeleteI was actually touched when Brad talked to us on Thursday and it was very sad that our group failed to bond as the other groups.
We discussed some of the issues that may have been responsible for it, and some mentioned that our inability to blog before and Brad mentioned about the personality issues.
According to me, our group is the typical class in NUS where everyone comes to classes and expect to get a grade at the end. They are not keen on mixing, meeting new people and having new friends. This sucks but I must say this is the general trend in my other lectures also.
I am not targeting anybody or anyone, it is only something I observed when I came to NUS, which is not the case in my home country at all.
Yuvraj has an interesting perspective, as a person who has come to NUS from the outside of Singapore (just like me). In my experience, this group, ES2007S Group 4, is a bit different from many of the others I have had. In those other groups, there has been a stronger sense of camaraderie, of bonding, apparent in both the classroom experience and in the blogosphere. This is not to say that none has taken place; quite a bit has, in fact. I see that especially within various research groups. But it hasn't translated so well into groups beyond the research group, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteAgain, it seems like a question of personality.
What I have noted in many classes of ES2007S is that when there is a "critical mass" of very vocal members, students who have strong opinions and who like to express themselves in class and on the blogs, then that central core seems to inspire everyone else. When the core members work in unison with each other, their activity becomes like an avalanche, developing into a serious rumble and mass movement of ideas and discussions, some serious, some very jovial.
We have had a few such movements/discussions this term in our group, just not as many as I'm used to (and not as much as Yuvraj might feel comfortable with--as his comments shows). Part of this could be a function of time for some members. This is the rare class where a couple members seem to have given up on blog-posting and commenting on classmates' posts. That means they have basically dropped out of the discussion. Bad for us and bad for them. (So much for communication...)
But I'm not completely let down. I have seen much good communication, and I think a number of you've done a good job trying to move others to communicate. Thank you!