07 July - entry 1

I was really tempted to take the high road in the blogging tonight and ignore the class presentations, but i don't think i can. That and also work was fairly uneventful today. The first group's presentation wasn't bad at all. Yeah, it was a little dry and didn't provide me with much in the way of real world examples, but I think the ball game made up for that.

The guest speaker I've had some dealings with in the past, and am not fond of to say the least. His method of facilitating gets people to solve their own problems simply because they don't want to spend any more time in the same room with the guy. He's probably very good at the theory, and has extensive real world knowledge, but he definitely has a problem relating to the worker level and really can alienate a group of people by not talking to them in terms that mean anything to them. That could just be my opinion though.

The second groups first presentation was very well done, and had the last part of their presentation not existed, i wouldn't have been the wiser. It was really awkward to see the third member of the group present after the first two. Now, I can take my own guesses after having been forcibly subjected to his presentation as to why he was not included what the other two did however it was still blatantly obvious that they were not a group.

In an outsider situation like this, its got to be hard on how to grade the group. I mean sure the first two did a very good presentation, however it was a group project and the third member appeared to be excluded. Ultimately is your goal to present the material or is it learn and develop group dynamic skills? If its group dynamics then they obviously did not succeed, however if its just about the material, they did clearly present the material (until the meandering bit there at the end). My personal beliefs would be to hold the third member accountable for alienating himself and punish him while not fully absolving the other two of guilt and lowering their grade slightly. I mean after all, the guy's in a masters level management class and if he can't work well in a group presenting a chapter in a book, how can he possibly be a decent manager (or leader or whatever other label you choose to apply)?

Lesson learned however, our presentation needs to include real world examples and be unified. Luckily we have a really good group leader who is willing to compile the teams inputs into a seamless presentation.