Learning Outcome Four: Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively and articulate the impact of collaboration on ther own methodology

At the start of this unit I was a bit wary when I found out that I would be working in a group. This is because I am quite a shy person and I sometimes can fall to the back of a group and be unheard. I have previously worked in a group for the last Unit X, and it was a disaster so I was expecting this unit to be very similar.

I was proven to be very very wrong. This time around went so much better than last year.

Collaborative working during this unit has been a dream come true and our group seem to have been matched together perfectly. I believe we are very lucky to have been placed together. One big thing to note about the success of our group is that we chose this option. This has meant that every member of our group has wanted to be a part of it and so this subsequently meant that we were all eager to work well together and to work towards the same goals. We all had positive attitudes towards the work load and didn’t want to put pressure on one member of the group.

As we were all eager to work together, I didn’t find it daunting to be part of group discussions or to put my own ideas forward. We have used a few methods of communication throughout the unit, phones, texting and the facebook group. The facebook group has proven to be an excellent way of communicating together as every member can see what has been posted on the group page, and this means that no member of the group has been left in the dark.

We met up on several occasions as a group, sometimes to prepare for future sessions, sometimes to talk about what we need to get done and of course, we met up at the school for our workshops and during tutorials. I have contributed a lot to the group, but so has everyone else. It has been a pleasure working with this group.

Working in a group is so different to working alone. I never knew how enjoyable it could be to share ideas before settling on making important decisions for your work. I have always felt that working alone can be stressful and irritating as trying to get a second opinion is difficult. Working together as a team has been great as it meant that as soon as anyone was stuck or confused, the answer could be put forward almost instantly as everyone was willing and wanting to help. This has made me more confident to ask for other’s opinions on my own work in the future. It has also given me more confidence in asking for help from others. This is something very important to remember for future projects.

Our group made some good decisions, for example, towards the end of the unit we decided to split into two groups as we thought that this would cover more areas and would help us to complete more work. One group went and worked in the school, while my group decided to tackle the task of sourcing materials and working towards getting a final piece made. This turned out to be a fantastic idea as we would never have achieved the work load we did if we had stayed in one big group. Although I am very very happy with the amount of work we have got done, I do feel that I would have enjoyed going back into the school one more time. I do feel that we made the best decision by splitting into two. 

This unit will affect my ways of working in the future as I will be more open to suggestions; I will seek help from others when needed. My confidence has grown during this unit from group working and I have enjoyed the challenge of working within different areas of art (three dimensional) even though it has proven to be difficult.