Ehanft's Weblog

Reaction to peer feedback

ehanft — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:06:17 +0000

All of my feedback seemed positive. Many of the comments noted times that I tried to moderate discussions. I guess people liked that. Some comments also described my ideas as helpful, and I appreciated that. One person called me “stern”, and I am not surprised. People tell me that a lot when they work with me. Most of the comments were about my time in the fishbowl, and maybe that indicates that I did not participate significantly in class while not in a fishbowl. Also, some comments noted that I sometimes was good at keeping the discussions focused. I think this is because I’m very mission oriented, and I don’t really like getting off task. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with my feedback.

cool, relevant

ehanft — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:44:25 +0000

4. Goal setting is a responsibility that I share. If I, as a functional member of a group, were to wash my hands of any responsibilities associated with the group, then I am not acting as a leader and am not fully invested in the outcome of a given task. This is not to say that I must be fully invested in every aspect of work to be a functional member, but I must have partial ownership of all the group’s goals. If not, then I am not tuned in to the big picture, and my own responsibilities within the group might be performed sub-par as a result.

10. Our class/group has all the roles necessary to achieve optimum group growth and productivity. In my opinion, the only tool any group needs to achieve anything is a leader. We have leaders, both formal (Steph) and informal (students who will fill the leadership void when necessary). Obviously, the overall capabilities of the group will result from its members (special skills etc), but as long as there is a leader, optimum productivity can be achieved.

15. I have role flexibility. Depending on the group task, I have served as an moderator (early discussions in class), a recorder (fishbowls I have been in) and an organizer (small group tasks for the wiki project).

16. The three roles I flex among the most are: a) leader, b) worker, and c) organizer. My decision to flex is based upon: the importance of allowing group members to achieve ownership of the task. If I am doing too much of the decision-making, other members might start to lose investment in the work. In this case, I would fall into the follower role. If decisions are being made but lack a clear approach, I will try and function simply as an organizer.

18. I never find myself resisting the retraining required to be a functional group member. I answered this question as true, but after reading Steph’s challenge to said answer, I realized that I do find myself resisting retraining, albeit rarely. When resistant, it is usually become I am in disagreement about a direction the group is going in, and my resultant behavior is to become less invested and participatory in the group’s work.

Informed Consent Group

ehanft — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:21:02 +0000

Reply below.

Reaction to the thoughts of “opinion”

ehanft — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:31:19 +0000

Amanda, the girl who wrote the piece on the word “opinion”, approached from a few different angles, getting a some central themes. Perhaps most significant was her understanding that an opinion holds a lesser weight in discussion than do facts. She gave some examples of how we all know our opinions are less valuable than facts, and demonstrate so by inserting qualifying phrases before we offer an opinion in a discussion. ["Well, in my opinion," or "in my humble opinion," or "it's only what I think, but..." This implies that the speaker is saying one of two things. 1) "I know this is not necessarily valid, but here's my take on the situation." 2) "I have no power over my own thoughts, but I feel the need to share them with you anyway."] wrote Amanda. This is a central component in our group discussions of what we will do with the wiki page. As most students tread cautiously in our group dynamic, this kind of phrasing can be heard frequently. Amanda also talks about how some opinions hold greater value than others based on the source of the opinion. She offers the example of a judge giving an opinion on a civil dispute, or a doctor giving an opinion on a physical ailment. This relates in an interesting way to our group. Since we all know relatively little about each other, we don’t really experience this hierarchy of opinion regarding any issues. Perhaps this makes our discussions more difficult. If we knew someone was a web page designer by profession, their opinion on matters concerning the wiki content would be more respected. I think this would enhance the efficiency of our discussions.

Why I will not be attending the FARC protest

ehanft — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:01:31 +0000

I must admit I do not know much about FARC beyond what I have seen in the newspapers from time to time. I do know that FARC is an organization that I do not respect, having heard first person accounts of my girlfriend’s experiences with FARC influenced situations in Columbia. This is to say, I know I stand against FARC, not for it. However, I will not be driving to Boston to protest FARC. Here’s why: I decided early on in college that I wanted to make civil service a career. I also knew I wanted to do something where I knew I would have a real shot at making a difference. To me, this meant joining the U.S. military. While some might say this was the wrong place to go, I think it is the right place. One of my good friends growing up went to Georgetown and got heavily involved with activist stuff. He has spent time off from school traveling the country speaking and protesting, and is very content with that. However, no matter how many times he goes and protests at the former School of the America’s, the Department of State continues to operate this school. They don’t care about people protesting. The teaching staff on the inside of the school, however, have the chance to make a direct impact on the thinking of those from other nations that attend, and thus have the chance to make a direct impact of positive change. What am I getting at? I’d rather be on the direct action team, not the (what amounts to) complaining team. That’s where things get done. So, instead of going to Boston, missing class that our government pays me for, and shouting with little consequence, I will stay in Amherst, go to class, go to the gym, and do things that further prepare me to take part in something that makes a difference. I am not condemning protesting. The larger the scale, the larger the impact, without a doubt. Protesting serves to bring about awareness to an issue that is maybe socially passed over. It’s just not for me, and to each their own.