Reflections on the Final Group Project
What I learned from completing this project
It is said that all of us have two educations: one which we receive from others; another and most valuable, which we give ourselves, and the combination of which, I believe more powerful and invaluable, are exactly what I have experienced in completing this IT-facilitated group project.
First of all, the whole teaching concept, in which instructors step back and act as a resource, a guide, and a facilitator to scaffold and steward students’ learning, and students become independent through ownership of the project’s process and outcome is, indeed, an eye-opener, forcing me to reexamine my views and perspectives on the roles and responsibilities of teachers and students in the language teaching and learning process.
Secondly, I have honed my digital literacy skills by acquiring new technological skills (including web-page editing and digital photo editing). Besides, in completing an authentic language task, I find myself become more appreciative of linguistic interaction and motivated to constantly modify my own language learning process.
Moreover, I realize that teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. In order to make a team work, every individual should be committed to the group effort, playing different roles and shouldering different responsibilities. Problems are the price we pay for progress, and as there are multiple solutions to problems, disagreement should always be welcomed but constructively resolved in order to achieve the single purpose of success.
My personal contributions to the project
I am deeply grateful and indebted to my group members for entrusting me with making action plans, assigning tasks to group members, combining and compiling all the supported documents. I see an amazing intellectual and personal growth in me throughout the whole process. From the very beginning of contributing the idea of making an E-magazine to conceptualizing, writing up the lesson plan as well as the contents of each web page, I never stop scrutinizing and modifying the product by pushing the limits of every individual of our group. I cherish the opportunity of being a leader, being highly committed to the project and responsible for my group members.
Why this activity is useful or interesting to me
This activity is interesting to me because I have been empowered to complete a liberated IT-integrated language task and the sense of achievement has immensely increased my confidence and self-esteem. I have learned to compete against myself, not others and have had the best competition I have ever had.
The changes my group needed to make while planning the activity
We have had many changes to the contents of our magazine. The kaleidoscope column, for example, which originally covered an article on how to give acceptance speech and some Oscar Awards pictures, has been completely changed into an interview report due to the copyright issue.
Aspects of the project I found challenging
I found two aspects of the project challenging: how to be a good leader and how to protect the copyright law. I am aware that the most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I made my teammates play. Besides the vision and capability of management, I had to find appropriate ways to motivate and push my teammates, trying to get the best out of them. And the issue of copyright was always on my mind throughout the whole process. I had to ensure all contents we included in our project were original or otherwise, proper credits were given to their owners.
Two suggestions for next year’s students
By viewing the old we learn the new, so they should always start with previous example products first. Secondly, if two people agree on everything, then we don’t need two people, so different opinions and ideas should always be encouraged.
How my learning in this course can be applied to my future teaching in China
The course transforms me from a layman into an informed professional. With the valuable knowledge gleaned, and the belief that if it has been done, it can be done, I am sure I will be confident enough to adapt and apply many things that I learned and achieved from this course (such as my IT blog, webography project, and this final project) to my own teaching context in the future.
