Week 7- Summary of Task 2/Collaboration and Cooperation

Week 7- 
*Summary of Task 2
*Collaboration and Cooperation

 

Image from: http://www.vaibmu.com/foresight/

*SUMMARY OF TASK 2-

After researching online, reading/posting discussions on LMS and talking to another external student I finally decided on an appropriate 'social' event for task 2. I found task 2 time consuming to decide on a social event and then to find a social web platform that had all of the required elements. The links below helped me with task 2.

• http://meetingsnet.com/social-media/video-using-pinterest-meeting-planning-tool
• http://meetingsnet.com/social-media/pinterest-tool-planner-client-collaboration
• http://www.activenetwork.com.au/event-management-resources/articles/using-social-media-for-event-marketing.htm
• http://www.smartinsights.com/traffic-building-strategy/integrated-marketing-communications/integrating-social-media-with-event-marketing-infographic/

I also had a discussion with my colleagues regarding this task and brought my ideas forward to them.  The teacher that is very I.T. savvy gave me an example when her friends got married they used “Instagram” (http://instagram.com) to collate all the photos that were taken by there guests. The guest would simply sign up to ‘Instagram’ (http://instagram.com)  and the hash tag (http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2305444/The-Role-of-Hashtags-in-Social-Media-and-Search) the photos in the event name e.g. if the bride and groom called it #let’sgetmarried, that is what the people would hash tag when uploading the photos so they all went into the one area on the social media website. This was a way for the bride and groom to see and keep all the photos from their big day.

I liked this idea; I didn’t really have an event as such that I could do this for, instead I decided that as I had recently signed up to be a consultant for a candle company I would have an event involving this. I found this fabulous website called ‘twtvite’ (http://twtvite.com) which allowed guests to click attending if they could make the event and also allow them to post on the event wall. I also liked that this social media web enabled guests to pass the event on through other social media websites once they had clicked attending by posting it on ‘Twitter’ (https://twitter.com) directly or copying the URL.

After finding the right site for me social event I realised just how easy it really is to use a social media platform to create an event. From doing this it enables it to be spread on easily and as people are so into technology you can almost guarantee they will check it out!

I found ‘twtvite’ user friendly and when creating my instructions through PowerPoint I was very specific to ensure that my peers would find it easy as well. Have a look at my website http://rebeccaexley.wix.com/edn113#!social-learning/cvq8 as you can read about my task 2 event in more detail and look at the instructions. Feel free to have a browse at this social media platform as I feel that it could be useful for ALL informal/formal social events.

*Collaboration and Cooperation-

This week’s lecture covered key features of ‘teamwork’. This was in relation to the upcoming task 3, as we are required to work as a group. Teamwork is all about working together as a community of people to agree and to disagree mutually at times. The most important thing is to have the skills to overcome these disagreements and find solutions for them. Everyone in the group must have a good understanding of the required task, they must want to work in a team environment and they must stay positive to pull through the good and bad times. By having all of these elements a team is showing good ‘performance’. ‘Performance’ needs to be from ALL team members and this means the workload needs to be equally shared. To keep mutual flow and coherence in a team there needs to be a team leader. This person will need to be able to direct the group at times and ensure that everyone is on track and imputing ideas and thoughts. A group will start off by sometimes knowing each other and sometimes not. There are four stages in-group development. 

These are:

• Forming- getting to know each other, getting everyone’s thoughts organised and bouncing ideas from one another.
• Storming- the group is beginning to become familiar with each other and everyone knows the requirements of the given task.
• Norming- this is where the rules and goals are established and constructive feedback is given to work for a better result.
• Preforming- this is the management of the team and by now everyone within the team should feel confident to talk to his or her group members but also with the task they are doing.

I found that this lecture really made me get my head around what ‘teamwork’ is all about. This was through the lecturer laying it out simply and getting to the point. He was blunt at times as there will be positive and negatives within a team and we need to know this, as times during task 3 may get hard. This is why there needs to be a group leader to keep everything mutual. I am feeling a little bit nervous for task 3 as I am extremely organised. I know that this task may not be done straight away and it is going to be a team effort so I’ll have to be patient. I'm an external student and this is the first unit I’ve had to do a group assignment. This means that we will have to work together and work well in order to have a positive outcome and gain a good result. As an external student my group members may be working full-time, live outside of Perth or have busy family lives. For our communication we will be using social media. I have started to have a look and I think the best way to communicate will be to dedicate an hour block a week when we are all available to discuss the assignment. I like Skype, as it is a video chat room and that way we will be seeing each other and will actually feel like a team! As we are only in the early stages of task 3 I will get into contact with my peers and see what their thoughts are to how we communicate.

Image from: http://laisogata.wordpress.com

I have signed up to a group of 'google plus' and plan to get in contact with my peers soon.