Originally published here.
Personally, I found this week quite difficult as I feel I am much better at breaking down sources finely than combining them to formulate and create fuller understanding. After tackling this task this week I definitely realise why this skill is such a valued quality seeing as it is hard to really grasp an understanding as to what is involved in synthesis and evaluation, but nonetheless most certainly it will be a key ability that will be needed as I continue through my education. We were asked to work in groups of three this week and create a short video reflecting on and synthesising our ideas on the chicken and the egg. I believe we managed to be co-operative and each took a different section to do, which was decided quite easily, which made the task easier to tackle. I found that I was unable to do a video as the technology I had did not permit me to film a video or at least add a commentary over some images. Despite being fraught with technical difficulties, I was able to create a powerpoint online to add to the video, to explore the responses to the dilemma and draw from various other reading and resources I had at my disposal. I think it was much more useful that we each had a specific section to do as we could focus much more individually on our areas, before coming together to gather all our ideas to create the video.
For my section I used an online powerpoint maker which cycled around the arguments and then came to a general statement which led to the conclusion provided by another member of my group. I combined ideas from the original article and then added to their ideas from other articles I had read and other websites that debated the topic. This weeks task was quite hard as it involved mixing some of the skills we already had and then being able to implement them as well as being able to present your findings, all the more collaborating as a group as well.
I found working in a group particularly useful this week as it is much easier to start once someone gets the ball rolling. We each managed to choose a section without any disputes which meant we could get started without too much worry on our own little bit. I think it was good that we just each got a specific part to produce in the assignment as it is much easy to work within constraints and knowing exactly what we needed to have in our sections than if what we had to do was ambiguous. It also means that hopefully the parts that we each bring to the assignment will not be too repetitive and provide a broader understanding.
