Objectives
- Follow-up on interview requests with Kiwassa Neighbourhood House and Pandora Garden (we still have not received a response from these stakeholders yet)
- Interview stakeholders from Templeton Secondary School and Seasons of Food
- Compile common themes and differences amongst the gardens for analysis
- Inform our community partners – Kim and Joanne, once the interviews and analysis are completed
- Send some of our data to various stakeholders that have requested to check our data before finalizing our analysis
Achievements
- Finalized interview questions based on feedback from Joanne and incorporated common themes from Group 5
- Received confirmation and approval of our interview questions from Joanne
- Completed final copy of consent form
- Interviewed stakeholders from Frogs Hollow Neighbourhood House and Garibaldi Annex
This week’s Moment of Significant Change workshop…
What – Description of Moment of Significant Change Workshop
This week’s in-class tutorial, which highlighted the most significant change technique (otherwise known as Moment of Significant Change) was very refreshing and provided the opportunity to reflect on initial goals and expectations with regards to our CBEL project.
It also got our ‘creative juices’ going – so to speak.
As a group, we decided to map out our collective story as such:
Each sailboat represented a ‘moment of significant change’ or an important turning point that took place during our project. The waves indicated our emotions and feelings with peaks indicating happiness and satisfaction and troughs indicating frustration, anger, indifference, and feelings of unhappiness. Team members who felt their emotions had been impacted by these ‘moments’ drew a stick figure on the corresponding sailboat, showing that they were “on the same boat” or the “same page” as the rest of the group.
A large majority of us were satisfied with our assigned project in the beginning. Yet, upon closer examination (when we thoroughly read the project description), feelings of confusion ensued as we were not sure what exactly it was our community partner was setting out to achieve, or what was expected of us as a team. These feelings of confusion and anxiety quickly dissipated upon meeting with our community partner, Kim, as well as our attendance at the Sustenance Festival. In talking to Kim, we were able to learn about her visions and goals for the Hastings Sunrise Learning Garden, which became even more apparent after volunteering with her at the festival. Kim’s passion for urban agriculture, food literacy and their role in community development for tackling food security issues really resonated with us – and all of sudden our disenchantment (towards our project) turned into excitement and feelings of happiness. We were able to establish our project aim, understand our role, and even apply learning from LFS 250 and 350 into practise! When we received feedback from our proposal presentation, spirits turned to an all-time low. We were told by Will that our methods (for research) were perhaps not ideal and would need to be revised to be more effective. Many of our group members had spent countless hours brainstorming how to approach our project so hearing that was quite discouraging. It meant more work for us and as busy students, this was the last thing any of us wanted to hear. After more brainstorming and consulting with Will, we were able to develop a new plan, which was to conduct personal interviews rather than sending out surveys. As a team, we agreed that qualitative interviewing would provide more valuable and usable information that would ultimately better assist Kim and her goals for the Learning Garden. Although it meant more work on our part, we felt confident in our decision and the positive impact that could be brought upon, so overall moods were once again uplifted. At the time of this tutorial, our feelings were largely indifferent and plateaued out since we had done everything we could up to that point and our next step depended on feedback and approval from our community partner. Having conducted a couple of interviews this week and having more scheduled for next week, our feelings are somewhat higher and uplifted. It is our hopes that we will all finish at a ‘high’ over the next few weeks.
So What and Now What – Reflection
Checking-in on one another’s progression, drawing connections, and making comparisons with each other’s ‘moments of significant change’ was very beneficial; We were able to assess our performance thus far as well as address any discrepancies which we were not previously aware of. Although the majority of ‘moments of significant change’ were identified by all group members, it was interesting to see the slight differences/variation in feelings and perceptions. We now understand how important it is as a group to check in periodically with each other and see the value in visually mapping out the progression of project work. During the ‘Moments of Significant Changes’ workshop, we found out that every group had their scope change and challenges and overall, we feel we have grown both as individuals and as a team throughout our CBEL project. We hope to continue to map our feelings positively for successful completion.
The Graceful Dismount (strategies for successful project completion)
Success can be measured in many different ways. For many students, it can simply mean completing a project or receiving a good grade. Our group acknowledges that while these things are important and certainly not to be dismissed, this is not what education is solely about and what this LFS 350 CBEL project is about. For that reason, our group measures success based on how much we have learned, whether we have enjoyed the learning process, if we were able to work collaboratively as a team and if we have been respectful to our community partners, stakeholders, and residents of Hastings Sunrise – to name a few.
In order to meet these targets and to have a ‘graceful dismount,’ we have proposed the following strategies:
- Continue to have regular meetings every week to ensure all group members are on the same page and all opinions are being voiced. Communication is critical to the project’s success and maintaining the flow of the project
- Address and resolve any problems immediately, in addition to asking for help when needed
- Assign tasks according to the strength of each team member. This will allow team to be more efficient and produce better quality work
- Maintain regular contact with our community partner to ensure that all expectations are met
- Treating everyone with respect, including but not limited to: community partners, interviewees, and team members
