Welcome back…
We have been hard at work through the first half of this semester, getting familiar with our project, community partners, and fellow group members. In this post we will provide an outline of our progress so far, articulate our plans for the project in the upcoming weeks, and reflect on a moment of significance we have experienced.
Our Proposal:
LFS 350 Proposal
Our past objectives and achievements
Objective 1: Familiarize ourselves with our project and the expectations of Vancouver Coastal Health’s
Achievements:
- We met with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), and were able to clarify our role in building this food asset map
- We gained access to spreadsheet from VCH to facilitate our data collection
- Our group met weekly to discuss the roles of each member, to stay on top of our work, and to complete all assignments in a collaborative way
- We have been able to communicate effectively and in a timely manner in order to get to know our group and the people we will be working with
Objective 2: Connect with our community partner and prepare ourselves for research within the community
Achievements
- We have been in contact with our community partner by email, and have set up a date and time to trial the map with the public
- Every group member completed the TCPS2 tutorial to gain understanding of the responsibilities involved when working with the public in vulnerable communities
Objective 3: Begin working on data collection and gathering information for detailing the food asset map
Achievements:
- We have reviewed all of the information and instruction provided to us by VCH, setting us up for informed research
Objective 4: Create a timeline for our project and outline everything that needs to be done
Achievements:
- As a group, we crafted a proposal that explained all of our group goals and expectations for this project throughout the term
- We have monitored group progress weekly, reflected on our achievements, and modified our weekly group goals accordingly
Future Objectives/Strategies:
Objective 1: Gain a better understanding of the Vancouver Food Asset Map usage demographic, and its effectiveness
Strategies:
- Collaboration with community members and the public while map trialling
- Reviewing the literature for information regarding the need for food asset maps in cities like Vancouver
- Contacting stakeholders and food assets within the community to hear their feedback regarding our project
Objective 2: Compile detailed information on different food preferences available at individual food assets
Strategies:
- Making phone calls, emails, and in-person visits with stakeholders
- Entering data from our collection into the spreadsheet provided to us
Objective 3: Consolidate our learning in LFS 350 and gain community feedback on our project
Strategies:
- Presenting our project to stakeholders in the UBC sub
- Finalizing a written report with our experiences
- Creating an infographic that is accessible and easy to understand by the general public
Moment of Significance
What?
At the beginning of this term, the group experienced a significant amount of uncertainty related with group members and organization. Due to limited understanding of what our project would entail, we struggled with forming a connection to the project and amongst members, which resulted in some of our members switching around, as well as confusion as to who was actually remaining in our group. In addition, for the first three weeks, we had not met one group member and were still unsure whether or not she was in the class. It was increasingly difficult to organize ourselves and allocate roles for each group member with such a disconnect between us. This made beginning the project challenging, and we struggled to start working. However, our group found this to significantly impact our current dynamic in a positive way, since after much confusion, we were able to engage in effective communication and use this difficult situation to form better connections amongst ourselves. In the beginning, we did not know each other and were not friends, but this unfamiliarity with each other has helped us to be more creative and responsible in our roles (Harford, 2016).
So What?
While struggling to unite our group, we were required to publish our first blog post summarizing our group experiences and introducing ourselves and our project so far. Unfortunately, this was a very difficult task for us to complete with such poor communication between us, but we were eventually able to all meet up after meeting with VCH coastal health dietitians for more explanation on our project. Finally, we were able to address our concerns out in the open. It is problematic and not conducive to the learning environment to dismiss perspectives and ideas different from our own, and can come across as dismissive and oppressive to the individuals that have been disregarded (Bradley & Herrera, 2016). We agreed that in order to all have our voices heard and all have proper contribution to this project, we must be willing to include each others’ work and ideas without questioning them and their validity. Although we all had differing opinions and ideas of the direction that the group work should go, we were able to meet up and discuss with open minds and listen to our fellow group members. From this meeting, we were able to fully address all of the group’s issues, and clarify group member roles and participation. This collaboration built a strong foundation for our work together in coming weeks, and we all gained respect for each others opinions, learning to work with each other in an effective way. At our next meeting, we were actually able to complete our proposal, a project that we assumed would be overwhelming, in a very short time, which was in stark contrast to our work at the very beginning of the term.
As a group, we learned that respectful listening and teamwork is the most powerful way to achieve our goals, and we now understand how important this listening and respect will be during our collaboration with the community. We are an extremely ethnically diverse group of students. When working together, our diversity is advantageous to our performance, and our differing experiences and perspectives can actually contribute to improving our project (Mcleod, Lobel, & Cox, 1996). Working amongst ourselves, we came to recognize how to work outside of our own individual preferences, which is a necessary skill to have when we work with the public. We must approach people with an open, respectful mind, accepting input from stakeholders, and making no judgments on their opinions from their own lived experiences.
Now What?
Moving forward, we can use these group collaboration skills to perform efficiently on future tasks for this project. We now have effective communication networks for settling group conflict, as well as clearly defined weekly objectives, responsibilities, and group timelines, to ensure that our project continues to move forward in a positive and timely fashion. We hope these collaboration skills will inform our work within the community and aid us in detailing the Vancouver food asset map.
References:
Bradley, K., & Herrera, H. (2016). Decolonizing Food Justice: Naming, Resisting, and Researching Colonizing Forces in the Movement. Antipode, 48(1), 97–114.
Mcleod, P. L., Lobel, S. A., & Cox, T. H. (1996). Ethnic Diversity and Creativity in Small Groups. Small Group Research,27(2), 248-264. doi:10.1177/1046496496272003.
Harford, Tim. (2016) How messy problems can inspire creativity. Ted Talks. London, 2016
