"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air..." Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola, 1959-1994

photo © 2008 Ted Ollikkala | more info (via: Wylio)


Today's in-class assignment, the problem-solving scavenger hunt, was an exercise in taking initiative, responding well to unanticipated demands and deadlines, tackling a big assignment with creativity and a positive attitude. It was not, I promise, an attempt to make you crazy, but instead an attempt to give you a simulation of a real-world workplace situation, in order to have some concrete experience to tie into this week's readings about employer expectations. Instead of simply sitting in class and discussing the readings, I was hoping to give you a feel for the types of problem-solving and critical thinking skills potential employers look for in hiring. Sample assignments are used regularly in hiring as well as in competition for assignments within the workplace. Your performance on a sample assignment communicates a number of things about your skills based on how well you could cope under the stress of a deadline, how well you were able to handle the time constraints and group dynamics, how well you used the resources available to you and/or looked to outside sources to problem-solve, and finally, how well you interpreted and completed your final product.

Today's assignment contained a number of similar challenges, by design. Each group didn't really have quite enough time to complete all of the tasks well (even if time wasn't wasted in figuring out what was going on). Therefore, you needed to think strategically about how to obtain the most items in the shortest time and simultaneously manage your time to leave enough space at the end to collect everything and send it to me. You needed to assess your group's strength's and weaknesses and figure out the best game plan. You needed to work quickly and efficiently on the process of the assignment, but still manage to put together a convincing product as well. It was a challenge.

Reactions were mixed, based on the few students I talked to along the way, and some students ended this activity not impressed by the learning experience, but instead simply reaffirmed in their assessment that I am a jerk, or perhaps crazy. Some groups, though, relished a chance to get out of the classroom and move around, and some even had fun. In terms of the actual assignment, some groups did complete all the items and got them to me on time, but many did not. On Thursday, I want to return to the discussion of the readings but also revisit the ways in which this activity connects to the readings; I want to talk more about what we did, why we did it, what the results were, and how it relates to our overall learning project.