Squared Kate

[squaredkate]

Module 5

Well module 5 has been a bit more fun. I’ve really enjoyed thinking of ways to create an infographic based around quite an exciting and open topic. The only problem is as usual people getting a bit muddled on what the assignment is asking for. 

There’s been some great speakers this course especially Shuvo Saha, whose talk I really enjoyed.

I can’t say I’m not looking forward to having mondays and wednesdays free again though. Whooooooo!

[squaredkate]

What do you know ? Another module another fail ! (Module 4)

Well the module four results are in and guess what, another fail ! 

Once again I have a group which consists on an old man who decides to be the boss. Just because you are the boss in your company does not mean you know ANYTHING about this course. 

I have enjoyed the lessons aspect of this course but the group work is so horrible. It drains my soul. I have taken part in so many pointless hangouts. Nothing ever gets done in the hangouts, instead we waste up to an hour listening to each other um and ah. I wish hangouts had never been suggested. They are so awful and yet people cling to them like safety blankets.

Once again we failed because a few individuals have missed the point but forced their stupid insights on to the group.

There's a saying that goes, 'If everyone else is an idiot, guess who's the jerk?' And I feel like I must be the jerk because I have found both my groups to be full of people who fail to UNDERSTAND what the assignments want. I personally think they've been out of education too long and no longer know how to answer JUST the question asked.

How do they get it so wrong? We're currently working on our next assignment and it's going off point again, They're trying to do so much work, researching over 10 topics... why can't we focus on one issue and make a great infographic about that? Why do people always do this? Why do people think having loads of something is better than one really good thing?  

[squaredkate]

Module Three

And we go from bad to worse. 

Group work is AWFUL.

After the catastrophe of the first assignment, when my group started getting it wrong again I knew I had to do something as I couldn't afford to fail this course. So I gathered my courage and made my points to the group. 

It did not go well.

People who are old and arrogant don't like being told by a young girl that they're wrong. Their heads essentially exploded when I suggested that their work was off point and irrelevant. They grudgingly included some of my points but mostly they just deleted a lot of the work I had created and rearranged slides I'd created for NO REASON. This is what hurt the most, that they were so desperate to be in control they HAD to move images about on a slide and delete paragraphs. Pathetic.

They then also took part in very public self congratulations and the old man even posted condemning us and telling us our careers would go nowhere. Lovely team work.

I totally forgot that this course isn't like university and any person could sign up. It's a shame that the people who did sign up were arrogant out of touch know-it-alls.

The work we handed in was not as good as it could have been, all because two people couldn't not be in control. 

[squaredkate]

You can't get away from a bad idea (Module 2)

So module 2 for Squared came and went and it felt like I was stuck in my very own version of The Apprentice. The loudest group members soon announced themselves as the project managers and true to form they led us a merry dance down the wrong path. I could see Nick Hewer shaking his head in disbelief as buoyed by their own egos they floated further and further away from the original request and steered us right into failure. 

For an assignment marked on creativity and originality we chose a concept that exists already... in every format... for free and wanted people to pay a subscription fee for it. It was so silly and yet no one said anything. Politeness sealed our fates. That and not reading the bloody question.

[squaredkate]

Let's Get Squared (Module 1)

I've always been a fan of squaring things. It was a maths concept that appealed to me. Multiplying numbers by themselves takes me back to the comforting ritual of learning your times table in primary school. It's not even maths any more. It's fact. 2x2 is 4 and it'll always be 4. There's a great symmetry to it.

I like the idea of squaring myself. Of using myself to make myself greater. I hope that doesn't sound egotistical. I mean it purely in the maths sense. Once I finish the Squared course I hope I will be a more valuable team member.That I will be worth more. 

Here's to getting squared.