Aligned with Student Learning Outcomes
SLO8. The student effectively collaborates for the achievement of individual, organizational, professional, and societal goals.
Artifact
- Needs Assessment for High Point University
Reflection
The Group Process
The process of conducting this needs assessment allowed me a remarkable learning opportunity at one of North Carolina’s most prestigious universities. The purpose of this assessment was to focus on one particular area in which there was an identified a need. My group members and I viewed this entire experience as one favorable to our futures as leaders in librarianship. Not only did we gain insight into what it takes to run an academic library but also to see firsthand the dedication it takes to bring forth services to patrons. Ultimately, we were extremely pleased with the outcome of this project and believed we accomplished what we set out to do. In the process, we learned about the dynamics of collaborating on an in-depth project over a period of time. We were able to identify our own strengths and weaknesses over the duration in order to support one another in achieving our common goal.
From the collaborative experience, we discovered a lot about each other. One of our biggest strengths was the fact that we all had different talents. Our collective interests varied from technology to writing. We had strong visionary people, relationship builders, leaders and followers. We often realized that each of us could be all of the above in certain situations. We used our differences to get the job done in an orderly and complete fashion. When conducting our surveys, we were able to get a wide variety of people to participate due to our individual differences and approach methods. These differences led to the strengths of our project, allowing us to have differing opinions and experiences to add. Our differing personalities also led to complications in terms of communication and ideas about the direction the project should go, however, we all learned to work together and compromise.
Our differences were not viewed as weaknesses, rather challenges that we had to overcome. We all had schedules that required accommodations; some of us worked nights and weekends so it was difficult to find convenient times to meet. There were also meetings that not everyone could attend. However, we overcame these challenges through strong communication and delegation skills. Finally, because none of us had ever completed a needs assessment before, we were forced to learn along the way. In the end, I believe our lack of experience made for a much more intense lesson learned.
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