In studying the Electoral Processes and Participatory Competency in Norway, the USA, and Mexico, the three other members of my group and I gained a better understanding of how to use our different strengths and weaknesses to our advantage, putting together a presentation that highlighted each member’s contributions.
We had undertaken significant research on how each of our chosen countries scored on applicable SGI indicators and analyzed the logic behind them. Moreover, a major component of this project involved choosing the most important information and evidence that answered our research question: To what extent do electoral processes maintain the quality of democracies and encourage high citizen participatory competency?
Although we divided responsibilities evenly, it was challenging to hold each member to the same level of commitment, and to raise issues of accountability and communication. The execution of this project did not go completely, despite ending well with a polished presentation that made us all very proud.
During the process, we had to adapt to missing group members, unclear instructions, and the uncertainty all four group members experienced as we had never undertaken and completed a poster project of this scale. As an individual who values the visual side of things, I chose responsibility for the layout and appearance of our poster, as well as for helping with content and editing.
This project allowed me to improve both my presentation and graphic design skills , giving me a new interest in the ability of graphic design to find clear and informative ways to educate people around issues in political.
If you are interested in learning more about our sustainable government indicator project, a higher quality version of this poster can be found at the following link: Sustainable Government Indicators
This project deepened my understanding of how to work in a group setting, especially in terms of learning how to address differences of opinion, working styles, and commitment to the project among members. The most important lesson I learned from this assignment was that differences of opinion are not necessarily problematic. In fact, in this case, our different ideas about how to present our findings ended up being an asset, as we were able to engage in and present our report discussions and debates in ways that illustrated the multifaceted nature of political science issues. We were able to demonstrate to our professor that we had taken the time to discuss, debate, learn, and adapt our project as we proceeded, and to show that we heard the opinions of each group member before committing to the direction we wanted to take. As someone who values the work I produce, I have always found that group projects pose a challenge for me in striking the right balance between producing a piece of work I can be proud of and realizing that I cannot control other people’s commitment or output. I definitely experienced some uncomfortable challenges in terms of communicating with my classmates and holding them accountable to the timeline and content we had agreed upon. Nevertheless, I gained skills I will be able to use in the future to work collaboratively and effectively, and to feel more comfortable and confident communicating and working in a group setting.