For the first few lessons, there has been a particular focus on thinking methods, including divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is a free-flowing and unstructured thinking process where you generate as many ideas and solutions as possible. On the other hand, convergent thinking is the process of refining such ideas to create more effective and meaningful solutions. Understanding these two processes will play an imperative role later in the course when I will be required to think of ideas/solutions regarding real-world problems.

What do you think your biggest challenges are going to be in Action Project?:

As of right now, I believe the biggest challenge will be trying to balance the different ongoing activities/assignments involved in Action Project. For instance, still trying to add to my padlet will be difficult when there is another assignment at hand.

What are you excited about in Action Project?:

In Action Project I'm most excited about working with my groups to share our thoughts and interpretations regarding the tasks/activities in progress. Moreover,

working in a group provides an intimate, collaborative environment where each member can actively contribute to share their insights and creative thinking.

Throughout this task, my partner Nate and I used divergent thinking to come up with as many ways to rid a monkey of hair. Via effective communication and collaboration, we were able to facilitate the exchange of diverse perspectives and insights, leading to the generation of unique and innovative ideas. These ideas include giving the monkey a hard and long noogie as well as pulling each individual hair out with tweezers.

30 Circles

The 30 circles task was another activity that involved divergent thinking as we had to draw as many things that have a circular/spherical shape in 2 minutes. The task proved to be significantly harder than it seems as after drawing all the different sporting balls my mind went blank. This is when I had to think outside the box and create faces that varied slightly each time. Although this may be considered cheating, each face was different. This method allowed me to be the only one to fully complete all 30 circles.

New method of communication

When creating a new method of communication we wanted to stray away from reinventing other technology and devices. Therefore we first began by collecting a random assortment of objects that would be difficult to create a communication device with. At first, our group was meaninglessly playing around with the different objects which led to little progress. This is when we realised we should target the device to a certain demographic as this would then lead to a more purposeful construction progress. We ended up creating a device that used touch to communicate with people as this allowed for seamless and easy communication, particularly for those who are deaf.

My conclusion was that my client's least favourite aspect of lunch was navigating the stampede of students, all just to get out onto the oval to see his friends. When walking through the corridors he probably felt impatient and maybe slightly erratic as he couldn’t wait to get outside. This is when I decided to think of solutions through the process of divergent thinking. The solutions I came up with were not feasible or realistic which was the whole point of the activity. Thinking of such unrealistic solutions, led to more creative and innovative ideas. After selecting my top 5 favourite solutions, I was able to narrow it down to just one idea which was to build underground passages around the school which would minimise congestion in the hallways. The image to the right shows where the passages would be and where they would lead to. My thought process was that there would be two main expressways that provide direct access to the oval and connecting passages that lead to all the main buildings. Overall I was pleased with how I approached this activity and how I was able to create a solution/product based on client intel.

I think our group used our time extremely effectively throughout each phase of the Spinoff task. Our ability to quickly complete the ideation and creation phases is a testament to our explicit communication and active collaboration.

What improvements would we make if we had the opportunity to do the task again?

To improve our final product, I think the execution of our video could have been slightly different. We could have focused more on logos to improve the credibility and factuality of our information. This could have been completed by conducting a class survey which would provide us with statistics to analyse.

What Elements of Collaboration were successful?

Our ability to delegate responsibility across the project was very successful. We decided to delegate roles based on our strengths, for example, Steven is proficient in video editing so he did a lot regarding that. Furthermore, as we are all friends there was mutual trust and respect among the group which provided a strong framework for the rest of the assignment.

What improvements could have been made in terms of Collaboration?

Personally, I think there wasn't much to improve in terms of our collaboration. Over the course of the assignment there were minor disagreements however that is expected considering we each have our ideas and opinions. We were able to overcome these small disputes by meeting in the middle.

What Persuasive Techniques did we use? How effective were these? What evidence do I have of this?

• Rhetorical Question - Do you think your parents pay thousands of dollars a year to live in the suburbs where the footpaths look like this?

• Incentives - 10 SACE credits

• High Modality

• Strong and Appropriate Language

• Alliteration - Pursuing predicament

• Anecdote - According to a local news report in 2022, a dog owner lost their dog due to a snake attack at Hazelwood Park.

After being introduced to the task I felt pretty confident as I had a sufficient understanding of what was required and the necessary steps that needed to be emplaced to complete the assignment. Following on, having completed tasks like this before such as the $20 Boss project I knew where to start and how to structure the project.

First Steps:

The first step involved outlining which local council each member belonged to. After completing this we then brainstormed different issues that affected our local council. This included problems such as excessive rubbish and fallen branches. To have a wide variety of suggested problems we challenged ourselves to think of 50 problems in 5 minutes through the process of divergent thinking. We then refined our suggestions through the process of convergent thinking, selecting our top 3 and completing a small amount of research on each.

In my opinion action project has allowed me to refine 4 key skills: Communication, project management, problem-solving and innovation. Through constant peer work I have been able to hone my communication skills as I have been immersed in environments where communicating with my group members was the key to success. Having to balance the padlet and other action project assignments, has led to a development in my project management skills. Moreover, having to follow strict timelines has forced me to work with great efficiency and productivity. Assignments like Innov 8 and Spin-off also required the application of problem-solving skills as I had to think of a solution based on the presented problems. This process additionally assisted in developing my innovative thinking, as I had to come up with distinct and original solutions that addressed the problems at hand.

How has Action Project developed your understanding of the 5Cs?

Prior to Action Project, I believed I had a sufficient understanding of the 5cs however the tasks I completed over the semester, certainly helped in enhancing and broadening my capabilities in such areas.

How can you use the skills developed in Action Project in other areas of your life / in the future?

The skills I developed and nurtured in Action Project apply to other real-life scenarios, particularly relating to the workplace. When I finish my studies and go into my chosen industry, the skills I developed like leadership, collaboration and project management will be imperative to my success. Whether I am in charge of a large group of people or have to work in a small team, the skills will remain applicable and relevant.

What challenges did you face in this course, and how did you overcome them? Were any of your personal Character Strengths a benefit or did you have to stretch your lesser strengths, explain how.

Organisation has been something I've previously struggled with, whether that is regarding workload or balancing extracurricular activities. Never in my time at Glenunga have I had an assignment like the Padlet that has stretched over an entire semester. As the assignment has such a lengthy duration, it is something that I have had to manage myself with little guidance from peers or teachers. Moreover because of the extended due date I could have easily procrastinated and not done anything until the final weeks, which ultimately would have led to a lacklustre and unreflective padlet. Therefore, ensuring I was organised and up to date with my padlet was at first a struggle, however, I was quickly able to overcome this adversity, overall improving my organisation skills.

How have you developed as a learner throughout this course?

This course has allowed me to develop 2 critical aspects of my learning, the first being my organisation skills. As previously mentioned the action project assignments have tested my organisational skills and underscored the importance of keeping up to date with work. The second and most prominent aspect of learning that I have developed throughout this course is my ability to reflect on my learning. Often at school, I tend to complete assignments and activities without much reflection or thought afterwards, however, the padlet has required me to continuously reflect on my work and the development of my character skills. These reflections have helped me grow as a learner as I have been able to identify areas of improvement.