- My STEP Signature Project consisted of a semester-long study abroad program in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia at a remote field station. I completed classes on Tropical Biome Ecology and Climate Change, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, and Environmental Sustainability and Socioeconomic Values. During the second half of the semester I took a Directed Research class, wherein I conducted research assessing the flammability of littoral forest species and their efficacy in green firebreaks.
- My view of the world was transformed when it comes to collaboration and group work. The program that I was in was very communal and group oriented. I shared a one-room cabin with seven other students, completed assignments with multiple groups of people, and had to collaboratively assist with kitchen duties every week. While I considered myself good at working collaboratively with other people before this program, I was surprised to find myself so challenged this time around. I quickly learned how important communication and compromise were after tensions between students ran high following consecutive long physically challenging days of field work. By the end of this program, I learned how to be a better group member and improved my communication skills with others.
- Participating in a program not led solely through Ohio State meant that I was working aside students from different universities with varying skill sets and knowledge levels about different topics. In relation to group work this meant that members in a group had different strong suits and perspectives. When a student in a group had more experience with a particular thing than others, it made completing the assignment easier, but students who had more experience usually had to do more of the work in the group.
For the first half of the semester, I was mainly in a randomly assigned group with two other people. We completed most of the field work, in class assignments, and scientific reports together. Tensions really ran high in the group at the end of the first half of the semester when the reports were being written. We clearly delegated different sections for each of us to write. It became clear between another group member and I that the other person’s sections needed more edits than ours. The issues started to occur when we talked to this person about changing what they wrote, and they refused or wanted everything explained in detail on why things needed edited. As a result, two of us in the group ended up doing double the amount of work to make these edits. The main reason why this became such an issue was the fact that these reports were a large percentage of our grades. In addition, they were also going to have all our names on it, so we wanted to be proud of what we submitted.
For the second half of the semester, I was in a group with two different students for the directed research component. Collectively we could have improved on delegating group work in an even way. At the beginning, tasks were clearly delegated but not evenly so some of us had more work to do than others. Following data collection, the work was not completed evenly between the three of us. I would go to work on something that needed to be done to find that someone else had already done it. I think a large factor was that one of us was completing things very quickly, so they were speeding through getting things done and as a result did more of the work. It was challenging to navigate feeling like I was not contributing enough but then being given work that was then completed by someone else since I was not doing it quickly enough. As a result of being a part of both groups I saw both sides of unequal work distribution and how that can impact group dynamics. This had led me to see the importance of delegating work more evenly with clear communication while still trying to let people do what they are good at. - One of the reasons I completed this study abroad program was so I could figure out if I like doing research and if it is something I want to pursue in my academic/professional career. Learning about collaboration and group work is very important when going into a field where it is necessary to complete fieldwork with other people in a group. While I am still uncertain on whether I want to pursue research, I was able to improve my communication skills and am interested in pursuing more fieldwork opportunities. It was beneficial to be able to exercise my abilities to work in a group and I hope to be able to apply what I learned from working with other people to future group projects that I will have to do. I really enjoyed studying abroad in Australia and learned about how their work culture is more collaboratively oriented. If I were to consider pursuing living there more permanently that would be an aspect worth consideration.
Cassowary spotting!
Completing fieldwork at Cattana Wetlands in knee-high foliage!