General Education Reflection

My group’s topic for discussion was general education requirements at Penn State University. We used the P-MOPS problem-solving technique to discuss and furthermore decide on a solution to the general education issue. I believe we effectively accomplished our task by providing a legitimate solution that the university could implement to the general education problem. Initially, we did not know each other very well other than being in the same class, so there was a period of socialization. This happened, for the most part, before we began recording our problem discussion. We introduced ourselves and talked about how we wanted to go about our discussion so that it would be sure to follow the five steps of the procedural model of problem-solving. …show more content…
Looking back, I realize I should have focused more of my research on solutions rather than defining the problem and researching conflicting viewpoints. I took on the role of an information seeker, in that found myself asking for clarification and more information often. I think everyone in the group took on the roles of information/opinion giver, evaluator-critic, and elaborators. We each provided facts, opinions, examples and evidence, some of which was based on personal experience that turned out to be helpful when discussing how a particular plan would work. Each of us also made an effort to judge the evidence and conclusions so that we could narrow down our solutions. I believe it was necessary for each of us to take on these roles because of the nature of the task. In P-MOPS problem-solving, the group is required to define the problem, which is essentially providing facts, and one must also voice his/her opinions and beliefs, as well as elaborate upon them. Overall, our group effectively used the P-MOPS model of problem-solving to complete our task. The only suggestion I have for my group is to keep the stage of generating and elaborating solutions separate from the stage of evaluating