Pre-teaching jitters

Now that our bioprocess has been established the next step in the journey was working towards getting the information about our work and achievements out there. The way to do this was by completing the tasks that Barry had set out for us in the shape of an infograph, the ePortfolio, and the much eagerly awaited teaching class to our peers.

These tasks were less daunting as they were group work so with good teamwork and communication the workload can be evenly distributed as well as having the benefit of getting somebody else's point of view and opinion on different matters. First up was the infograph which is a visual representation of information and data. Honestly I think we fell short of our own standards on this hurdle, we tried to design it using PowerPoint and it kind of just came out as poorly laid out and didn't really get our point across well enough. Looking back on it I feel we would of benefited a lot more from using one of the many software available online to design our infographic instead of trying to do it ourselves, but sure look it you live you learn!

The ePortfolio is another piece of work that constantly needs developing throughout the year and I feel that while its a good idea to do in theory I also think it's a bit unfair to expect a good quality website from people who have little computing skills and no background in web design, I struggle to master an iPhone! But I do see the benefits of having a project that involves constantly updating and relaying information about your process that is easily accessible and can have feedback constantly from lecturer, because it needs to be updated regularly it keeps the subject fresh in your mind as you are constantly thinking of it. It is mostly about the quality of the information you provide and in a simple manner. Problem is I'm useless with computers so i'll just try to provide the information and slot it in and hope for the best!

Lastly we have to look towards the dreaded teaching class to our peers...this is where we put in a fair amount of work. To be honest the prospect of doing this task is nowhere nearly as grim as it was a couple of weeks ago, we know our bioprocess backwards in and out because we are the ones who came up with it, I was a lot more worried about teaching the class before we had the end design sorted. The key now is to provide the information to the class in an interactive way that gets them interested in the idea. We think it will be fun to play a game with the class at the end to test their knowledge. I have plenty of kefir water at home so we are thinking it might be funny to bring in small prototypes for the class at the end of our presentation. Even though I may be a little bit anxious, strangely dare I say it, I might actually be kind of looking forward to this! We'll have to wait and see how it goes!