Michele Otake

Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-03
3/23/2015

Group Multimodal Project Reflection

Initial Thoughts vs. Final Thoughts
At first, I thought this project would not work well because it was a group project. In my
past experience with group projects I would end up doing most of the work along with someone
in my group. The whole group would never work together. I was not looking forward to working
on this project to say the least. There were not a lot of positives at the time when we were first
handed the project. I kept thinking about all the work I had to do. In the end, I did not do most of
the work. The group all brainstormed and thought up a concept for the project and it worked
well. Everyone put in their piece of their research within the project so the outcome was
satisfying.
The Group Collaboration
The groups decision-making process was interesting. We had various topics that were
different from one another. We made it work because we were able to make a sort of timeline.
Hannahs topic was about the rise of Hitler, so her research appeared first. Danielles and
Brendons topics dealt with the conditions and medical experiments performed at the camps. My
topic tied everything together by focusing on women and their experience through the whole
ordeal. There were a lot of discussions about what would happen to our fictional character. A hot
topic was whether she would die in the camp or survive through liberation. After further
discussion we decided it was best that she survives to have a happy ending to an otherwise tragic
story. In a way, I was the leader of the group. I collaborated all the information given to me by
everyone and put it in a way that it would describe the experience of a woman during the
Holocaust.
We communicated through e-mail only. All plans to meet in a study room in the library,
whether things should be added or not, and final revisions were done through communication via
e-mail. E-mail worked best because I was able to send and receive many copies of PowerPoints
and documents as well as communicate one-on-one with a group mate or everyone at once. What
could have been done differently was maybe the use of text messages. Text messaging wouldve
given more immediate responses.

Michele Otake
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-03
3/23/2015

What went well during the collaboration is everyone having their topics researched and
ready to be used during the making of the multimodal presentation. Because our group was
prepared with our topics, it was easy to come together to fuse our topics into one flowing idea.
The Final Project
The final project was a diary kept by our character, Dahlia Bloch, a daughter of Hitlers
former family physician. We made sure the project could be stand-alone, played without us to
click the buttons for the slides to proceed. A voice-over, created through an online application,
dictated the texts of the diary entries. The time requirement was also met by adding a video
found on Youtube that related to our topics. Photos and images were added to the PowerPoint
after it was complete and to our standards. Some knowledge of how PowerPoint worked was
required to complete this project. I learned how to add audio and time the slides so that they
automatically moved to the next slide. The project required prior knowledge and information
through research to create a believable story. All dates and events needed to be correct.
I did well at communicating with the group. I made sure to contact my group members
and get the information that I needed as well as give information and suggestions. Yet, it was
hard for me to find time to complete the tasks at hand. I had midterms to study for and those kept
priority over the project so the final product seems a bit rushed. What surprised me through the
duration of the presentation was the sound of the voice-over. I knew it would sound a little off
but I should have edited the text to not have any contractions to avoid the awkward don-tees
which were supposed to be donts. Next time I am assigned a group multimodal project Id like
to be able to improve my time management skills. I also learned my lesson to review the
presentation to fine-tune any technical issues.