Other Perspectives

One major component of the class was learning from Jordanian citizens, professors, and engineers to understand Jordan’s water challenges from their point of view. In order to best understand the water solutions and systems in place, considering other perspectives outside of my own was essential, especially due to how different the water resources issues are between Western Washington and Jordan. In addition, listening to a range of perspectives within the country was integral, because engineers, professors, and scientists might see the water situation differently from an average citizen of Jordan. Considering all of these perspectives – especially when preparing to present on these issues to a diverse array of backgrounds – was important in this experience.

Group Development

The final project for this class was a collaboration among three group members of various educational backgrounds and levels. While I had just completed my freshman year of my undergraduate degree, I was paired with an upper-level mechanical engineering student and a graduate student in hydrology. As such, the group had a variety of experience and knowledge bases to work from. However, we all shared an interest in learning about how climate change could affect Jordan’s water resources in addition to a motivation to get a good final project grade. Using these shared motivations, I aided in identifying and assigning group tasks based on knowledge base and strengths of individual group members. Rather than blocking out different slides to each group member, I suggested that we each contribute to each piece of the presentation based on our strengths; for example, the graduate student helped decipher the more complex research papers while I used her summaries of these papers and my own research to create appropriate bullet points and figures for our presentation. As a result, each group member could confidently present on and answer questions from any part of our 12-minute presentation.

Listening

Our final presentation included information from visiting professors’ lectures, testimony from scientists, engineers, and citizens, as well as formal presentations from program professors. The ability to listen to and interpret the information presented in these ways was essential to performing well in the class and to giving a presentation which accurately reflected Jordan’s water challenges. Further, since we would present findings based on various professors’ research to these same professors, it was integral that we understood the information that was communicated to us by them and interpreted it in a manner that was accurate.

Productive Relationships

My program included a diverse array of students, including undergraduates and graduates, various degree programs, and students from both the University of Washington and the Jordan University of Science and Technology. As a result, the group had a variety of knowledge bases from which to draw from when discussing the water resources issues of Jordan. In order for meaningful exchange to occur between students, it was important that connections were made among this diverse group. I paid special attention to how I listened and responded to group member contributions in order for each classmate to feel heard and supported by the group.

Appropriate Interaction

Due to the variety of field trips and hands-on learning experiences involved in this class, I interacted with many people from different backgrounds, age groups, education levels, and nationalities in order to grow in my learning. In each new situation, I had to evaluate and reflect on how to best exchange with each person based on context and boundaries. For example, I interacted differently with visiting professors compared to Jordanian farmers whose home we visited. This allowed me to best learn from each person based on boundaries and social context.

Confidence