LEARNING PORTFOLIO 4 ANSWERS

1. When working collaboratively, what are the most important norms and
expectations would you want in writing? Why?

When working in a group, I would expect my team members to be confident and

creative. In other words, they should feel free to think creatively, and every member
of the team should make sure that they will listen openly to their members.
Therefore, the most important norms I would want in writing is to listen first to
understand instead of being contemptuous of other members’ opinions along with
practicing being open-minded.

2. Describe the decision-making strategies used in the meetings you attend most
frequently. How well do these strategies work?

There are three decision-making strategies used in the meetings I attend most are
the decision tree and standard agenda. The decision tree is a form of mind-mapping
or clustering, which is a simple way to visualize a decision. It is used to diagram
solutions and consequences to evaluate them, it helps us carefully plan our decisions
and classify them. Besides that, standard agenda is simply a list of items that will be
discussed in the meeting, and they are given to all meeting participants prior to the
meeting. This gives team members opportunities to plan and prepare for the
meeting, reduces wasted time and resources as well as encouraging participants to
prepare and express their opinions.

3. What is unintentional plagiarism? What three strategies can you use to avoid it?

Unintentional plagiarism happens when students borrow words and cite them
incorrectly or when they don’t realize that borrowed words and ideas must be cited.
To avoid it, I would use these three strategies:
 Paraphrasing: When I find information my research paper, I will read them
carefully and rewrite them in my own words.
 Citing: There are some citing systems such as MLA, APA or Harvard that I can
follow.
 Use plagiarism checker

Portfolio Reflection Guidance:

After learning from the learning portfolio, I have gained a better understanding of the
process of a team working as well as how to avoid plagiarism in writing. The most significant
thing when working collaboratively is to plan carefully for an effective meeting and to
manage conflict by setting rules and understanding each member well. Because teamwork is
common in the workplace these days, I need to enhance my team working skill effectively to
fit in the business environment. From this session, I have learnt the decision-making
strategies in the meetings and how to apply them to organize a successful meeting. With
this learning experience, I can apply it in similar future situations where I must organize a
meeting professionally.