Co-operative Education
Assignment #3 - INITIATIVE ASSIGNMENT
Self-Assessment, Strategy Report & Action Plan
(Task will take one week to complete)
Initiative and Cooperative Education
Initiative can be defined as seeing what has to be done and doing it. Once you have been shown a task, do you wait to be told to do
it, or do you see that it has to be done and go about doing it? If your supervisor is busy or you have completed an assigned task,
what do you do? If you do not know something, or think you should know more, what so you do about learning it? How can co-op
students can show initiative at the workplace?
Reflect on your first term at co-op. Have you shown initiative? Tell me about it by completing the self-assessment. (Please be
honest with yourself.)
Part A: Self-Assessment
Circle ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the following questions and give a specific example from your work placement to verify your answer.
1.
Do you wait until you are told before beginning a new task? Yes/No
I usually have a pre-made schedule for the day but in terms of the desired work that needs to be done, it is quite flexible so
there is no requirement to be told to do a new task. The lessons are constructed as we go along and in advance to ensure
we are able to showcase our own unique teaching skills to accommodate the different learning styles of students.
2.
If you think something is being done wrong, do you think it’s someone else’s problem? Yes/No
In general, I believe the issue itself should be solved in a collaborative manner and that if I were to blame others for the
problem even with conclusive evidence. It will only raise increased conflict between the co-workers and would be more
mature for a workplace environment to solve the problem together to be most efficient.
3.
Do you think that doing your job well is all that should matter to your supervisors? Yes/No
No, I believe that as a supervisor it is important to both evaluate how well you are doing your job and your overall attitude,
collaborative ability, and work ethic contribute to the success achieved by completing your task. It is essential for someone
to fit in with the workplace environment to make others feel comfortable and assured that they have a reliable co-worker.
4.
Do you resent being asked to take over a job or emergency when you do not think that it is your job or a pleasant job?
Yes/No
I do not resent it by any means. I understand that some circumstances may come up that require the need to take over
certain shifts if required. Of course, it needs to be considered that it was my request to become a co-op student in their
facility and myself being an intern does not require them to provide me with any additional compensation. Therefore, even
if it is not my place usually if I feel it’s the right action I will decide to take over the job.
5.
Do you avoid suggesting changes because you feel no one will listen to a co-op student or that it wasn’t a good idea
anyway? Yes/No
I believe that as a co-op student, I do need to consider that my place in the facility does not authorize me to make concrete
decisions that will change the path of certain actions completely. However, I believe that I should still have the ability to
speak my word for certain changes to be done whether it involves an issue I'm facing that is significantly affecting my
experience working in that facility or an issue/idea I feel would be a good addition to help educate certain concepts to the
students at a higher level. I myself have decided to make certain changes that I advised to other co-workers about to help
lead certain teaching processes.
6.
Do you avoid asking questions of your supervisor regarding careers, education, focus topics, areas of the placement that
interest you personally (but may not be task related)? Yes/No
I do not avoid asking questions to my supervisor at any time as I feel it is essential to have a good relationship with my
supervisor to help do more jobs efficiently and to grow connections as a whole. I usually decide to email my manager or
message her during her time off to ask certain questions regarding career pathways and other decisions at the workplace
which has resulted in positive feedback as a whole.
7.
Do you avoid working extra hours or going in after co-op hours to see or work on a task that you may not otherwise have an
opportunity to participate in? Yes/No
I do not avoid working extra hours by any means and actually try my best to work as many hours as I can. Additionally, I was
willing to work at different locations if requested even though they were not compulsory to show how much I care about
this placement. For example, we had a workshop at another location in Milton and I was able to make it there on time.
Also, this coming last week for this placement I am going to be working at the Burlington facility voluntarily which may
require adjusted work hours that I can accommodate for.
8.
Do you arrive at your co-op placement barely on time, and leave right on time? Yes/No
I arrive at my placement around 15-30 min early and since my placement starts between 9 am - 4 pm I make sure I arrive at
around 8:30 - 8:45 every day to ensure everything is on task and prepared when my work session starts.
If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, it is possible that you have an ‘initiative’ problem?
N/A
Part B: Written Strategy Report and Action Plan
Prepare a list of FIVE TASKS that you can perform to improve initiative at your co-op placement. Some examples of tasks include:
o
A task you can complete each day upon arriving or before leaving that you can perform without asking
o
It may be a problem that you can solve without running to your supervisor
o
It may be a company manual that you will read or questions that you will be asked to improve product knowledge or procedural
knowledge
o
It may be extra hours that you will be asked to put in
o
It may be a suggestion that you present to your supervisor
o
It may be some task you have not yet had the opportunity to complete or observe
Your Five Tasks
Prepare a list of FIVE TASKS you wish to focus on that will result in improved initiative at the workplace.
1.
Constructing custom coding lessons to varying levels of students to endorse creativity and focus when it comes to coding
there own projects.
2.
Suggesting to work at another location of the company to provide a workshop for a group of 100-110 students of varying
age groups to learn S.T.E.M-related concepts through Lego Robotics and ScratchJr.
3.
With my advanced chess knowledge and abilities I would like to focus on instructing chess sessions/lessons to average level
chess students(800+) to help increase their skills and strategic abilities.
4.
Get to the facility even earlier than intially by 15 minutes approximately to optimize the setup process for the equipment to
be more on top of the schedule and lessons for the day
5.
Expose the students at a higher level to some more advanced level robotics projects that require certain physics concepts
to utilize different gear ratios and other concepts to create vehicles with one motor.
Written Report
Over the course of a week, implement your five items noted above. Prepare a one-page report that focuses on how successful you
were on your attempt to improve YOUR initiative at co-op.
Due: _____July 21st, 2023______
This task will take one full week.
INITIATIVE REPORT
By: Danial Suhail
CO-OP Initiative Report
At the e2 Young Engineering Milton Burlington facility, us co-workers/interns/teaching assistants are
tasked with the objective of teaching a group of 10-20 students on average on a daily basis about different
S.T.E.M concepts through Lego Robotics and Scratch/Python programming. My role at the company is quite
similar to what has previously been stated by assisting the instructors to help teach the students at an increased
efficiency. However, in order to increase my efforts and my initiative to showcase my ability to work as a coworker and instructor at this company some changes were required from myself. Through creating a plan of
action by assorting a list of tasks to fulfull I was able to increase my initiative in the company and attain respect
from my co-workers. My first plan of action was to come to work earlier then intended to improve productivity
and organization in the facility. I arrived at the facility at around 8:30 - 8:45 and helped organize and clean up
the area and setup the laptop/projector in advance to the lesson before any students had arrived. I also set up the
tablets/other technological equipments to the required program and with the suggested document. Many of the
co-workers appreciated my efforts during this process accompanied by my manager as a reliable worker.
Secondly, I decided that on a daily basis based on the strengths and weaknesses of each student I were to create
a coding project exemplar for each session to showcase the abilities of coding and the software to inspire
creativity. For example, I used scratch’s software and built a game to showcase as the rest of the students tried
to build their own game as a result. The co-workers started to rely on me more as a result of this and made it a
daily habit to create these lessons as the pre-built curriculum wasn’t as educational for the varying levels of
students present. I asked my manager if I could work at a different location to experience different facilities and
equipment to expand my ability to adapt to different environments to increase my overall initiative. I decided to
attend a local Milton public school to conduct an MCRC workshop on Wednesday for students ranged from SK Gr. 6 and taught them Lego Robotics accompanied by some physics concepts including centrifugal force, and
gear ratios. Through this experience I learned that with these students from different grade ranges and
background I found it challenging but educations where I had to change up my teaching styles to ensure that
students with more experience received additional lessons while students with mental/physical conditions
required extra attention and required easier lessons to ensure an equally treated learning environment
showcasing my initiative. On thursday we received some chess drop-in students and more stunets wanted to
enhance their chess skills as a whole which lead me to take the initiative as the most advanced chess
instructor to teach general principles accompanied by overall strategy including: (openings, endings, midgame,
etc.) to help increase these students overall problem solving skills and to test their ability to absorb
information at a fast pace. This initiative brought me more reliance from my co-workers and my manager who
suggested me to be the lead chess instructor. Finally, this week we decided to undergo some more challenging
Lego Robotics kits through the WeDo 2.0 builds that involved coding. I took the time to help assist some of
these students to the best of my abilities and suggested some other builds that would increase their coding
abilities as a whole which helped these students enhance their overall speed completing these builds and
added their own creative twist as a result. Overall, my experience working here has both been an educational
one but has also showed me how initiative is an important aspect of any workplace in order to not only get
approval from higher-ups but to feel more welcomed in the company as a whole that can potentially help
open up other positions and opportunities as a result.
Cooperative Education: Success Criteria for Initiative Assignment
Communication
Written
expression of
ideas (E.G. clarity
of written
expression, and
its organization)
within
paragraphs, in
assignment
Knowledge
Level 4
Expresses and
organizes ideas,
concepts and
information
with a high
degree of
effectiveness.
Level 3
Expresses and
organizes ideas,
concepts and
information
with
considerable
effectiveness.
Level 2
Expresses and
organizes ideas,
concepts and
information
with some
effectiveness.
Level 1
Expresses and
organizes ideas,
concepts and
information
with limited
effectiveness.
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Overall
knowledge of
initiative: in
assessment and
in strategy
report.
Demonstrated a
high degree of
knowledge of
initiative at the
placement.
Demonstrated
considerable
knowledge of
initiative at the
placement.
Demonstrated
knowledge of
initiative at the
placement with
some
effectiveness.
Demonstrated
knowledge of
initiative at the
placement with
limited
effectiveness.
Strategy Report, Strategy Report
[one page report] is thorough and
contains
extensive.
evidence of
initiative plan
Strategy Report
is some
considerably
thorough and
extensive.
Strategy Report
is somewhat
thorough and
extensive.
Strategy Report
is limited, not
extensive
/25
/15
APPLICATION
/10
Cooperative Education: Success Criteria for Initiative Assignment
Please ensure:
o The first part of the assignment, questions 1-8 are to be completed on the actual assignment page, or
typed and included separately.
o The Strategy Report list (1-5 is to be completed).
o An additional typed page of information, entitled, “Initiative Report” is to be included in your
assignment. This report is to be based on the list you created.
o Please include a Title Page.
o Report is to be submitted at or by: __________July 21st, 2023____________