DDD-E .... Lets DECIDE together

 

Dear bloggers ... we meet again 

Ever started a project thinking you could just ‘figure it out as you go’? Spoiler: it never works. That’s where the DECIDE phase comes in—because let’s be real, planning ahead is way less stressful than scrambling last minute.

The DECIDE phase is like laying the foundation for a house—skip it, and the whole thing collapses, which I’ve definitely learned the hard way. The lecture made it clear how important it is to set clear goals, assess skills, and assign roles, and honestly, I can’t believe how often my past projects ignored these basics. This phase ensures a project’s focus and efficiency, making sure everyone knows what they’re doing before the creative chaos begins.

For example, the idea of setting clear goals struck a chord with me. In one history project, my group decided to make a video about the Industrial Revolution. It sounded promising, but the problem was, we didn’t actually DECIDE on what the video should focus on. One person wanted to explore factories, another got fixated on child labor (and those poor chimney sweeps), while I thought we should highlight famous inventions. In the end, our project became a Frankenstein’s monster of unrelated topics. Reflecting on this, the lecture’s point about instructional goals being critical to keeping a project on track really clicked. Without goals, it’s easy to lose focus or create something too broad and messy to be meaningful.

The lecture also emphasized assessing skills and available resources, which made me laugh because it reminded me of another disaster. For a multimedia project, someone in my group volunteered to handle all the editing. This would have been fine—if they actually knew how to use the software. Instead, they spent hours on YouTube searching for tutorials like “how to add text to a video,” while the rest of us scrambled to pull everything else together. The theory here is pretty simple: prerequisite skills matter. According to the DDD-E model, assessing students’ technological proficiency upfront ensures the project’s workflow doesn’t fall apart later. It’s a step I’ll never skip again because while enthusiasm is great, competence is what gets things done.

Then there’s the importance of assigning roles, which the lecture explained as a way to ensure accountability and avoid redundancy. This lesson hit hard because I’ve been in so many projects where everyone either duplicated work or left key tasks undone. For example, in a science project about ecosystems, we thought we’d “divide the work as we go,” which was a terrible idea. Everyone ended up writing about food chains, so we had three identical sections on the same topic—and no one even touched biodiversity. The theory here is crystal clear: assigning roles ensures both task distribution and role clarity, which reduces confusion and keeps the project moving. The concept of structured group roles—like assigning researchers, designers, and writers—ties back to the lecture’s emphasis on organized teamwork as a cornerstone of the DECIDE phase.

What I love most about the DECIDE phase is how balanced it is. It doesn’t kill creativity; it organizes it. The lecture described it as the stage where projects gain focus, which is so true. It’s like planning a road trip—you might still leave room for spontaneity, but at least you know where you’re headed and how you’re getting there. Without this step, projects risk being chaotic, unfocused, or overly stressful.

Next time I’m in a group project, I’ll make sure we DECIDE everything before we start—goals, roles, skills, and resources. This phase isn’t just about planning; it’s about setting the stage for success. No more Franken-projects or last-minute disasters for me… hopefully!

See you next time .... LOVE MARSI