Our first assessment was for the Unit- Introduction in to Higher Education: Fashion Buying and Merchandising. It was to put together a collaborative presentation lasting no more than 10 minutes on a specific ‘parent company’.

We chose our groups on the second week of being at university. I was in a group made of five girls, who were all really nice and I could tell we were all determined to do well. The ‘parent company’ we got given was ‘The H&M Group’. I really enjoyed our first assessment it was exciting getting to know new people and researching into new areas of fashion.

The hardest part of this assignment was working as a team. Teamwork was hard because it involves relying on other people to put the work in and do their part. I found we all worked at different speeds so it was important to try your hardest to do the work on time. I also found everyone researches the work differently and presents their findings in different ways so it was important to come together to gather the information neatly.

Its also hard because you have to arrange set times to meet up when everyone in available. It involves a lot of your own time to go out your way to meet your group. I have leant that it doesn’t always work out when you arrange to meet up as plans change and people can cancel. It is important to keep your group your priority and if plans change then make the most of what you have.

Throughout out the task we found that communication was key. We set up a WhatsApp group chat which we used to arrange times to meet up and to ask any questions we had. We also used it to feedback after meetings and make sure everyone new what they had to do before the next meeting.

Although, it was tough working in a group it was also rewarding. Working in a group was good because you could get advice and help on what you were doing by people who knew exactly what you needed to do. You could ask your group for feedback on the work you had done so you could make sure it was the best it could be.

Another reason why working in a team was good was because we were able to practise together and therefore could give each other constructive feedback on how to improve. It also meant we could practise in front of each other making us more confident for when we actually did the assessment.

Overall, I did enjoy working as a group and it was good because we all have different strengths and weaknesses and when we came together it meant we were stronger. Working as a group made me more confident in my work and in my presenting.