LO2-The national cipher challenge was a unique experience for me. I had never done anything like it before, and it was interesting to participate in collaborative puzzle solving. The only puzzle I consistently do is Sudoku with my grandmother, which has little application to this type of puzzle. Initially, I struggled with the first, most basic, puzzles of the challenge. More recently I have been able to make meaningful contributions to the discussion and help identify what type of cipher the puzzle could be. One skill I still have to develop is learning to use computer software. I have some fundamental coding experience, however, I still do not know how to apply it to these cipher challenges.
LO5-Working with experience members collaboratively has accelerated my learning process in this activity. By seeing the more complex strategies and ciphers demonstrated, I picked them up faster than I would have alone. It has also surprised me how collaborative the puzzle-solving process is. It reminds me of drama rehearsals in that it is more a creative sharing of possible solutions than the raw number crunching I expected. While I initially struggled to keep up with the group, learning the skills surrounding cipher puzzles has made collaboration an enjoyable and critical part of my puzzle-solving, particularly with the more complex puzzles we are encountering towards the end of the challenge.