Thursday, October 2, 2008
Why do we have to work in groups?
Working in a group stresses me out. Whenever I find out that that group collaboration is part of the course I get kinda nervous. I'm not comfortable with other individuals being responsible for a portion of my grade. I feel that group work can be harder for the teacher to monitor and can lead to domination by a few. I will admit that I am a weak link in my group as far as technological abilities but I am willing to learn and do whatever it takes. I don't feel comfortable being responsible for other individuals grades based on my technology level. I think that at the graduate level students should be responsible for their grade and their grade alone. I feel that no one other than myself has right to my grades. Tuition is enormous, I just don't feel comfortable for others being responsible for my grade and again I don't feel comfortable being responsible for others.
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Hi Barbi! Surprize! Bet you didn't expect to see someone else posting in your blog... Well, well, we're supposed to drop some comments so here goes...
I know group work can be difficult sometimes. Particularly if it doesn't feel like all are contributing equally. Well, as you probably know, like it or not, in the real-world most jobs require lots of collaboration to get the most meaningful work done. It's a reality. Now this is grad school, but the same goes for projects where promotions and salary increases are involved (at least in business.) Look at the bright side... I've always liked collaborative interactions better than competitive ones. The paradigm shift can be amazing too. Imagine when Americans see the Chinese and collaborators instead of competitors. Or if Democrats and Republicans could ever see each other as collaborators. That would be something!
If we get into the ed psych social cognitive learning theory stuff... then it really stands out. Working together helps us learn better. Oh granted, it's difficult. Perhaps working well together is the most difficult thing people ever have to do, and maybe the most important.
So on the whole, there's more up-side than down-side, and it's a reality of life anyway. So think... what are the best ways you can think of to make collaboration work?
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