Skype meeting 5 504 Teamwork

I must admit that I have always enjoyed doing collaborative projects - both at school and during my university courses. I recall doing collaborative projects in my Bachelor of Arts (Media Studies) and Dip Ed courses, so having to complete a group work assignment for 504 really isn't a big issue. In fact, I like the idea of being able to bounce ideas off the other people in my Group 31. We've really blended well as a team - we seem to be on the same track with no disagreements at all so far during this process.

But the element of distance education makes this task all the more grander in terms of the efforts required to complete the task. My previous tertiary courses were on-campus so face-to-face collaborations occurred during the whole research process. But with distance education you don't get the chance to meet your group face-to-face - except with the odd Skype call that might be between you and another group member. I can only envisage that it can be very easy to misinterpret a chat room comment or make assumptions about someone without seeing their face or gauging their reactions. At least with Skype you can hear each other and get an idea through their tone of voice, intonation and their laughter. Laughter is certainly something I remember about Christine, Rebecca and Robynne. I must admit that I would like to be able to discuss many of these issues at a coffee shop while sipping on several skinny lattes.

Part of the idea of this assignment is to practice the art of compromising, fitting into roles and experiencing what it's like to be a leader, about decision-making and teamwork. My group as yet doesn't have a distinct leader, despite my earlier post that suggests that maybe we should consider having one. All of in some ways have demonstrated leadership qualities ... i need to add to this post later, I really need to stop blogging and start sifting through more research articles I found on our topic.

It was really comforting today that my Group's pace in the completion of this project is still way on track. One person mentioned that a group she knows of had their idea thwarted by Arthur for being way off track in terms of the learning objectives. I half suspect that some of these groups who are fast assembling their PowerPoints are missing the point and hastily working through their research. In contrast, my group is still at the sifting through the research stage and now we are going to read our own material and other's too (which we have uploaded to our group resources folder) and briefly annotate the articles and put them under particular headings so we get an overall picture of where we overlap or need to research further. I think we're working well as a group and making good progress to the completion of Assignment 1 5o4.

Tonight's 90 minute Skype session was marred by constant call drop outs, which drew out the process a bit. The wonders of technology. We are putting our notes onto our wiki and on Google Docs.

I'm getting pretty tired, hard day at work today. Now I'm bashing away at the laptop in my Elmo PJs and dressing gown. Eyes are getting heavy. Time for a cup of tea now.