Summary
The concept of team collaboration to accentuate each other’s work is important for each student to understand, especially considering in their professional life when they are outside of college, they will have to be able to work and communicate well with their peers to get assignments/tasks completed. In Rebecca Ingalls’ Writing “Eyeball To Eyeball”: Building A Successful Collaboration, she illustrates throughout her article why group collaboration is vital. As I read the article and reflected upon memories that I had where I had to collaborate, I understood and agreed with the reasons she emphasized the significance of group teamwork. She discusses how many students from her courses whom she surveyed felt group teamwork was key, but sometimes it felt tedious and cumbersome. The experiences they shared varied, and rightfully so, as some felt group work was beneficial, and some felt group work gave people the entitlement of laziness. I have been on both ends of these answers, but I’ll share my anecdote later in this blog post. Ingalls provides a good substitute for how we can avoid these issues that typically arise when we are attempting to do group work but stumble upon which topic to pursue. She proposes the affinity diagram, stating, “You’ll find that the affinity diagram helps you to delve deeper into the advantages and disadvantages of choosing certain topics and helps you to imagine what it would be like to see a topic through from beginning to end” This diagram stood out to me, as I felt it could beneficial when conducting group work. It helps essentially break each topic down to the small, minute specific to make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, if I am in a group and we are trying to find an issue with McDonald’s– The diagram, in this chronological order, would make us highlight “who is being affected, research source, possible solution, and topic challenges.” If we do that, then we will be able to agree and understand our topic of choice.
Experiences
Certainly, I can agree with the many students from Ingalls’ survey, where they noted that collaboration was affected and was beneficial for college students. However, unfortunately, I cannot say that I really like collaborative work. I cannot figure out why, but somehow, I have been cursed to receive partners who are not present when it comes to group assignments/projects. It is always difficult to find a solution when a peer does not do any of their assigned parts for group work, and another peer has to pick up their slack. I think, comically, I may be cursed. I was once that student who would “leech: of my peers, so karma came back. However, to be fair, that was in middle and some high school. But, when I see others slack off when it’s collaborative work in college, it is strange. So, from my rant above, we can tell that I am not a big fan of group work, but ironically, I think it is good practice to help me understand that not everything will be “smooth sailing” in the future. Of course, there are some occasions when I have good partners, and they make the process less complicated and fun. We can always communicate, whether it is via iMessage, email, or Zoom, and they will always show up and do their responsibilities and offer new ideas, if necessary. These students are always fun to work with because we are improving and understanding each other from another lens. We can bounce ideas off each other, sit and argue, and always find a middle ground to excel in our work to the best of our ability.
Contract
Ingalls’ idea of a contract was fascinating, but I do not think it would be sufficient to subject students to a contract for a 50-point group assignment. This stemmed from my earlier description of my poor experiences, however. And, of course, it would be suitable, in my case, to think the contract would be a good idea, but it is not. If someone misses their part on an assignment, having to relate to the contract seems like an individual might be “over-doing” it if you will– essentially trying too hard. I think when you sign up for a course, the professor informs you that group projects and assignments are required. The idea that you have an obligation should already be there in your brain, at least for me. I think it is expected to know that you must be ethical and respectful to your peers. You have to be understanding, set deadlines, and find a way to work collaboratively effectively. There is no need for a contract, but I can see why this is a valid idea. But, a quick question to wrap this section up: If someone cannot understand these basic concepts, how can they uphold a contractual agreement? What is the contractual agreement going to do when they miss something? Is it going to kick them out? Is a professor notified? These are just some of the questions that scrambled in the back of my mind reading about the contract idea.
Correlation
Although I can see the insightfulness of this article, I cannot help but ask, “HUH?” What does this article have to do with writing, and how can writing be done collaboratively? I read and read, but none of those were answered. Despite not having an answer to either question I proposed here, I want to give some relative thought, hopefully. I have never done collaborative writing before, so I am not sure how it would work. How would multiple students compose a paper within the same topic on the document? It is fascinating, but perhaps I thought this could be collaborative revisions. The title “eyeball to eyeball” screams revisions. Individuals can view what I say about a topic from my lens and vice versa, and if revisions are done correctly, it can accentuate the paper, as the editing process will be much easier. However, to disappoint the readers here, to know one’s surprise, I also cannot say I am a big fan of peer-to-peer collaborative revisions. I think they are very helpful. However, I do not do well with them. I love receiving feedback, harsh criticism or not, but I cannot seem to reciprocate the energy. I am too nice of a critique, meaning I probably give bad feedback when, at times, I probably should have been honest. So, in this case, the collaborative feedback is not helping my peer and only me, and I do not see how that would be fair. Fortunately, if there are students who have that same energy, then I am 1000% sure that collaborative revision or composing would be impactful.
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