While collaborating on writing assignments can be difficult, Ingalls gives some good tips to use when that time comes. First, she explains that her student’s experiences matter. The first thing that she wants her student to do is to look back to their previous collaborations and dive deep into the emotions they felt. Most of her students questioned if collaborating was even an effective strategy considering it can be much more stressful to work with and rely on others than just having to work alone. However, she assures her students and the reader that they can get a good idea of how they work in a group by revisiting memories. She explains, “We can also take a more specific look at our own actions and tendencies for working with a group.” She asked her students to ask themselves what kind of person they were when collaborating and what type of role they played in that collaboration.
To set up the project, Ingalls says the students must keep an open mind, and be aware of who to collaborate with. She introduces the idea to create a group contract which can be extremely beneficial for making sure everyone has their responsibilities and is held accountable. She also mentions the importance of choosing a worthy topic. Perhaps the topic that will get your assignment done the fastest isn’t the best one to choose. Collaborating is already difficult, now throw in however many students who are uninterested in the topic and it is a recipe for disaster.
Finally, what I am most interested in is what to do when conflict arises. I’ll never forget the one weekend when I was scrambling to get an assignment done for myself and all three of my classmates with only the minimal help of one. So how do you deal with this type of conflict? Ingalls says to revisit the contract with your peers in person. She says it’s best to go over the goals again, communicate effectively with your classmates, and have an open dialogue.
By the end of their collaboration in class, Ingalls mentions that her students “Came to see collaboration more positively than they had before.” Not only do her tips and tricks serve as a great guide but they also seemed to be effective in how the students felt about collaboration by the end of it.
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