In, “Writing “Eyeball to Eyeball”: Building a Successful Collaboration” Rebecca Ingalls stresses the importance of collaboration between people. For example, she gives the instance of the Beatles. She explains how each member of the band played a part of writing the music, ultimately forming the core of the band. This would lead the Beatles to sell over one billion records and countless hits. In the audiences case, she emphasizes the power of collaboration in the classroom.
In my opinion, I am not a fan of group projects. In most cases there is always the one person in the group who doesn’t do their part and slack off expecting others to pick it up. Truthfully, there are cases where I slacked off and my partners did the work for me but that’s very rare (happens when the topic is boring). Most students dread this part of school but teachers see it as a necessity.
Ingalls explains that through collaboration, students can pick each others brains to form ideas they couldn’t on their own. She also brings up the idea of “Establishing a Group Contract”. I believe this to be helpful. If everyone in the group is established a role, it makes it easier for themselves and the other people in the group. This is because with the one role you have, as long as they do it the the best of their ability and the others do their part as well, you will have a collaborative whole.
I found this article useful, and will keep these ideas in mind in my next dreadful group project.
Our class blog: https://eng2020.chrisfriend.us/blog/category/process/collaboration-failure/
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