Grouper

Overall, the group project experience was a positive one. Just researching and discovering a lot of great children’s books dealing with homosexuality was, in itself, a gratifying experience. Also, trying to learn some basics about PowerPoint with Kate’s help was great. But, concerning how things went with long distance group member…not so great. I don’t think this had as much to do with working out logistics or technical issues as it did with perhaps, expectations we had for each other and work distribution issues.
Of course, in any group project work distribution is never equal. One or two people may end up shouldering more of the burden. But what was frustrating for me in this experience, was that I felt like the Asheville team more than fulfilled our share of the work, but were being criticized by the Boone team member for not doing enough …or something. Honestly, I don’t know what it was she was unhappy with.
I’m not sure exactly what I would change about this process. I think it probably worked really well for most groups, and I could imagine it working well for me if I tried it again. Sometimes issues just come up, but I think there are probably valuable lessons to be learned even when there are problems. One thing that probably would have been helpful was having required set meeting times. This could have helped each member stay accountable for their share of the work.