Collaborative Work in a Globalized Economy

Our first group project is complete, and it was a pretty smooth process! I was lucky to work with an agreeable group, where everyone contributed and no one was super-attached to any one idea.

One of the advantages of online group work is that it mirrors the kind of collaboration that students will undoubtedly do in real life work situations.

In an increasingly globalized economy, project managers in Texas will have to communicate with partners in Georgia--or India. Without a face-to-face interaction, workers and managers will have to learn how to communicate and collaborate on projects. Making decisions and writing a common paper online may be difficult, but the strategies that students come up with to facilitate online collaboration will help them later.

I think since we all lived in California, it would have been interesting to try to find a time to chat by phone or chat room, but our schedules would have made it difficult.

I keep referring to the Class Roster that Barbara wrote up, when reading students' posts. I think it might be helpful to have a permanent link on the class page where students could refer back to each students' introduction easily while reading the responses. I also think a picture attached to each students' post, might be helpful to create more a sense of community in the classroom.