Working collaboratively on the delivery platform evaluation was a learning experience. My five team members and I spanned 3 provinces, two states and 12 degrees of latitude as we worked away on our Google Doc. I really should say docs, because they seem to grow and reproduce: from a single page to 17 pages, then from 1 file to 4.

It is certainly a challenge trying to work together and meet at common times. The work flow accelerated through the week and continued all the way to submission time. I joked with Sylvain that despite my best efforts in this MET program, I have not encountered one deadline without uploading in the last hour. It seems to be inevitable.

Google Hangouts and Docs really make the process possible. The ability to speak to classmates while you all share ideas in different colours on a shared, interactive document is so effective. I was reflecting to my wife today that group work as a teenager and undergraduate was always a grind and never something that I looked forward to. In this Masters program, more often than not – and especially with this current group – classmates demonstrate how intelligent people with a common purpose and drive can produce impressive results. We get to walk-the-walk for successful collaborative learning.

Not everything went smoothly. Because not everyone could be on the working doc at any given time because of busy lives, critical decisions can be made that change the direction of the project. In our case this was complicated by the technology. As a result, one member discovered that his work had been completely edited without his knowledge as we moved in a new direction.

It was a credit to his good character and professional manner that he was able accept the situation and continue-on in the stretch. It was very impressive. I don’t think that most people could have handled it so well. Credit goes to the group too, who explained their decision and the technical glitch in a friendly and supportive way. Well done, team.