Working in this group was by far one of the most pleasant experiences that I have had since I began pursuing this MET program. Despite being in different timezones ( I am in UTC/GMT while all the other members are PST) we were able to work collaboratively. Although it meant that I would have to stay up later than the other team members, I ensured that I was present for every meeting and overall it proved to be a very rewarding experience. Google Docs allowed us to work efficiently and I am really pleased with our level of collaboration. The use of Google docs ensured that our thoughts and views were respected as we worked collaboratively. For example, we would not delete someone else’s post unless the entire group gave final approval. This allowed us to share our ideas, brainstorm, reflect, engage in more research without the fear of it being rejected by others.
We used an outline of the topic on Google doc and used color coded text to identified who wrote what. On the sidebar of Google docs, we used the comments sections to make comments about each other’s work or to make certain queries. Although we never had a Google Hangout session, our “meetings” were very effective as we all shared our thoughts on the assignment whether a team member was absent or late. We decided earlier on that all members should contribute to each section rather than having a single member solely responsible for a section. This proved to be quite advantageous as it allowed us to edit the text more efficiently and engage in more meaningful discussions with each other. Although I was a bit hesitant about making last minute changes to the document, I did, but made my edits in red so all team members can have their input. Thankfully, they were accepted and once we submitted all of our edits to Brittany Reid who made the final adjustments (formatting, APA etc) it was sent to everyone for final approval. Once the team agreed with the final document we proceeded to submit it in the assignment dropbox. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me and I am looking forward to working with my team members in the future.
