IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDO---Erm... Blog Entry

In your final blog entry, you should include a brief wrap-up report on the project.

The project went much smoother than I anticipated. I expected a group project (like most) to go terribly, and with the addition of many groups in other countries with other languages, I only expected the terrible aspects to be exacerbated.

Everything was completed in a timely manner, despite some early confusion on whether the project should be typed up on Google Drive or Word.

Be sure to discuss these topics in your final entry:

• Your impressions of working in a virtual team (including whether or not you would wish to do so again)

I would do it again with much less moaning and groaning than usual. A virtual team is much easier to manage than a physical team--especially in college when most people have constricted schedules and other responsibilities. I got lucky with my team, as everyone was willing to do their part and pitch in. All my other experiences with group projects has been quite the opposite, so if the group project was conducted like this one--YES I would do it again.

• The most valuable things you learned from doing the project

That collaboration is best to do online. The sharing of information is so much easier, and everyone can work on their own time which eliminated much of the stress of group projects.

• New skills you developed during the course of the project

I learned how to think critically regarding the construction of documents with the intent of translation. I had already had much experience with our topic, but thinking about it in terms of translation was new.

• A brief description of the leadership structure in your team and an evaluation of how effective the team leadership was

Leadership was not centralized, and I tried to establish this early on with all group members. I had constructed the Google drive document, and placed a Title leaving it open for anyone to claim any work they wished to do or interested them. I think this was confusing for some at first, because it was requested that someone take leadership (and someone offered my name). Seeing as how I was the leader in every group project in college, I tried to shy away from it and take an "Open Source" approach to the project. With Google drive it becomes possible for people to work on their own time, making improvements to other peoples work and their own.

• Things you would do differently in future projects, if any

In future projects I am really interested in mandating an Open Source approach to the project. No group leaders at all. It makes it very interesting to see how it all turns out. People can claim the work that they want to do. The only issue is that stragglers may get stuck with work they don't want to do (if it has to get done). But this is the nature of group projects. "Open Source" group projects work best for people like me that have extremely constricted schedules and cannot devote hours of pre-scheduled time. It is more feasible to work 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. 




I hope you enjoyed my blog entries, as I did enjoy writing them!