A reflection on the challenges of group work

Initially I thought the only challenge of group work would be consolidation, putting all the different pieces together and making them fluid and coherent. In retrospect, the most difficult part is, in fact, collaboration. Consolidation implies one objective with different component that eventually come together. I found that, despite using the same terminology and referring to the same themes, the breadth of the themes in question allowed for many interpretations. In saying this, none of these understanding were wrong or irrelevant. It did however make it increasingly difficult to articulate the differences between peoples’ ideas, and as a result more difficult to amalgamate them.

In terms of my personal learning, I found myself very far from my comfort zone. Most of my assignments rely heavily on a concrete view of what I deem to be important and correct. Obviously the project reflected, in fair part, my personal input. In addition, it also contained a quantity of the work of others, with my name attached. This was a strange experience for me in that, although that particular portion of the work was done in someone else’s style, I could see the merit of the things I would not have initially included.

- Cecilia Barber (Bachelor of Arts)