EDUI6707: The group Process!

Greetings. I am posting today to reflect on the process of coming up with a topic for our group project in 6707. I love the group process :) It is crucial to the development of online learning communities. It also provides us with such a feeling of connectedness and breaks the isolation that could come with online coursees. Of course, the class discussions also aid in this process, but the group process really engages us with others in the pursuit of a common goal.

Once again, I am inspired by the process. The truth of the matter is that all group members seemed to have very similar ideas for our final project and the process became simply about talking together long enough to come up with a title that encompassed everyone's personal and professional interests. It is funny how you can dance around something for quite some time even though we were really all speaking about almost the same thing the entire time (just with a different spin on the wording). The process was perfectly pleasant and not the least bit painful as I imagine it could be if there were great differences of opinion. Like I mentioned, I think we all had essentially the same idea (or close) from the beginning.

Ultimately, we came up with a title that met the needs of all four partners. The title we came up with is "Building and Sustaining Online Educational and Professional Communities". I love it! I believe a few of the assignments related to brainstorming prior to this assignment were helpful. The brainstorming is what led me to realize how important the idea of 'sustained online communities' is to me and how well it relates to my goals with regard to professional development in my school district. Karen (one of my teammates) is more interested in the medical professional community. The title suits her needs as well. I like this because we are talking about very different industries, yet our goal is very much the same.

The entire process was great. We all started with our original ideas. Reflecting on each other's ideas and meeting online in real time really helped us come up with a topic that could work for all of us. In closing, I found the process to be a wonderful learning opportunity.

Steve