I'll admit to being a bit wary of an online course; it's not that I don't think I can do it, but I think I'll miss the food. My last course had a grand total of 4 people. That was it, the whole department; Rebecca, Laura, Katie and me: 4 people, 4 countries represented, and one helluva lotta good food. I know that seems like an odd thing to be thinking about in an assignment assessing whether or not I’m ready for an online course, but so much was about team work and how that works online it seemed natural to think about my last course, and my last academic team.
The Beginning...
There were two lectures to watch for the class, though I think I absorbed more by reading the transcripts after watching/listening to the videos. They were all about team work, so of course I thought "great, I like people and working with them, how awesome to learn about applying that skill to my online schooling" (well, I probably thought something like "huh, neat" but the sentiment is the same right?). According to Dr Haycock’s presentation my last academic team was barely qualified to use the term, but actually I thought we were just about the right size. With only 4 of us we really got to know each other really well; we became familiar with the way we each approached challenges, and we influenced each others’ understanding of the materials in profound and meaningful ways. Isn’t that an important part of team work, at least in an academic sense? I want more from a team than just getting the assignment done, I want to actually get to know the people with whom I am working so maybe we can support each other beyond handing in the assignment. I think it's easier to really get to know people in smaller groups, which is why I like smaller teams.
Dr Hancock went to cite research about the five dysfunctions of teams, all of which I think will be more pronounced in bigger teams and in an online environment. It’s going to be a whole lot harder to trust the faceless messages in my inbox than it was to trust the smiling Englishwoman giving me tea. The nature of an asynchronous environment is going to make all the dysfunctions more prominent and the early more conflict laden stages of teamwork longer. The asynchronicity will also change the way I have to think about collaborating with teammates (emphasized quite a bit by both Haycock and Irwin); less traditional discussion, more emailing back and forth spending ages hashing out what could have been done in moments around a traditional table. Without non-verbal cues communication has to be more formal and reserved or risk being misinterpreted and causing unnecessary trouble, I think this will also add to the challenges of teamwork in an online environment.
To be perfectly honest, I like teamwork. I like collaborating with my fellow students and I always find the conversation is interesting and enlightening even (or perhaps especially) if we stray a bit off topic every once in a while. I think it’s great that I can work with people whose approaches are quite different to my own and I think people can be more daring in their ideas and work when they are confident their weaknesses (real or perceived) will be buoyed by the collective strengths of the group for the benefit of all. It's going to be tricky learning how to do all this with out the natural social aspects (and the warm fuzzy feeling when your new teammate offers the homemade brownies round the table); but talking to teammates is the key in person so I guess it makes sense both lectures heavily emphasized communication early and often.
I have to say I did not find either Haycock or Irwin particularly reassuring on the topic of online team work: if anything I am more nervous about online teamwork now than before. I'd never before considered it a monster and Haycock's assumption that all people hate teamwork was, frankly, off putting. Their tips were sound, but felt a bit like common sense at times (maybe it was just because I was annoyed at the assumption I, the audience, would rather work alone than on a team), but maybe the point was to remind people to take a respectful and common sense approach to teamwork in order to optimize the team's success. Maybe I hadn't thought about it enough to be worried, but I've always felt like as long as everyone makes the effort to communicate ideas, needs, worries, etc with their teammates teams can not only make the work more fun, but everyone can merrily enjoy the exultation of community learning.
Part Two: With My New Found Trepidation Towards Online Teamwork, Am I Ready For This?
The online assessment seems to think I’m ready, which is great! Not that anonymous online surveys do all that much to assuage my fears my computer will spontaneously combust and The Internet will miraculously come to life and decide it hates me and won’t let me use it any more even if I get a new computer. If you haven’t gathered it by now I have a slightly over active imagination and a totally irrational set of mildly neurotic fears; it’s why I put my phone on silent, take the battery out, and leave it at home before going to the cinema. I like a challenge, which is good because I think this will be challenging, it’s new, it’s exciting, but there is an element of isolation that I think will be one of the most difficult things.
I like working independently, but school and academia have always been more than just the work for me: the social aspects are, in my opinion, just as important. I supposes it would be called “networking” but sometimes you don’t want to network, or do work, or talk about you dissertation you just want to go to the pub with your mates and read the Codex Argenteus over a couple of pints. So that’s going to be hard for me. The discussion areas will allow for some interaction with my fellow students, but if anyone is ever in Portland we should go for a pint an some non-shop talk. After listening to the presentations I’m looking forward to teamwork with a little more trepidation that usual, but I think I’ll enjoy getting to know my classmates in courses when I work in teams.
I always love when the question comes up about organization. I like organization, it’s fun, it makes life easy, and organizing your life makes for excellent procrastination. I love my paper calendar, my Google calendar, my phone’s calendar and I have an unhealthy relationship with spreadsheets. I have a color coded Thanksgiving cooking chart so I can cook a whole dinner for twelve from scratch (including bread and pie crust) in one day in a small, unfamiliar, British kitchen. I scheduled wine breaks and panic attacks, just to be sure. Of course sometimes the organization can get in the way of time management, I can get a bit too involved organizing things and suddenly I’ve barely enough time to finish (though I do turn in assignments on time and my books are organized by reading level, then author, then original publication date which is just lovely).
I’ll admit I laughed a bit at the thought it’s more reading that other courses. I know I shouldn’t, I haven’t done it yet how could I know right? But I just can’t believe that I will be in for more reading than the term I read a novel a week, plus supplementary reading for just one class. I think the hardest part will be the type of reading—I doubt I’ll be reading a novel a week for class. On the bright side I’m hopeful that all my readings will be in English, or at least a living language, so that will be exciting and new.
I guess to sum up I’m not totally sure if I’m ready and I think that’s a good thing. I won't get complacent if I'm constantly a tiny bit afraid I've gone completely bonkers signing myself up for an online thing. I’ll find support when I’m struggling, I’ll work though the difficulties I come across because I want to be here, and I hope my classmates do too. I’ll get ready and be fine, this whole online school thing may be a path I tread ostensibly alone; but, I am by no means the first to do so and the path should be pretty well marked. And if I’m not in a physical classroom with my classmates I’ll get to eat all the candied bacon chocolate chip cookies myself.
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