It seems like my group members will bring an interesting mix of perspectives. So far, we seem to have different ways of approaching communication between group members, as well as differences perspectives on how to best approach determining the group make-ups. Jimigarcia27 suggested that although it would be a difficult to recognize “who will be a perfect match”, “people who show similar styles to their postings should be paired together” (4:3 – Jimigarcia27 7:30 pm 7/29/08). From reading my teammates’ postings, it seems to me that our posting styles are similar, in the most literal sense. The sentence structure, approach to a question (personal thoughts, quotes, evidence), paragraph/essay format (beginning, middle, end), and individual connectivity all seem relatively similar. I feel as though any of us could have taken the same stance or argument as one of our teammates and written it in a similarly. That being said, the content of each post and stance is different from each other.
While Jimi advocates similarity between group members, Present Makalele thinks we should stir the pot and randomize communication styles between group members in order to bring experienced interlocutors and non-experienced interlocutors together, because the mix “will provide a robust array of communication styles to observe going on between team members” (4:3 – President Makalele 7/30/08 9:56 pm). This also seems to have taken place. Although I have never commented on a previous posting by any of my teammates, nor have they responded to me, I noticed that some of us have responded to the same postings written by others. For example, President Makalele, Sports08 and I responded to topofthemorn’s post about Project Management in Ireland;. This may have been unintentional on Steph’s part, but it does seem mighty suspicious! Here we are, experiencing similar differences.
In terms of Sports08’s approach to the question of group member constitution, he said about Steph determining groups, “I trust her judgment” (4:3 Sports 08 7/30/08 9:51 pm). He will try to focus on politeness through being conscious of how the content of what he says may be mis/interpreted by the rest of us: “if I feel as though I am being polite to somebody from another culture, I may actual be seeming rude or inferior” (4:3 Sports 08 2008 7/30/08 9:51pm). Sports08 will also bring to the table an awareness of how, having never met in person, we are essentially all strangers and will continue to be after the end of the class, yet together we are in a unique situation of learning to and are able to share experiences and emotions with each other.
I have noticed the similarity in styles of writing too – do you think it is because everyone is following academic form? (Which is a good thing for the actual assignments, right?) The styles have shifted rather dramatically for some individuals in their closed teams, eh?
It is curious to wonder (and maybe explore) if stirring the pot with more than different content is a worthwhile endeavor. I mean, what is really being learned if (for instance) all folks know how to do is to switch sides or angles of an argument but the structure of arguing remains the same?
I love the suspicion, by the way – other members of the class have also speculated on some coincidence or pattern of team composition.
And it is funny in juxtaposition with the trust in my knowledge of what I’m doing. Honestly, how does anyone know?!
That is quite a nice phrase you came up with, “experiencing similar differences.” It indicates that there is structure, although maybe we can only apprehend it indirectly?