Collaborative Summary & Assessment
Challenges Faced
Our group faced many challenges while completing this OIR. The main challenges had to do with this being not only the first time all of the members had to complete a collaborative project online, but it was also the first time all of us had to complete a website of this magnitude. We all had to learn how to make and format a website. At first, because none of us had met before, it was hard learning to trust the others in the group to follow through with assigned tasks. Even once we knew the other members in the group were dependable, it was hard to get used to only communicating online and not being able to meet face-to-face. We could not see each other’s body language which meant being unsure if the other’s in the group were really on board with an idea, or just going with something that was mentioned.
Most of the time, the members of the group would volunteer to take over a task, but when no one volunteered, it was hard to delegate tasks. When it came to the specifically collaborative portions, it became challenging to have four people working on writing one piece.
On top of being the first time to collaborate online, this is one of the first online classes we have all taken. While getting used to the format of an online class and collaboration, time management had to be worked on. Time had to be planned and set aside in order to complete the work required for this OIR. Also, setting times for meetings was sometimes a challenge as we all had to find a time to meet that would work for everyone. It made it more difficult that one of the members in the group lives in a different time zone.
Most of the time, the members of the group would volunteer to take over a task, but when no one volunteered, it was hard to delegate tasks. When it came to the specifically collaborative portions, it became challenging to have four people working on writing one piece.
On top of being the first time to collaborate online, this is one of the first online classes we have all taken. While getting used to the format of an online class and collaboration, time management had to be worked on. Time had to be planned and set aside in order to complete the work required for this OIR. Also, setting times for meetings was sometimes a challenge as we all had to find a time to meet that would work for everyone. It made it more difficult that one of the members in the group lives in a different time zone.
Benefits of Online Collaboration
The benefits of online collaboration include: time management and responsibility, trusting others, new technologies, social networking, satisfaction in completion of project, pooling resources allows for specialization, along with the ability to do more difficult projects because as a group you are able to succeed.
In our opinion, an important benefit of online collaboration is time management and responsibility. Each member of the group is responsible for their particular portion of the project that must be done in a timely manner. This is an important benefit in both your schooling and eventual library vocation. The necessity of trusting others in your group to do their job and do it well is an ability that will be essential in the ever-changing library environment, so learning how to do it successfully in school is ideal. The new technologies we learned in this project are only a stepping stone to the duties we will be required to know how to succesfully complet in the library setting. Group work is a superlative way to promote social networking as our future classmates pursue similar careers and give us ties to other organizations. The satisfaction of combing many aspects of the required assignments and making it one cohesive project of the collaborating group is a definitive benefit as it will come up often in a library setting. By pooling our resources and knowledge we were able to assign the various jobs to an individual who had some specialization on that particular job.
Online collaboration opens up doors to future work on a global scale which is something that is an ever increasinly used skill. Nobody can exist and thrive in today’s business world without utilizing its current and incipient technologies to interact with the global market. The lessons learned from our group project will help us in the future and have given us the combined skills necessary to get this project finished.
In our opinion, an important benefit of online collaboration is time management and responsibility. Each member of the group is responsible for their particular portion of the project that must be done in a timely manner. This is an important benefit in both your schooling and eventual library vocation. The necessity of trusting others in your group to do their job and do it well is an ability that will be essential in the ever-changing library environment, so learning how to do it successfully in school is ideal. The new technologies we learned in this project are only a stepping stone to the duties we will be required to know how to succesfully complet in the library setting. Group work is a superlative way to promote social networking as our future classmates pursue similar careers and give us ties to other organizations. The satisfaction of combing many aspects of the required assignments and making it one cohesive project of the collaborating group is a definitive benefit as it will come up often in a library setting. By pooling our resources and knowledge we were able to assign the various jobs to an individual who had some specialization on that particular job.
Online collaboration opens up doors to future work on a global scale which is something that is an ever increasinly used skill. Nobody can exist and thrive in today’s business world without utilizing its current and incipient technologies to interact with the global market. The lessons learned from our group project will help us in the future and have given us the combined skills necessary to get this project finished.
Anticipated Future Application
In creating this online information resource, each member embarked on a collaborative and completely online project environment that required much learning and development. As we focused on the tasks at hand we acquired new knowledge and skills that will likely prove to be valuable in many ways for our individual future careers within the library science profession.
Given the current trajectory and focus of the library and information science field of work, it is evident that that there will be increasing focus placed on online presence from libraries. While the online information resource is not a traditional research guide such as a LibGuide, it is a similar model and perhaps one that could surpass the usefulness and quality of a traditional LibGuide. Studies have been done that demonstrate the inadequacy of older research guide models and so having created a more unique and high quality piece of work, each of us will possess the experience needed to help our future professional lives and places of work with putting forth more useful content for customers. Need for these skills may arise in the middle of a career but such a need may also present itself during the job-seeking process as well. Practically speaking, we have learned basic web design skills through the development of the Weebly site and though it is a largely pre-formatted shell, we made some modifications to the template and worked together to build the content within the design that we felt was most effective and relevant to the desired audience.
The collaborative and online nature of the project is a direct reflection of the modern, professional workplace. More and more there is an inclination toward online workflows that involve the sharing of information and projects in the workplace. In meeting these ends we learned and used new technologies for our own collaboration and for the OIR development.
Given the current trajectory and focus of the library and information science field of work, it is evident that that there will be increasing focus placed on online presence from libraries. While the online information resource is not a traditional research guide such as a LibGuide, it is a similar model and perhaps one that could surpass the usefulness and quality of a traditional LibGuide. Studies have been done that demonstrate the inadequacy of older research guide models and so having created a more unique and high quality piece of work, each of us will possess the experience needed to help our future professional lives and places of work with putting forth more useful content for customers. Need for these skills may arise in the middle of a career but such a need may also present itself during the job-seeking process as well. Practically speaking, we have learned basic web design skills through the development of the Weebly site and though it is a largely pre-formatted shell, we made some modifications to the template and worked together to build the content within the design that we felt was most effective and relevant to the desired audience.
The collaborative and online nature of the project is a direct reflection of the modern, professional workplace. More and more there is an inclination toward online workflows that involve the sharing of information and projects in the workplace. In meeting these ends we learned and used new technologies for our own collaboration and for the OIR development.