In my undergraduate and more nerdy days, a piece of advice my professor gave me has been turning over in my mind ever since, “For the last time. No! You cannot pick your groups, and if you ask me again, I will fail you Garby.” These were hard times, especially since Garby wasn’t my name. It was torture to do a group projects, my anxiety was heightened, and relying on other people I didn’t know led to unimaginable sentences, ‘Has anybody heard from Rachel?’ ‘Do we think Derek takes this PowerPoint seriously?’

If there existed a perfect student portrait for my lifestyle, it might not appeal to a mass audience. Imagine a college pamphlet, lettered in the Metallica font.  Centered image of an older bearded student, not old enough to own a pleasure skiff, but not young enough to understand my identity will be stolen someday via TikTok. He sits on wireless headphones alone in a room covered in dampened Post-it notes that describe fictional posters he should get, but never will. Nirvana Plugged, Budweiser Clydesdales Playing Poker, Nun’s Not Having Fun Calendar. His ancient Fila © sweatpants carry many scars of battles past. Right kneecap shows the carnage of my mechanical applications, a lobotomy-shaped scar from The Battle of the Greasy Bicycle Chain, 2021. And the withering thighs showcase an oddly darker linty lanes, a reminder to all that was lost in the senseless ongoing War on Napkins. The student who is definitely not me, sits in front of screen that says, “Once again thanks for turning in your individual work.” That college would be shunned by society and ridiculed into bankruptcy. And rightly so. I have come to the maturity point in my life to know that whatever I think, therefore, I am. Whatever I am, I think, therefore I am. All of this to say, I almost have a graduate degree and I must find ways to bring it up for the rest of my life.

 GROUP WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!

Despite my protests to group work as a mere boy, I have matured into a smarter, older boy that can appreciate that life itself is a team game, especially within the field of technical and professional communication (TCP). Learning to navigate social elements within a small cohort gave me tremendous real-world education in navigating a system. Hierarchies in gender, age, race, class are all factors within navigating a social structure. Writers Ann Hill Duin, Jason Tham, and Isabel Pederson co-constructed a brilliant piece entitled, “The Rhetoric, Science, and Technology of 21st Collaboration,” highlighting the co-constructivist theory. They emphasize the use of constructivist/co-constructivist frameworks to enhance classroom projects and expose students to the essential reality of collaboration within the TCP field. The authors demonstrate this co-constructivism approach coming from three backgrounds, co-operating to theorize better practices for the technical communication classroom.  By emphasizing the collective nature of project deliverables, and group produced technical writing, students are given direct experience working within organization. Cooperative project experiences further student learning and better prepare their future in the TPC field. Pedological implications reveal problems within group dynamics, as the nature of group work is inherently influenced by societal factors contributing to power dynamics, “exploration of culture, authority, conflict, and gender (173).” By creating awareness of these elements, students can recognize these divisions and avoid being trapped in the societal prejudices that hinder progress to true equality.

As group work practices expand, the use of cutting edge, modern technology to facilitate “Agile” models of delivery allow complex team projects to be completed in stages. Creating chunks or “milestones” of a large project allow students to zero in one aspects and pieces of a total outcome that can be formed and improved over time. The co-constructivist framework produces things through a collaboration. Students utilizing these principles can approach the reality of life’s many groups’ projects. Even the loneliest career as an isolated island lighthouse keeper, uses the light to aid passing ships in the fog. Similarly, to Duin, Tham, and Pederson the piece, “Regenerating a Once Fallow Ground: Theorizing Process and Product in 21st-Century Technical Communication Ecologies” by Adrienne Lamberti and David M. Grant stress theory to create student awareness of their writing. They stress the impact of theory applied in classroom to create critical awareness of their TCP writing. Working on a project to deliver a local museum with technical writing for kids about prisoners of war. Although the museum wanted audience friendly deliverables, the students saw the dangerous ramifications of rewriting history to be more digestible. There is no such thing as a universal audience for one subject, there are universes of audiences that are divided by characteristics. Considering age alone, brutal subject matter like the hell of war and prison life might not be suited for a 5-year-old.  War prisoner’s lives cannot be rebranded, made lighthearted or fun for all. Life deserves its factual portrayal without worry of offending, upsetting, or bothering the audience. The cairos of educational subjects depends on the maturity of the audience. If subject matter on war prisoners you want to keep from young children, that’s understandable, just don’t expect a museum on World War II internment/prison camps to accommodate.

         As the semester grows toward its final days, I try to engage my students to prevent the mental checkout we all need from a hard year of work. Tech comm classes are working on the group project for the I-Fix-it company and for the first time since I have taught this unit, my students are working ahead individually and utilizing our classroom workshops to refine and perfect their contributions to the “Right to Repair Revolution.” In teams of 3-4 they are producing technical writing, for a company dedicated to reducing e-waste. Without collaboration this multi-week project would be an uphill battle, as I have seen in past-semesters. So, what’s different? Are these students magical? Are they smarter than the others? Were they better equipped to handle the work? I really don’t know if there’s a major difference between previous classes and this one, but I do know that as an instructor I have a better presentation of all the information, and we operate on a few agreed upon 3 rules from day one.

1. Attendance– Show up, even if you’re not prepared. Do it for you, your future, your present, your group, and this community because your input is valuable
2. Communicate– As life naturally happens outside of class, for better or for worse, if something is impacting your ability to complete your BEST work, simply ask for more time. No need to explain, just come up with a plan of completion.
3. Simplify – Whether it’s your first draft of an email, or a point you want to raise to the class, how can you make your idea as clear as possible? How can you raise an issue, problem, or polarizing thought respectfully to those that may not agree with you?

When entering this project, student groups do an informal discussion to better understand each other and define team practices. They are encouraged to look at successful systems for inspiration as well as voicing their positing/negative past group experiences. By listening to each member’s input, group members start to form a bond through best practices. I prompt the groups with several discussion questions including:

PROMPT: Using Google Documents and your UMASS email, create a shared document to answer the following questions:

1. Introduce self/names and preferred pronouns
2. What are some best group experiences? Why?
3. What are some negative group experiences? Why?
4. What does the group need to know about you, you’re learning style and skillset?
5. What role do you see for yourself within the group? Leader? Writer? Communicator? Photographer? Etc.
6. Will your group be the first group finished?

This post will end where it started, using F.Scott Fitzgerald to appear smart and learned, but above all remind you that I am in graduate school. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

The Great Gatsby, Main Character, the last page.