It seems like everyone is still not clear enough about the fourth project. Neither is our group. (Even though our group has made the most progress.) The reason, I think, behind the slow progress may be: First, some of the students feel that it is useless to work on a collaborative contract which is almost the first thing to do before our research (I got such responses from some of my friends.); second, we don’t understand the concept of video and audio essay.
During the class, Seth goes through the collaborative contract using our group’s work as an example, which is beneficial for us as it reminds us exactly where we need amendments. My own feelings towards the collaborative contract is a mix. On one hand, it does help our group to think about our group goal, the research question and the distribution of work; on the other hand, however, some parts, like the outcome of this project, or the “social opportunities” under group governance section, are harder to predict and to be filled in at this stage of work. I just think that even if we don’t have this collaborative contract, we will still be thinking about questions of our goal and the research topic, so… It’s difficult to judge whether the contract is really useful for us.
