Our North Star collaboration evidences many forms of learning. Being part of such a large collaboration compelled each of us to work extra hard at working collaboratively (G2-1). Each group member came to the collaboration with the similar shared vision of creating an "interactive and dynamic resource designed to motivate individuals to examine their mental models in the exploration of their own personal journeys" (SV, MM). It was helpful for me to apply the past knowledge that I gained from being a part of Schools that Travel into North Star, for example, in making sure that I had ownership of a particular piece of the site (HM15). At times, it was hard for our group, but in the end, our work evidences the team learning that we achieved (TL). It was necessary, at times for our collaboration to study our systems thinking in order to move forward with our collaboration (ST). Although we experienced some bumps in the road, the journey from then to now was all part of the learning. I believe we all came away from this collaboration with a sense of pride in our shared vision and a feeling of accomplishment over surviving the many hurdles we all faced along the way.
As one can see by the approximately 650 comments on our North Star Quick Topic, much learning was evidenced. Firstly, the comments posted on the Quick Topic (and the North Star Wiki) shows my ability to use communication, teaching, and learning software (G1-10). The Quick Topic substantiates my ability to work collaboratively with other people, to think and communicate with clarity and precision, to listen with understanding and empathy, and to question and pose problems (G2-1, HM2, HM5, HM13). Oftentimes, in order to carry out our shared vision we had to break down our mental models that were getting in our way (SV, MM). Our Quick Topic evidences the metacognition that took place throughout the entire process. We developed our plan of action, maintained our plan, reflected on where we were, made changes to our plan, and then evaluated our overall process (HM9). The collective thinking that took place throughout the process of the Quick Topic is evidenced through the numerous messages written over the course of the year (TL).
