Group Sync

I thought the Group Sync presentation was well done. Initially I wasn’t convinced by the moral issue aspect of the project but the answers given to all of the class and Dr. J’s questions were well thought out and thought provoking. In terms of humor and keeping things upbeat and enthusiastic, this group did well in that regard too. I was definitely entertained and interested throughout. The group provided a lot of compelling evidence to support their solution, and introduced the societal benefits of such a program in effective ways. I think the little quiz they gave to find out whether you’re introverted or extroverted was also a fun way to keep people interested and to make the presentation more interactive.

My one criticism would be that I’m not sure the effectiveness of using group sync on a macro level, even after they explained why connecting with other people doing similar projects would be beneficial. I feel like given the diversity of assignments given at the university level, it might be more trouble than it’s worth trying to find people doing a project similar enough to yours. Two projects on artificial intelligence might not have any shared sources or any major commonalities simply because of the breadth of artificial intelligence as a topic. Maybe having some sort of a database of resources or topics with specific subsets to browse through on the website could be more beneficial, but that’s also already encompassed by databases in the library such as JSTOR or Search Premier. I think this project could work fantastically on a micro-level, specifically for individual classes and especially as a more reliable way for professors to keep track of individual involvement and give accurate grades accordingly. Really expanding on that idea or adding things like progress reminders, etc would be a better way to conduct group projects.  

Overall, really solid project and group effort. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the presentation.