Collaboration Reflection
Justin D’Ambrosio
Gen 201
May 30 2014
Bernice Wilson

I have learned so many new tools and skills over the past 5 weeks in this class that I know I will be using now, in the future, in the classroom, the work place and in everyday life. One of the most important skills I learned would be the skill to collaborate. To collaborate, in other words, is to communicate among one another in a team structured environment, by sharing ideas to accomplish similar goals and projects together. I found that by grouping individuals and putting all their different ideas, thoughts, personalities, beliefs, values and tactics, together you can be more productive and successful. Critical thinking and ethics improve your ability to collaborate with others. Looking at the meanings of both concepts can prove this. Critical Thinking is defined by the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion (dictionary.com). Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, uncovers hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions. Ethics can be defined as knowing how to determine what’s good and bad. By analyzing and knowing how someone views different aspects will make it much easier to communicate with them and deal with conflicts if and when they happen. Personal bias and emotion influence decision-making. The way we feel at the time can place a huge role on the way we make our decisions. An example might be, a student stressing out because of poor time management so, because of this stress, he/she decides to plagiarize someone else’s work to meet the deadline. In this situation, if this