It has been our experience that the initial stages of the learning by design approach are confusing, chaotic, and somewhat frustrating to participants. As groups work to collaboratively define goals, set priorities, and achieve a vision for their project, many students feel like very little is actually getting done. We suspect that this has much to do with how students have become accustomed to completing coursework—they expect to work on their own, to meet well defined goals that are clearly laid out in the syllabus, and turn coursework in to be traded regularly.