Most students had experienced group work in other courses,
which may have dampened their enthusiasm for our group project
at the outset. Whether those prior experiences were in nursing
courses in our curriculum is unknown, so we can only surmise that
they might have been nursing-related or involved other students in
an earlier stage of professional development. Nevertheless, by the
end of the term the majority of students in our course viewed their
group project favorably, acknowledged learning much about their
selected topic and population, and expressed appreciation for the
opportunity to work with fellow students. Their solutions to
obstacles demonstrated how our approach to collaborative learning
facilitated communication and set the stage for optimizing their
time and talent to reach a common goal.