Working in a collaborative environment simply means working with other people toward some common goal. Often times in an academic environment you will be asked to “partner up” or “get with some classmates” and be assigned something to do. Sometimes it will be short lived (one class) with a very loose decision process on who is doing what while other times it will be a very formal arrangement with contracts and assignments that last the entire semester. If there is not a grade involved it becomes a low stake environment and people generally can get through the assignments with little concerns or problems. However, once a grade is involved, collaboration becomes something very different and the focus of group members takes on a whole different light on how they function together. Hopefully when we finish this section, you will have a better idea of how to work together in a group environment.