1. What are the main thoughts you carry away with you after reading this article? Although I am listed an co-author, Clint wrote most of it. I like the section on culture and online learning. It gave me a nice overview of existing studies and their main findings.

2. Are there any specific research ideas, studies, articles, or authors cited that you think seem most relevant in this article?They all seem relevant to me. Researchers approached culture and online learning from different perspectives. The Wang and Reeve's article has an impressive list of research questions. I like those most.

3. Can you think of any (ideas, studies, articles, or authors) that might be missing from this article - but which should be included? For a short article like this, the references are sufficient.

4. Do any of the suggestions for future research interest you in particular, and why? Or are there any suggestions for future research that you would add?
I am most interested in:• What is the process by which learners change and adapt to instructional techniques and approaches that are foreign to them—and how can we help to bridge the gaps more effectively?People have put great burdens on designers and instructors to practice cultural responsiveness; I think the learners can do so too. As a person from a completely different educational system, I had to adapt to the American teaching and learning. It took lots of efforts, but it helped me grow professionally and personally. 

• What do you think about their method of using Hofstede's national level characteristics to understand individual group members?

This article proposed a model of management of cross-cultural distributed projects (page 4). I used Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in my studies of online learning. I do like his model. It provides a few constructs for exploring cultural differences in online learning. However, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are better for describing group than individual characteristics. Because Hofstede looks at cultural differences from the national rather than individual level. Sometimes, his model can be too generalized even for groups. During my study, I came across several groups that do not conform to their national characteristics.

• We are kind of in the "transition process" with this research group. How have you felt about the degree of ambiguity regarding what exactly we will be doing? Would you prefer this group to be either more flexible (defining your own role) or prefer a structure that is more pre-determined with someone telling you exactly what is happening and what your role is?

Transition process as described in the model in this article: the level of task structure is lowest. Task formalization is related to two of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, uncertainty avoidance and individualism. Now I am ready to answer this question from a metacognitive perspective. Yes our task formalization at this point is low, and I am unclear about what is laid out for the next few weeks. But I am not anxious to make it clear either. I like to be in flexible but semi-structured groups, where we have tasks to complete but also flexibility to explore.

• In your opinion, how much does culture really matter in distributed teams? In what way?

Culture matters a great deal! I echo what is said in this article. Trust is crucial in distributed teams; and Cultural differences could affect trust-building. Cultural differences can also affect how we communicate with each other, tone, politeness, honesty, collaboration. But culture is not going to be the only affecting factor. Acquaintance matters too. For instance, I know Sabine and Clint. They are both fun and energetic. I will stay in this group just to socialize with and to learn from for them! 

Since I am the last one to post, I agree with all of you.-J 

Q1: Trust means certainty, belief, faith. To me, trust means being able to openly share your ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even secrets with others, without being concerned about critiques or “betrayal”.  This is the type of trust I have with my sister. I also trust my colleagues, because we share the same goals, i.e., to develop and grow our programs. On the other hand, you may trust someone without sharing much common ground. For example, many people have huge generation gaps with their parents, but they still trust each other. So I guess trust can be at different levels and on certain aspects, completely trust and partially trust.

Q2: I would like to meet new people, to do some action research, and to have fun!

Q3: To write an article about this experience; to learn from this experience so I can better guide my students with teamwork.

Sorry, but I am going to write short entries here. I got too many blogs, one for life, one for work, one for Shanghai's Online College, and another one for my creative writing. But I will read your blogs. It's so nice to be part of this group.
I have been researching about cultural differences in online learning. Look forward to learing from all of you.--Minjuan