Before the Team Project Cultivate a Community of Collaborators

Deb LaBelle

Team Projects Environments

Face-to-Face, in class only

Online, never meet Face-to-Face

Hybrid, meet in class and use online tools

This talk is about the team projects in the Hybrid environment, and my attempt to prepare new* students to be good collaborators on team projects in this environment

My class size is 24 max

The Team Project

Is Important becauseResearch shows students learn more, and retain more

Students are more satisfied

Should be constructed to meet the educational needs of the student and the course requirements

Background

Key to forming functional learning groups is social interaction

Non-task conversations provide opportunities for building socio-emotional connections

“Working collaboratively is a skill and a perspective.” Guzdial (1997)

Background - continued

Kreijns (2003) – Two Pitfalls in CSCL environments:

Social interaction is taken for granted

Social interactions are restricted

Team Building Exercises

Plethora of Team building exercises have been designed to help students prepare to work together

Drawbacks of TBEsMost require F-To-F interaction

Take class time

Are often separate from the project itself

Take place at the beginning of the semester when everyone is excited to be here

My Observations

Students new to the concept of teamwork are not “prepared” to “collaborate” on a team projectThey do not have a good working knowledge of the available collaborative toolsThey do not have socio-emotional connections with fellow classmatesMost are comfortable communicating in an online environment

More observations/assumptionsStudents are working for a grade, not pay or promotionStudents who want the grade will work to achieve itMany students have a grade in mind and it’s not always an AStudents do not typically understand the benefits of team work until it’s over

Successful collaborators

Enjoy working with team members

Are able to reflect on their teamwork

Are aware of progress made by self and others

Are committed to self, others and the project

Build “lasting” relationships with fellow students

Skills of successful collaborators

Good Relationship skillsUnderstand what it takes to be a good team member

Able to share information, and ask questions

Good Communication skillsOnline – practice good communication protocol in chat, message board, and email

May vary with age and experience*

Face-to-face – speak to each other by nameGood Technology skills(Working together as a class helps “new” students build these skills)

Strategies that worked for me

Couple the task and off-task activitiesWork with the teams to build a relationship - be a good team memberDesign projects that get their focus off “the grade”Design the project so that all students have equal responsibilitiesIntegrate the use of the Collaboration tool whenever possible

Structure the assignments to foster social interactions and build history

Assign projects that focus on process, not outcomes – end product is fuzzyAssign projects that require members to rely on each other for technological information (show and tell) – challenge the studentsAssign structure not specifics – students will ask each other “what does she want?”

Encourage Social Interactions

Create a discussion board topic just for social interactions

Create a chat room for Off-task discussions

Interject questions about hobbies and interests outside of class that may relate to the project assignment

Why this topic? How can it be used IRL?

Encourage sharing of technical and problem domain knowledge

Design discussion questions to include everyone’s skill level

Get involved in the discussion, ask questions, ask for feedback

Tell students you are tracking them

Share tracking stats with students

Show them how you use the tools

Provide time for reflection

In class reflection sessionsInter-group discussions

Class briefings

Highlight contributions of individual team members

Recognize groups that are performing well, and ask groups to talk about their teamwork

Evolution of Project assignments

From One project to Many; from Many Teams to one.

Random Groups –

students were asked to form groups,

they usually asked the person sitting next to them to be their partners.

Each group produced one project.

I created discussion boards on which students could contribute and share ideas.

Random Groups

Group 1

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Group Assignment

Group 2

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Group Assignment

Interest Groups –

students devised an idea for a project individually,

students with similar project ideas formed a group and worked together to produce one project.

I generated small group discussion boards on the CSCL tool.

Interest Groups

Group Assignment

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Group 1

Group Assignment

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Group 2

Loose Groups –

students devised an idea for a project individually, students with similar project ideas formed a group to discuss issues involved in developing their individual project. I mandated the use of discussion boards for students to share ideas. I took suggestions from students to create additional discussion boards and “drop boxes”.

“Loose Groups” allowed the Class to be a Team

The Class

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Member 1 Member 2 Member 3

Assignment 2Assignment 1

Shared Ideas about Assignments

Shared Ideas

Assignment 3

Method Term Approx % Completed

ProjectsStudent Issues/Comments My Observations

Random Groups One assignment

per groupFA02 60

-Coasting-major contributor wanted to “fire” their partners – do all the work his or her self

-Little discussion between groups-Only a few groups used the CSCL tools- Students did not enjoy “teamwork”

Interest Groups One assignment

per groupSP03 75

-Coasting-Minor contributor felt they did not have enough opportunity to contribute

-Students lost interest, diverged from group work, -Convened with me more then their partners

Loose Groups Each member

had own assignment

FA03 90

-No Coasting-Student liked working on something of their own interest to help them learn the material-Liked sharing ideas with others

-Students learned each other’s names quickly-Communicated within and outside of own group-Requested additional discussion boards

Loose Groups Each member

had own assignment

SP04 90-No Coasting-Were encouraged by other’s ideas- Told me “You made us think”

-Several groups expressed interest to continue their project in future, many did.- used discussion board frequently

Sample Projects that help students become good collaborators

(that worked for me!)

The Research Paper

Each student post his/her interest on message board – share ideas

Require students to comment on other’s interests – reflect online

Hold in class briefings to discuss progress on research paper – build socio-emotional ties*

Post comments/interesting references on message board – share, reflect

Take advantage of the CSCL Tools

Convert discussion board into HTML page, print and bring it to class for further discussion

Link together all F-to-F -> ONLINE -> F-to-F back and forth

Hold informal chat sessions out side of class time

Hold chat sessions In class!

Programming ProjectEach student choose a topic of personal interest – develop a vested interestTeams are formed by related topic of interest – similar problem domainTeams help each other complete the programming assignment – share design ideas, but the project is “their own”

Outcomes

Students begin to rely on each other for technical knowledge as well as problem domain knowledge

I too learn about their personal interests

Students learn each other’s name

Students want to show each other their work

What happens?

Students come to appreciate the wide range of programming skills available in classTeacher helps with scope, (feature creep is common) but specifications are student drivenThe Class is the super group, broken into smaller groups, broken into individual projects. Most Everyone gets the work done and they’ve learned to work with others to accomplish their own tasks

Conclusions

More projects to grade

Works best in small classes

Everyone has a task to complete

Students learn the difference between sharing and copying

The class becomes a community of learners, better prepared to collaborate in the future