scholarly journals Ground Rules in Team Projects: Findings from a Prototype System to Support Students

10.28945/3300 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Project Work ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Prototype System ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Team Working ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
Team Project ◽  
Student Team

Student team project work in higher education is one of the best ways to develop team working skills at the same time as learning about the subject matter. As today’s students require the freedom to learn at times and places that better match their lifestyles, there is a need for any support for team project work to be also available online. Team working requires that the task roles as well as the maintenance roles are taken into consideration, in that social interactions are just as important as carrying out the tasks of the project. The literature indicates that groupware, whilst effective in supporting the task roles, provides limited support for the maintenance roles of team working in the work place. As groupware was not specifically designed for student team working, it provides limited support for maintenance roles in student team projects. Virtual learning environments similarly provide support for completing the task roles. Many researchers have found that students experience difficulties with their team project work that reduce the perceived benefits of working in a team. It is proposed that helping students to agree on ground rules at the start of a project will improve team cohesion. This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a prototype system to help students to agree on ground rules as they start their team projects. The system was tested with teams of students carrying out information systems team projects, using an interpretive case study research approach. In this case the teams had the additional problem of being composed of students from across three years of their undergraduate degree programmes, so they did not always have prior knowledge of each other’s preferences. We were trying to establish how useful this software tool would be to these student teams, in starting their project work. The findings showed that some of the student teams did find the ground rules function useful, but the team leaders were the ones who most appreciated its potential. The students may use the outputs in very different ways, but even just looking at the ground rules appeared to get team members thinking about their expectations for team working. Student teams do not often start by thinking about norms, but this study shows a positive benefit of encouraging teams to agree on ground rules at the start of their projects.

Software Agent Systems for Supporting Student Team Project Working

2012 ◽  
pp. 264-278
Author(s):  
Janice Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Software Agent ◽  
Previous Experience ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Team Working ◽  
Experimental Software ◽  
Team Project ◽  
Student Team

This chapter describes the trial of an experimental software agent system, designed to help students to get started on their team projects, by allocating tasks to individuals and agree on ground rules for the team. Students taking Information Technology degree programmes tried the system over several years, providing feedback on the suitability of this sort of system for supporting the process aspects of team project working. Findings from this research showed that students used the output from the system in different ways according to their previous experience and suggested additional features that students would like to see in a system for supporting their team working, which could be incorporated into future development of the system.

scholarly journals Are We Ready to Go Live with Our Team Projects?

10.28945/3482 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Technology Project ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Team Working ◽  
Information Technology Project ◽  
The University ◽  
University Setting

[The final form of this paper was published in the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology.] Project work forms a large part in work undertaken by graduates when they enter the workforce, so projects are used in higher education to prepare students for their working lives and to enable students to apply creativity in their studies as they present a solution to a problem, using technical skills they have learned in different units of study. Projects, both at work and in higher education, may be completed in teams, thus providing experience and the opportunity to develop team working skills. The team projects presented in this paper have been provided by external organisations, so that students work in a team on a real life problem, but with the support of their tutors, in the university setting. In this way the projects more closely resemble the sorts of problems they might encounter in the workplace, giving an experience that cannot be gained by working on tutor devised problems, because the teams have to communicate with an external client to analyse and solve an authentic problem. Over the three years that the Live Projects have been running, feedback indicates that the students gain employability skills from the projects, and the organisations involved develop links with the university and benefit from output from the projects. A number of suggestions for improving the administration of the Live Projects were suggested, such as providing clients with information on timescales and providing students with more guidance on managing the projects.

scholarly journals The endurance test: A virtual project team's lived experience in an online project management course

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Michael Lohle ◽  
Steven Terrell
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Model Design ◽  
Endurance Test ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Student Team

This case study examines longitudinal data stored in the learning management system (LMS) of an online MBA program’s project management course to understand and describe the lived experience of a virtual student team that exhibited difficulty delivering a term project. Testing the constructs of a theoretical model previously proposed in literature, the findings consider whether the model design can be applied in a specific situation and suggests additional case studies are warranted for further understanding. The findings also confirmed two concerns. First, unless students actively contact their instructor to escalate feedback about progress, it is difficult to assess a given student’s contribution to virtual team projects. Second, the instructor actively solicited feedback and facilitated closure to compensate for a lack of student accountability, prompting concern about whether requiring an online instructor’s constant oversight and engagement is an optimal strategy for effective project delivery on virtual student teams.

scholarly journals Are We Ready to Go Live with Our Team Projects?

10.28945/3481 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 159-169
Author(s):  
Janice Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Team Working ◽  
The University ◽  
University Setting

Project work forms a large part in work undertaken by graduates when they enter the workforce, so projects are used in higher education to prepare students for their working lives and to enable students to apply creativity in their studies as they present a solution to a problem, using technical skills they have learned in different units of study. Projects, both at work and in higher education, may be completed in teams, thus providing experience and the opportunity to develop team working skills. The team projects presented in this paper have been provided by external organisations, so that students work in a team on a real life problem, but with the support of their tutors, in the university setting. In this way the projects more closely resemble the sorts of problems they might encounter in the workplace, giving an experience that cannot be gained by working on tutor devised problems, because the teams have to communicate with an external client to analyse and solve an authentic problem. Over the three years that the Live Projects have been running, feedback indicates that the students gain employability skills from the projects, and the organisations involved develop links with the university and benefit from output from the projects. A number of suggestions for improving the administration of the Live Projects were suggested, such as providing clients with information on timescales and providing students with more guidance on managing the projects.

scholarly journals Effective Student Teams: A Faux Hiring And Peer Evaluation Process

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle D. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Scheduling Problems ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Team Cohesiveness ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Hiring Process ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Student Team

Student team projects provide benefits to the education process and provide experience valued by employers, but they can also be a source of conflict, free-riding and are fraught with fairness issues. The advantages of using teams for faculty are that they provide opportunities for synergies and collaboration, while also simulating group work processes. However, due to free-riding, scheduling problems and differing goals, there are fertile grounds for team conflicts. Therefore, there exists a need for better methods of forming teams and a process to assure shared goals by team members. This research proposes an innovative approach to team creation where students participate in a hiring process that increases team cohesiveness and ultimately team performance. Preliminary empirical validation is also provided that supports this approach.

Adding Reality to Team Projects

2003 ◽  
pp. 198-211
Author(s):  
Sharon W. Tabor
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Team Building ◽  
State University ◽  
Client Engagement ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
Successful Team ◽  
Team Project

While hiring companies consistently emphasize the importance of communication and team skills for new IT graduates, students consistently emphasize their dislike for academic team projects. In an effort to make the team project a more interesting and valuable experience, an upper-division e-commerce course at Boise State University includes the development of prototype sites for actual businesses. In addition to concepts, strategies, and technical tools, students learn transferable consulting skills and improve necessary team skills. These skills groups are applied to real-world business problems, resulting in successful team experiences for the students and expanded horizons for the participating businesses. Part of the success is attributable to well-defined expectations, team-building exercises, and a structured client engagement process that serves the needs of the businesses as well as the student teams.

An Anticipatory Case for Managing Teams and Team Projects

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl A. McConnell ◽  
Craig M. Sasse
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Team Development ◽  
Team Process ◽  
Accounting Faculty ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Team Project ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Case Part ◽  
Or Team

Accounting faculty can address problems associated with team development and group activities by using an anticipatory case exercise at the beginning of the course. The anticipatory case is a four-part case that engages students in a discussion of the potential problems of managing teams and team projects. The case describes the personal characteristics and behaviors of a fictitious team of students at three stages of a team project; the teacher then presents students with a set of discussion questions at the conclusion of each case part. This case is one way to discourage negative team development behaviors at the outset of the course. Importantly, the anticipatory case facilitates team development by (1) identifying potential project management or team process problems, (2) alerting students to expectations in terms of team behaviors and project grading, and (3) allowing student teams to get to know each other better and to set formal rules of engagement for their own team process.

scholarly journals Tensions in Representing Behavioral Data in an Electronic Health Record

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Marcu ◽  
Anind K. Dey ◽  
Sara Kiesler
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Behavioral Health Care ◽  
Behavioral Data ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Prototype System ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Action Research Approach ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
The Moment

AbstractTaking an action research approach, we engaged in fieldwork with school-based behavioral health care teams to: observe record keeping practices, design and deploy a prototype system addressing key challenges, and reflect on its use. We describe the challenges of capturing behavioral data using both paper and electronic records. Creating records of behaviors requires direct observation, and as a result the record keeping responsibility is challenging to distribute across a care team. Behavioral data on paper must be transferred and prepared for reporting, both inside the organization and to stakeholders outside of the organization. In prototyping a computerized working record, we targeted user needs for capturing details of a behavioral incident in the moment. Challenges persisted through the transition from paper to our prototype, and based on these empirical findings over two years of fieldwork, we present five tensions in representing behavioral data in an electronic health record. These tensions reflect the differences between entering behavioral data into the record for intraorganizational use versus interorganizational use.

The Effects of Expertise and Social Status on Team Member Influence and the Moderating Roles of Intragroup Conflicts

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woonki Hong ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Kwangwook Gang ◽  
Boreum Choi
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Processes ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Expectation States ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Expectation States Theory ◽  
Team Project ◽  
Do So

Drawing on expectation states theory and expertise utilization literature, we examine the effects of team members’ actual expertise and social status on the degree of influence they exert over team processes via perceived expertise. We also explore the conditions under which teams rely on perceived expertise versus social status in determining influence relationships in teams. To do so, we present a contingency model in which the salience of expertise and social status depends on the types of intragroup conflicts. Using multiwave survey data from 50 student project teams with 320 members at a large national research institute located in South Korea, we found that both actual expertise and social status had direct and indirect effects on member influence through perceived expertise. Furthermore, perceived expertise at the early stage of team projects is driven by social status, whereas perceived expertise at the later stage of a team project is mainly driven by actual expertise. Finally, we found that members who are being perceived as experts are more influential when task conflict is high or when relationship conflict is low. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.

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