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Team Members

• ClifKussmaul, Muhlenberg College
• SusannahHowe, Smith College

Overview

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% This team will identify best practices for fostering collaboration in teams that span multiple disciplines and/or institutions. Especially at smaller institutions, E-Teams are likely to span disciplines, and even institutions. Distributed teams are also increasingly common in industry. We will focus on the following:

• A life-cycle model for collaborative teams, likely based on existing models such as Tuckman's forming-storming-norming-performing %CITE{Tuckman1965}%.
• Appropriate tools and techniques to support collaboration, with an emphasis on open source software, and other free or low-cost collaboration tools.
• Guidelines, tutorials, and activities to identify tools appropriate in particular situations, to introduce teams to tools, to help teams develop a group identify, and to assess and improve their effectiveness working together.

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Before the working meeting, we will review existing resources, draft a life-cycle model, and use several tools and techniques to support all of the teams in this proposal. (For example, we are using a Yahoo discussion group.) At the working meeting, we will present draft materials and pilot some of the activities and workshops. In the fall, we will expand and revise the materials, test them in courses, and put the resulting materials on the web site. Next spring, we will present workshops to help faculty at other institutions adopt these best practices.

TeamMatrix

The TeamMatrix provides a mapping between TeamFactors? , TeamRoles? , and TeamToolsAndTechniques? .

TeamLifeCycle?

More information to come - maybe? Something here about the process of assembling the team, working together, data collection, decision-making, ... Interesting model in %CITE{DuarteSnyder2001}% that is an alternative to Tuckman %CITE{Tuckman1965}%.

TeamRoles?

To work effectively, teams need to develop successful cohesion? as well as communication? strategies.

TeamCohesion?

TeamCommunication?

TeamFactors?

Teams can be distinguished by their type and/or stage. Note: try to match the following headings to TeamMatrix columns.

EveryTeam?

Issues common to all teams.

NewTeam?

Issues common to newly formed teams.

MultiAreaTeam?

Issues common to teams with members from multiple disciplines or areas of specialization.

MultiSiteTeam?

Issues common to teams with members at multiple locations.

MultiOrgTeam?

Issues common to teams with members from multiple organizations or reporting structures.

MultiCultureTeam?

Issues common to teams with members from multiple cultures.

TeamToolsAndTechniques?

Many TeamCohesion? and/or TeamCommunication? strategies are possible for teams to work successfully. Note: try to match the following headings to TeamMatrix rows.

TeamEmail

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% This category includes email, group email aliases, discussion forums, bulletin boards, blogs, etc. %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamWiki

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% A wiki is a web-based system where any user can create, edit, and link pages, without special knowledge or tools. Users can also view any previous version of a page, to see how it changed over time; although this capability is familiar to software developers, it has powerful implications for other types of work. Wikis are very flexible, which means they can be valuable in a wide range of contexts, but users need to understand some key ideas and take responsibility for the evolution of their wiki. %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamChat

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% Synchronous text-only communication includes instant messaging (typically one-to-one) and chat rooms (typically many-to-many). %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamAudio

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% This category includes regular phone calls (2 parties), phone conferences (multiple parties), and voice over internet protocol (VOIP). %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamVideo

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% This category includes web conferencing (shared document, whiteboard, or desktop) and video conferencing. %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamSocial

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% Like all teams, virtual teams can use social activities for teambuilding. %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

TeamCharter

%COMMONHEADERSKIP% Charters/protocols can be a useful tool for virtual teams. %COMMONFOOTERSKIP%

(ClifKussmaul: Would TeamProcess? more more accurate than TeamCharter?) (SusannahHowe: But "process" sounds more like a how-to document and less of a framework for expectations. I think it is important that the human component is included as well. If you don't like "charter", how about "protocol"?)

TeamConclusions?

TeamReferences

Miscellaneous

TeamWorkshopPreparation

HeterogeneousTeamsPrivate

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