The SLP: An Experience in Virtual Teaming
STRUCTURING VIRTUAL TEAMS
Introduction
The SLP and the Discussion work together in this course. You will be working with several classmates as a virtual team in a competitive game. The SLP is a series of group papers that document the process you go through as you organize your team and compete in the game.
The Discussion is where you hold your virtual team meetings and make group decisions. In this module you will be organizing the team, so be sure to respond to the Discussion that is set up for your team right away, even if just to introduce yourself. Failure to engage early in the Discussion can cause difficulties for both you and the team. This can be costly in terms of your time as well as team cohesion. It is the most efficient use of your time to stay involved with the Discussion, even if you do not have time to write the Cases and SLP.
The SLP: An Experience in Virtual Teaming
While the Cases are individual work, the SLP is an experiential exercise in virtual teams. You will be working with the others assigned to your team in the Discussion to produce your team’s SLP papers. So while there is one group grade for the SLP paper, your grade for the Discussion evaluates the individual contribution you made toward the paper.
Even though these are team papers, you will each need to submit your own copy. Make sure to note all team members who participated in developing/writing the paper on the cover sheet.
Tools Available to You to Facilitate Your Teamwork
Your Trident e-mail account comes with several tools that can help you facilitate your team’s work including:
University Email, found on the TLC Portal Home Page, https://mytlc.trident.edu/index.php. Look under Tools and Links.
Trident Email Account can be accessed using your mobile phone to access information in your e-mail account, you can do this through Microsoft (Office 365). To find instructions, visit the Trident Tech Support site at http://support.trident.edu/ and click on “Access the Student Support Site.” Then select “Set Up Your E-Mail Account on Your Mobile Phone.” Note that this is not a Trident feature, and the Trident Tech Support Team is not staffed to help with mobile phone set-ups should you need assistance.
Shared calendars to easily coordinate schedules with team members.
Messages/Pager ability to send instant messages within the classroom to faculty or students.
A number of additional tools can be used to facilitate your team’s work. Many of these are discussed in Module 2, but tools that allow your team to work on a single version of a paper – rather than emailing various versions back-and-forth – can be extremely helpful. Here is a link to some free resources you may want to try to simplify and coordinate your team’s work:
Falconer, J. (n.d.) 10 free tools for collaboration. Lifehack. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/10-free-tools-for-collaboration.html
Hint for Success
It may be that as the term progresses, your team decides to use some of the above features, or even move on to other forms of collaboration tools (see Module 2), and that is OK. Just keep in mind that you want to be sure that all team members (as well as the instructor) have access to the same information, whether they are concurrently involved with the team’s work, or checking in at a later time. In addition, at the risk of jumping ahead, it is critical in a virtual team to keep a record of team activities that is accessible to all team members, whether these activities involve telephone conferences, a blog, a wiki—or whatever method you decide to use. Most teams do this by posting summaries or minutes of group activities/communications on the Discussion. Your professor will be evaluating your contribution to your team by viewing your collaboration on the Discussion, so be sure your work is adequately represented there.
SLP Assignment Expectations
The SLP works as follows:
Review the instructions for the game below.
Locate your virtual team in the Discussion (Module 1 lists the team name and members) and check in.
3. Communicate with the rest of the team and decide what leadership structure and work design you will use.
Do not submit any list of tips yet, just use this time to get organized.
When you have finished getting organized, submit a 2- to 3-page report (the group paper). The report should include:
The name of the team. (I have assigned preliminary team names. You can keep the name or come up with your own name.)
The leadership structure and work design you chose for your team.
A critical evaluation of the process your team went through to get organized and make these initial decisions.
Keys to the SLP Assignments in this Course
The SLP in this course emphasizes critical thinking:
The SLP is an opportunity for you to put into practice the concepts covered in module—be sure to justify your choices in terms of the characteristics of the task and team membership.
Did your process resemble any of the models of team process presented in the background material? Was it something different?
Was it effective?
What problems did you run into? Were they resolved?
Your paper will be evaluated using the following five (5) criteria:
Assignment-Driven Criteria (Precision and Breadth): Does the paper fully address all the assignment requirements? Are the concepts behind the assignment addressed accurately and precisely using sound logic? Does the paper meet minimum length requirements?
Critical Thinking (Critical Thinking and Depth): Does the paper demonstrate graduate-level analysis, in which information derived from multiple sources, expert opinions, and assumptions has been critically evaluated and synthesized in the formulation of a logical set of conclusions? Does the paper address the topic with sufficient depth of discussion and analysis?
Business Writing (Clarity and Organization): Is the paper well written (clear, developed logically, and well organized)? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are section headings included in all papers? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the assignment, or is justification/support instead conveyed through excessive use of direct quotations?
Effective Use of Information (Information Literacy and References): Does the paper demonstrate that the student has read, understood and can apply the background materials for the module? If required, has the student demonstrated effective research, as evidenced by student’s use of relevant and quality (library?) sources? Do additional sources used in paper provide strong support for conclusions drawn, and do they help in shaping the overall paper?
Citing Sources: Does the student demonstrate understanding of APA Style of referencing, by inclusion of proper end references and in-text citations (for paraphrased text and direct quotations) as appropriate? Have all sources (e.g., references used from the Background page, the assignment readings, and outside research) been included, and are these properly cited? Have all end references been included within the body of the paper as in-text citations?
Instructions for the Game
The game is called “Virtual Teams: 101 Tips.” Our goal is to generate a list of practical tips that can increase the effectiveness of virtual teams.
What’s in it for you? Four things:
You participate in a fun game.
You learn practical tips to improve your virtual teaming skills.
You share some practical tips with an eager audience.
You achieve fame: Your team get points and, if you are one of the top scorers, your name is placed in the Hall of Fame in the subsequent module.HOW TO PLAY. Your team needs to come up with a list of practical tips on how to manage a virtual team. Keep your tips brief (three or four sentences and not more than 50 words). Send at least one tip and not more than five tips before the end of Module 2. (Submit as part of the SLP.)
HOW TO WIN. Our panel of judges will select the top three tips at the end of each round. The best tip receives a bonus score of 70 points, the second-best 30 points, and the third-best 10 points. If you are among the top three scorers, your team members’ names are added to our Hall of Fame in the next module. This list is updated at the end of each round.
HOW TO CHEAT. Reflect on your own experience in teams that were not co-located and derive important tips. You can read the background materials or draw on any books, workshops, expert interviews, or surf the Internet to collect virtual teaming tips and rewrite them in your own words. Obviously, I don’t want you to violate copyright laws and we do want you to give credit where it is due. Finally, “mining” tips from past students in this course is completely out-of-bounds.
HOW TO SEND YOUR TIPS. Remember the limit of five tips per round.
The deadline for the first round is the end of Module 2.
Send your team’s tips as described in the module SLP instructions.
WHAT’S NEXT? We will continue this game until the end of Module 4. Every round I will update the list of virtual teaming tips and place them on our Threaded Discussion site in a separate forum titled the “Hall of Fame.” Review this list and continue sending additional tips that do not duplicate the tips already on the list.
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