Teamwork & Collaboration Hub Guide

Courses and cocurricular activities in this area must have all outcomes.

1. As a result of explicit training in teamwork and sustained experiences of collaborating with others, students will be able to identify the characteristics of a well-functioning team.
2. Students will demonstrate an ability to use the tools and strategies of working successfully with a diverse group, such as assigning roles and responsibilities, giving and receiving feedback, and engaging in meaningful group reflection that inspires collective ownership of results.

If you are proposing a TWC course or if you want to learn more about these outcomes, please see this Interpretive Document. Interpretive Documents, written by the General Education Committee, are designed to answer questions faculty have raised about Hub policies, practices, and learning outcomes as a part of the course approval process. To learn more about the proposal process, start here.

• University of British Columbia’s Center for Instructional Support – Team-Based Learning
• Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center for Teaching & Educational Innovation – Guide to Teamwork
• University of Minnesota – A Faculty Guide to Team Projects
• MIT’s Teaching & Learning Lab – Teaching Teamwork
• Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching – Group Work: Using Cooperative Learning Groups Effectively
• Harvard Business Review’s Spotlight on the New Science of Team Chemistry (Must be on campus to access).
• E-book: Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. (Must be on campus to access).

References

McLeod, P.L., S.A. Lobel, and T.H. Cox, Jr. 1996. Ethnic diversity and creativity in small groups. Small Group Research 27(2): 248-264.

Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B., & Fink, L. D. (2004). Team-based learning: a transformative use of small groups in college teaching. Sterling, VA: Stylus Pub.

Nemeth, CJ. (1985). Dissent, group process, and creativity: the contribution of minority influence. In E. Lawler (Ed.), Advances in group processes 2: 57-75. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Oakley, B., R. M. Felder, R. Brent, & I. Elhajj (2004). Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of Student-Centered Learning, 2(1), 9-34.

The following are assignments that faculty have developed to engage students in teamwork and collaboration:

Team formation can be achieved a variety of ways. Teams can be formed randomly or intentionally by the instructor or students. Factors to consider when intentionally designing teams: students’ schedules (if they must collaborate outside of class); what skills groups need to be successful; and diversity (which may take the form of college major, race, gender, etc.).

Additionally, groups can be small or large, and they may persist for a short period or the entire semester. Likewise, teams can be small or large and may persist for part of or the entire semester.

If you, as the instructor, opt to form teams, you can visit this guide for team formation for additional resources. BU’s Blackboard Learning and other third-party apps such as iDoceo’s Teams app can also help with in-class management of activities. For help leveraging BU’s Blackboard Learning platform, please contact askedtech@bu.edu, or learn more on IS&T’s Blackboard Learn page.

Instructors can facilitate a team norming exercise in which students discuss the qualities of effective collaboration before getting into teams. This strategy can help students overcome skepticism or hesitation of team-based environments, as the modality may cause anxiety with introverted or shy students. One way to achieve this is by assigning students a case study about functional and dysfunctional teams and debrief as a class. You can also work with students to develop team ground rules, peer-feedback guidelines, and establish a team contract that is utilized throughout the semester. For examples, see Oakley et al. and the Harvard Business Review article under “Resources.”

Design team assignments and activities using the 3-S model. Student teams address the “Same” problem, case, or question. Students can then make “Specific” choices about the problem by applying course concepts. Finally, students “Simultaneously” report their choices to the larger group which helps students synthesize and present while learning from the thought process of others.

Faculty can promote positive interdependence in their courses by ensuring that team projects are sufficiently complex so that students must draw upon one another’s knowledge and skills to complete the task, rather than allowing students to adopt a “divide and conquer” approach. Assigning roles within teams, and then rotating these roles periodically, also minimizes “social loafing,” or the phenomena where one or more students receive credit for other’s work.

To ensure both group and individual accountability, faculty can incorporate formal (graded) or informal (non-graded) self-evaluation and team building assignments. Not only does incorporating peer and self assessment within teams help to mitigate dysfunctional behavior, but it also provide allows you to provide opportunities for frequent, timely, and targeted feedback so that groups make progress towards your learning objectives for the project and the course. See the Oakley et al. article under “Resources” for examples and templates.

Additional sample assignments and assessments can be found throughout the selected Resources section located above.

• What framework/vocabulary/process do you use to teach the key elements of effective teamwork and collaboration in your course?
• What assigned readings or other materials do you use to teach teamwork and collaboration specifically?
• Do students have opportunities throughout the semester to apply and practice these skills and receive feedback?
• What graded assignments evaluate how well students can both identify the key elements of successful teamwork and collaboration and demonstrate their ability to work effectively within a team?