Collaborative Writing Project

Integrates Communication, Teamwork, Problem Solving, and Lifelong Learning

While my course includes a team project, the learning outcomes integral to this team project include those beyond collaboration. Students must be able to identify and apply skills in communication, problem-solving, and lifelong learning (evaluating and using new technologies) to complete the project. See CHEN 301 Course Assessments and Reflections for a complete description of the assignment, including deliverables. More specifically, students will • communicate with others in appropriate formats

• use technologies for advancing teamwork and producing deliverables

• apply principles of team dynamics including conflict-resolution strategies

• evaluate options for selecting a "best" solution

• present findings effectively in a report to a decision maker

Thus, I have discovered that meeting a learning outcome for teamwork requires more than simply assigning groups and requiring group work and team projects; a teamwork learning outcome isn't met simply because the instructor assigns group work any more than a writing outcome is met simply by requiring students to complete writing assignments. Meeting a teamwork (collaboration) outcome requires instruction and assessments that target teamwork, not simply assessments that target the deliverables produced by a group. My instruction and assessment of team work include the following:

  1. Preview teamwork topics. Assess through discussion and reflective writing assignments. For example, these might include

    • Identify a "good" team on which you participated. What factors contributed to its success? How did you contribute to its success?

    • Identify a "bad" team on which you participated. Why did it not work? What was your part in its failure

  2. Discuss pros and cons of teamwork.

    • Identify specific challenges teams should expect to face.

    • Determine solutions, contingencies, that prevent poor team dynamics or address them when they happen.

    • Address how contingency plans must be presented in the management plan so that each member know his/her role, understands the expectations determined by the group, and is accountable for his/her actions.

  3. Identify and practice using technologies that facilitate group interaction and deliverables. In a computer classroom, students will evaluate different technology tools with their team to determine how well each one works to advance team goals. For example, each group will evaluate the synchronous and asynchronous features of each tool and determine how they see these features useful to their work.

  4. Assess how well the tools work to create the deliverables: the management plan and the final report detailing their proposal for busting the myth they have selected.

  5. Apply principles critical to evaluating options and communicating details. Analyses presented in the final report should be clear to the degree that a decision maker is persuaded of the accuracy, logic, and reliability of the recommended solution.

  6. Review principles of report writing: executive summary, visuals, document design, editing for clarity and tone (particularly persuasion).

Deliverables

    • Management plan that delineates the assignments, work schedule, contingency plans, and signatures of team members.

    • MythBusters recommendation report directed at a decision maker.

    • Group evaluation (includes an assessment on the performance of each team member and a self-assessment). Individual point values are reported, and the final points are figured in to the grade of individuals (thus not everyone on a team receives the same final grade as other members).

    • Formal Reflection that draws from their recent collaborative technology experience, students evaluate technologies in light of a question posed by a Shell recruiter regarding international communication. They must be able to (1) demonstrate how different tools and features can be used to advance communication in different contexts (2) evaluate the effectiveness of these features, weighing pros and cons and (3) explain how their communication technology skills will transfer into new contexts.

Post Assessment of Collaborative Project

This project requires students to demonstrate problem-solving, communication, collaborative, and lifelong learning skills through their research of a topic, evaluation of options, and completion of a recommendation report. While the written report from each group helps me assess how well groups solve a problem and communicate their findings effectively, their written reports do not help me know precisely if teamwork outcomes were met. I don't belive that an effectively prepared report by the group indicates that teamwork outcomes were met, particularly from each participant. For example, a well-written document could have been prepared by one individual with strong writing skills, while other members contributed very little. Without assessing team work outcomes specifically, I cannot know how well the team worked together to complete the task, address problems, and meet deadlines. A well-prepared deliverable does not address these outcomes. I can only infer that they were met, but I don't know who contributed what and what precisely each individual learned about teamwork. (As can be the case with group projects, one or two individuals could have completed all of the work without the input from other members.) Hence, directed reflection about the value of the project's many facets, including teamwork, will help determine the following: Do students know what they know? Can individuals articulate how and where learning outcomes were met or do we assume they understand what they know and can thus transfer this new knowledge/skill into new contexts? The importance of reflecting on team efforts, including a self-assesment, is articulated in ABET (i) Lifelong Learning: "Participate effectively in a team project and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the individual team members (including himself or herself) and the team as a unit."

My past experience with seeing students successfully prepare and deliver complex writing projects but fail to see the value in what they had just accomplished has prompted me to integrate reflection strategically into my courses. Reflection, writing about writing, writing about thinking, writing about problem solving, etc. requires the student to articulate what he/she has learned, thus making explicit the learning outcomes for himself and increasing the likelihood that these skills will transfer. The projects, experiences, and deliverables become the means by which he achieves an outcome but also the supporting evidence of his own claims about each outcome.

What is the relationship between experience, outcome, and evidence?

Sample reflections that require each student to evaluate communication technologies for use in new contexts (incorporating evidence from his own experience) include the following: