Download - Lawrence savitt cd_lconf_jhs_20110420
Teaching Students How to Work in Teams
Presented at the CDL Conference
In Saratoga Springs, NY
On 30 April 2011
by
Al Lawrence and Jim Savitt
Why Teamwork?
• Employers value teamwork• Constructivist principles / collaborative learning• Develop social relationships• Improve skills and knowledge
Needed for success
• Time management• Planning• Coordination• Role allocation and cooperation
3
Setting Ground Rules
• Punctuality• Being prepared for meetings• Valuing diversity among members• Completing work on time• Being honest• Participating in meetings• Reaching consensus• Keeping everyone informed• Respect• Playing an active role
Team-Based Learning at Empire State College
• External Environment– Supports development of certain core competencies
• Organizational management
• Leadership through communication
• Collaboration
• Horizontal egalitarian trustful relationships– (See Naim Kapucu , “Developing Competency-Based Emergency Management Degree
Programs in Public Affairs and Administration”, presented at 14 th annual Emergency Management Higher Education Conference, Emmitsburg, MD, 10 June 2010)
• Internal Environment– Supports student-centered learning
• Students and instructor share responsibility for learning
5
Strategy
• Clarity of Expectations– Course / subject matter outcomes– Learning mechanism links to external environment
• Selected competencies resulting from teamwork– Organizational management
» Putting together the team structure for the project
– Leadership through communication» Framing issues for decision-making
– Collaboration» Recognition and utilization of each member’s skills
– Horizontal egalitarian trustful relationships» Productive dependence on each other
6
Tactics
• Commitments– Instructor
• Guide students through subject matter– Student-centered: Discovery replaces lectures
• Help students understand the benefits of team-based learning– Team-based discovery can be self-reinforcing
– Students• Make efforts to understand subject matter
– Internalization through application of (discovered) principles
• Help their classmates understand subject matter– Shared approaches to discovery
7
Operations
• Learning Activities– Discussions
• At a distance
• Face-to-face
• At a distance
– Team exercises (face-to-face)• Structured
• Project planning and commitments
– Team activities (at a distance)• Formal project plan with individual contributions noted to be done
• Completed project
8
Outcomes
• Higher marks on the project• Learned more about the subject matter• Learned more about team work• Group performed more cohesively than untrained teams