CAP506
Teamwork
CAP506
Teamwork
Teams:
Having a Successful Collaboration
Project
Timelines and Milestones
Ideas
for Getting Organized
Progress
Updates on Project
Critical
Dates for Teams
Submitting
and Presenting the three Projects
The
Profile Project Package
In the business world, it is important to be able to work well with others and employers value team players quite highly. In this course you will have an excellent opportunity to develop more effective team skills. Just as in the workplace, you will not be choosing your team members - that will happen by a draw. You and your team need to get together immediately to exchange names, telephone numbers and email addresses as communication will be essential in collaborating effectively on your assignments and projects.
The team space
Each team has a space assigned
to them in the MySeneca part of the course online. It is there that they
can post messages on the discussion board forum. Two detailed
updates on the progress on the profile project are expected as a minimum
requirement on this forum. Files can be exchanged as you develop the team's
profile project and the Power Point presentation you will be building together.
You email team members easily from your team's space. As soon as you have
drawn your team name, and are listed for that team, your team's space will
be made available.
How to work well together
Based on your past experience
with teams, you know there are a few pitfalls. If you keep up to date with
what is due in class you will not let your team down. Remember to exchange
vital information and to always have a backup plan in case of unexpected
events. Working on the projects in this class will be the perfect way to
demonstrate those excellent communication skills you are developing.
No matter what you decide to do - who does what part and how you design your projects, remember that building anything you will take pride in takes time. It always takes more time than than you think it will. Before you know it the deadline will be here and it will be time to present. So the best idea is for you and your team to set timelines.
Timelines
1.
Look at the overall scope of the team project due at the end of this course.
2.
List all of the things that need to get done in order to accomplish your
objectives.
3.
Be specific - breakdown each part of the project and get a fix on when
each part will be done. (milestones)
4.
Remember to include time for delays with getting the information you need
from a graduate.
5.
Be sure to schedule practice time - presentations are marked on how professionally
they are done by the team.
For
Profile Presentation
List
all of the slides and what is on each one, the text, the graphics, any
special effects
Assemble
the artifacts needed to accompany the report: the interview questionnnaire,
the interview script, the collection of images, etc.
Make
a table with all that is needed and figure out who is going to do it and
by what date.
Here's a table I created to get my thesis written in case it gives you some ideas. In fact, I built a website and I threw in everything I could think of to get me where I was going - (graduation as Dr. Karsten) and I tried to have a good time with it - have a look at my workshop on the web. If you scroll down to the table on that page, some of what you'll find there is silliness and some of it was hard work and all of it helped me to accomplish my goals. Mind you it took me a couple of months to write the thesis and you have only a few weeks.
What I'm hoping is to encourage you to do it in a timely fashion. I know how easy it is to let things slide, to postpone working on it until it's the last minute and you stay up all night a few nights frantically trying to pull it all together. It's a radical notion; why not try getting organized?
1. Create folders into which you can put your work and ideas, so you can add a few things during your spare time. Put these folders on a diskette or memory stick and carry it with you.
2. Set certain times of the week (how about class time?) to check in with your team mates to pool your resources, making sure you are all going in the same direction. Use your BlackBoard Team Space in between times - it has the tools you need for communicating online.
3. Mock up your part of the project and save it to your account on the learn server. Don't just rely on discs. Backing up your work is important.
4. Create a subdirectory in your learn account and FTP your images there. Update them every chance you get - you can always keep a few versions of a picture until you get what you like.
5. Make notes to yourself using wordpad and save the text files - use a large font and make lists of things to do.
6. Link your list to a "Things to do" webpage.
7. Create a gallery of graphics you might want to use. Put them all on one web page so you can see them relative to one another.
8. Start the BUZZ! Think of ways you and your team can begin to get interest in your project. What will be your campaign to generate excitement leading up to your presentation?
9. Make a check list with all of the winning features on the best presentations you have seen - compare what you are building to that list to see what you need in order to create a project that can compare with the best of the best.
10. Forget making excuses - be positive and make these projects among the crowning achievements of your career at Seneca. Get to work!!!
A good way to stay on track is to go over all of the criteria for a project. Here is the Profile Project link:
Your team is responsible to not only working together on the Profile Project, but you will also be reviewing and marking two other projects in this course. On specific dates, all will be required to bring their completed portfolio to class. On this date, you and your team will hand over your portfolios to another team for review and marking, using the Portfolio creiteria marking worksheets. At the same time, you and your team will be marking the portfolios for an assigned team.
Being
Prepared and Possible Deductions
It
is strongly recommended that you and your team have a preparatory session
in which you review your team's portfolios to check to see that all elements
are complete and ready for marking. You want to be sure all of the members
of your team are as successful as possible in achieving the best outcomes
possible. If any member of your team is absent, then your team will have
to cover for that person. Unless they have a legitimate excuse for missing
the session, they will receive a deduction on the project. Be prepared
for such an eventuality by keeping in close communication with the members
of your team. Exchange phone numbers and keep up with your email and communications
through your team's web place on MySeneca. Your team wil not receive a
deduction unless it is observed that the team was unprepared to accommodate
the absence of a missing team member.
Here are the criteria or marking sheets for the other two projects your team will be marking.
ePortfolio
Criteria
Portfolio
Criteria
Here are the procedures.
1. To submit your Portfolio, please bring it to class on the date indicated in schedule (Week 7) and submit all portfolios in your group to another group as assigned.
2. To submit your ePortfolio, please post a message with the link for your team's eportfolios in the main Discussion Board area - The Team ePortfolio Forum
NOTE: Please - once you have submitted your eportfolio, please make no revisions to the site until it is marked to avoid deductions. And please - do not remove the site until you have heard from me with your mark. I hope you will keep the site up as long as you can.
Deadline for submission of the URL is at the beginning of Week 10, midnight Sunday November 13. Self evaluations on portfolios and eportfolios in Forum 8 are also due by that date.
2. To submit your Profile Project
On the date when teams present their profiles, they will hand in a presentation package. Reports on the profiles are due as part of that packaage. (see contents of package below). After the presentation is over, the evaluating team will submit their feedback to Forum 9 Evaluation of Profile Projects.
Items to be included in the package:
The Power Point presentation
given to profile the student needs to be attached to a posting in Team
Project Forum #2