Working+On+Teams

Working On Teams

media type="youtube" key="DX2ekG5kenM" height="370" width="400" align="right"** What Is Teamwork? **

Webster defines teamwork as, work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. Teams are groups of people with similar values who work together to achieve a common goal, e.g. completion of a work project or game victory.

According to the Illinois learning standard the goal of working on teams is to get students to:
 * Learn and contribute productively as individuals and as members of groups.
 * Students learn to recognize individual strengths, resolve differences and use teamwork as a necessary tool for working with others. Teamwork is also integral to many sports. Sports in turn teach the elements of teamwork in other fields. One overall goal of physical development is to give students the knowledge and skills necessary for working on teams to achieve specific objectives or a common goal.

As an athlete and a retired Marine I have heard the phrase “There is no //I// in team” more times than I can count, but today I believe technology has put an I in team and it stands for //Internet.// Web 2.0 is education’s future, affording individual students an opportunity to connect with teammates across the planet. In this section I will cover how web 2.0 can and will connect students from all over the world and provide them opportunity and ability to work in teams.

Education and industry use teamwork because of the benefits that it provides. One of the most significant products of teamwork is its efficiency (Gib). Large tasks can be broken down into smaller assignments that are then divided out to the individuals best suited for the job, resulting in efficient use of time. This division of labor is also more interesting and less taxing to team members. . Another benefit of teamwork is that teams can be organized according to team members’ individual strengths. For instance, groups can be formed such that members possess similar abilities to focus on a specific problem requiring such abilities, or they can be formed such that members possess differing abilities in order to tackle a broader less focused problem. Beyond problem solving, teamwork fosters collaborative learning, enhancing social by allowing students to share information, and to accept new ideas and respect differences. . Thus, students take a role in their own education and learn from each other.

** How Does Web 2.0 Make Teamwor **** k Easier to Incorporate Into the Classroom? **

Teamwork or collaborative learning is a learner- centered and team-oriented approach to education operating under the premise that learning is an outcome of interaction among team members who exchange ideas and share experiences to attain group solutions, leading to knowledge construction (Kam, 2009). The interactive tools provided by Web 2.0 will help teachers and students explore the benefits of project- based learning, such as:

• opportunities for creativity—thinking “outside the box” • exposure to new and different ideas • experiences that enhance performance-based problem-solving skills • practice with organization and meeting deadlines • development of mutual support between team members • generation of personal satisfaction and team unity

All students learn and absorb information differently; as such sometimes it is difficult for teachers to find the time to address every student’s individual need. Teamwork projects/exercises allow teachers to group students according to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual student, which saves the teacher time. The teacher has the option of grouping students by weakness, which would allow them to focus on a group or they can group students together that have different strengths and weaknesses. Grouping students this way will allow them to support and teach each other.

Web 2.0 tools will provide a superior platform that will allow teachers to incorporate these types of projects into their curriculum. Technologies such as wikis, moodle and Google docs are good examples of Web 2.0 tools that can foster teamwork in education. Most importantly, Web 2.0 also supports “anytime, anyplace” learning as compared to traditional lecture teaching methods (Kam, 2009). This type of learning provides the students an opportunity to collaborate outside of the classroom and across cultures, vastly expanding educational opportunity.

media type="youtube" key="7eltMryuXnU" height="307" width="331" align="right"** Examples **

A wiki is a Web site that invites visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections to its content (Merriam-Wester). A wiki allows the simple creation and editing of a web page, giving students in different locations the ability to modify a document in real time. As a result, students can work as a team on the same document. Moreover wikis can provide students a virtual meeting place in which to collaborate, while still being under the supervision of a teacher.
 * Wiki**

Wiki’s have several features that empower student teamwork. One of the most important is the “history” feature. It tracks and stores all changes and versions of a document, making it easy for team members to make changes to the document freely.

Wikispaces PBworks
 * Some examples of wiki sites are: **

media type="youtube" key="1biNVGyS2Iw" height="388" width="433" align="left"** Social Networks ** Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups. Web 2.0 has taken social networking to heights with the launching of MySpace and Facebook. These are web based services and give users a way for to interact over the internet, with variations of services such as e-mail and instant messaging. Students can talk one-on-one in real time through chat features, or reach a whole group through the messaging system which notifies people of a new message both via email in case the person signed out and pop-up notifications for while a person is still logged in.

Not only do social networking sites have these more evolved email features, but they also allow for anyone to create a page. There is no need for extensive knowledge on programming for either Facebook of MySpace since they have very simple fill in the box structures (although MySpace is more customizable with HTML knowledge), and all one needs is an email address to start. Thus, teams can make a page for their projects to discuss ideas and keep in touch about progress. The page can be locked so only the group members can see it, or it can be made public and the group can invite others to join if they are looking for a wider input to their creations. With social networking, teamwork can be as private as a few people working in a room together or as public as asking the world for help. Social networking can open up the classroom since one no longer needs to know someone personally to ask for help. There's no need to ask around for phone numbers, addresses, or even email addresses. Just create a page and let others see it; the world is at your fingertips. Twiducate Facebook MySpace
 * Some examples of social networking sites are: **


 * What Does This Mean for Education? **

The use of teamwork that Web 2.0 affords will enhance education and promote effective learning in schools—both in the traditional classroom and online. It does this in several different ways; first, it supports active learning and experienced-based knowledge construction. Second, cooperation and teamwork in learning is accomplished through active participation and online collaboration in an open platform. Third, learning via problem solving is achieved through Web 2.0, allowing students to reflect on personal cognition and by collaborating with other individuals who bring alternative views (Kam, 2009). Simply stated, Web 2.0 gives students powerful tools to actively participate in their own education Web 2.0 also virtualizes the classroom, giving teachers a means to include students from all over the world in a classroom setting One of the main educational failings of most distance education is a lack of interaction and teamwork in instruction: there simply was no easy way to simulate real-time teamwork in a virtual environment. Teachers and students were limited to postings on websites and communications through email. Web 2.0 breaks down this barrier by facilitating collaboration and teamwork.


 * References **

"7 Deadly Sins That Block Team Collaboration (And How To Overcome Them)." PBworks: Online Collaboration. Web. 09 July 2010. <@http://pbworks.com/>

Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 09 July 2010. <@http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary>.

Gib, Art. "The Benefits of Teamwork." Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com. Web. 07 July 2010. <@http://www.articlesbase.com/team-building-articles/the-benefits-of-teamwork-356993.html>.

Kam, Hwee-Joo. Web 2.0 in Higher Education: Collaborative Learning. Dakota State University. Association for Information Systems, 2009. Web. 14 July 2010. <@http://aisel.aisnet.org/mwais2009/7>.

Twiducate - Social Networking For Schools. 2009. Web. 09 July 2010. <@http://www.twiducate.com/>.