Teamwork Overview
Why do we use teams? First, we do it to improve learning. The more students think, write, talk, and argue about course content the better they learn. Teams provide more opportunities for them to do that. Research indicates that learning in teams increases abilities to retain and use knowledge.
Second, we do it to prepare students for the kinds of teamwork required to use information technology to solve problems. Stakeholders say our graduates need to be able to work in teams and cooperate with others to succeed. The more students experience the trials and triumphs of collaborative work the better prepared they will be to join the workforce.
In IST students participate in many team exercises and projects throughout the semester and the curriculum. Students must manage those teams themselves. This presents unique problems for instructors in forming teams, designing tasks, managing teams, assessing teams and ensuring that both students and instructors reap rewards for their efforts. Instructors deal with learning team problems with ingenious but crude practices. Based on experience, these guidelines highlight trade-offs rather than prescribe standards. We need more research to find optimal ways to design and manage successful learning teams.