And so .... the end is near.....

I have finished teaching for the year and am now on the home stretch as far as marking is concerned.

The reflective assignments from the 3rd year social work students were a revelation. I will definitely re-run this group project next year.

Despite some gripes about the project not being assessed (I am reconsidering this) the level of engagement with the project and with the reflection was tremendous.

Some students clearly started out on this project and on the formation of their groups with the view that the whole process was "fake" and that putting together an online presentation over 9 weeks or so was going to give them very little insight into how groups work "in the wild". Their reflections tell a different story and the sophistication with which some of them have applied theories of group dynamics, team roles and motivation theory has been quite inspiring.

What is more, the projects themselves have provided a legacy - a set of resources about the art and craft of leadership which are going to be invaluable not just for future students, but for me too!

I also feel really inspired by the students' ingenuity - the range of TV programmes and films studied (from Toy Story 3 to Hell's Kitchen) as well as the platforms used (Facebook, Wordpress, Powerpoint) has been enriching and the freedom to be creative is something most embraced eagerly in the midst of a heavy final year.

Some have been troubled by the need to wrangle the technology but the exercise also produced some real "stars" in terms of getting to grips with the on-line platforms.

So what will I do differently next time?

Probably introduce some form of credit for the work actually produced and reduce the amount of reflection to be done alongside the presentation.

Instead, reflection on the group process could be an option for their exam (I HAVE to give them an exam, apparently).

Give them a free choice of platform, film, and even topic (leadership, motivation, group process, team types, organisational culture etc.....)

What I won't do - but would love to - is give them one another's reflections to digest.

The variety of perspectives was dizzying at times and that would be the real way to learn about teams.... however they would (I would!) write very differently if their work was going to be reviewed by peers. But maybe there should be some part of the process where they ARE encouraged to do a group reflection?

Maybe actually all teams should do this from time to time....?

So if you'd like to see the student's work,(with their consent) here are a couple of Facebook Pages (The Beach) (Hell's Kitchen) and a Wordpress site. I'll be adding the Powerpoint presos to Slideshare shortly....

Google Sites in the Classroom

I embarked on an experiment at the start of last term to introduce my Leadership students to collaborative working using Google Sites.

My reasoning was that the students would this way have a forum for synchronous collaboration which didn't involve sending round emails of PowerPoint slides; they would learn a new transferable skill in setting up and designing a website. They would produce a revision tool about the key leadership theories and how they can be applied in practice and along the way they would experience the highs and lows of team working which they could then reflect on.

The task was to produce a site which elaborated/ illustrated key leadership theories as applied to a specific setting. As they are mainly undergraduates with little direct work experience I offered them the opportunity of using the film Avatar or the TV series The Apprentice as their "case studies".

Assessment for this part of the module took the form of a reflective piece focusing on the team dynamics which were operating whilst producing the finished site. In addition they would be given individual credit for evidence which demonstrated their participation in the finished site.

In the first few weeks of the module I doubted that I had designed the task appropriately and was unsure whether they would take to the idea, but in fact they readily formed into groups and began assigning roles and sub-tasks with great enthusiasm.

Over the next 6 weeks or so that enthusiasm waxed and waned and there were the usual grumbles about people not pulling their weight. This culminated in a class discussion where it was decided that each team should nominate a "leader" who would take responsibility for "motivating" everyone else to complete their work by the deadline.

After this Team A seemed to make steady progress and, as I had access to their sites, I could see the work being developed and completed in good time for the final presentation. Team A asked me for some technical input early on but then got on with the task and added some really lovely innovative touches like an introductory video and a quiz to finish off.

Team B seemed to struggle to get together, to round up all the members and to get their contributions in to the right place. I made quite a significant technical input to get the site into some sort of order and a week before the deadline I was still showing them how to edit it. Three days before the deadline the contributions were starting to form but the site was a mess. I feared for the group presenting this in public on the due date. However, as their turn came round, the site displayed was unrecognisable. One group member had taken it upon herself to spend hours - the night before - editing, adding images, unifying colours and fonts, uploading YouTube videos all of which combined to produce a really high quality result.

So.... in the end everyone felt they had indeed learned to feel a little more comfortable with the technology and they were justifiably proud of the end results. Moreover, I think they recognised that although the presentation wasn't assessed, it had taught them/helped them revise a great many relevant leadership theories which would feature in their final exam. And finally they had all learned a great deal about effective (and less effective teams) and about their roles in them.

This Module is part of a pilot which is looking at e-assessment/e-submission of assessment. Next week they will upload their reflections via the drop box and I will give them online feedback via Grademark (part of the Turnitin process).

By incorporating Google Sites into the group task I have added another "e" element to the module which, although it is not being directly evaluated as part of this pilot, merits further reflection and research as the University looks at how we can increase the use of technology enhanced learning to develop students' "digital capabilities and information literacy".

And now for phase two - next week I introduce the same exercise to 60 Social Work students - it'll be interesting to watch how this "scales up" from my guinea pig group of 10!

Leading and Managing at Distance: Case Studies in the use of Web 2.0 tools

image: flickr Nimages DR

Caroline: dispersed team of healthcare trainers

The team of trainers, nominally co-located, would for large parts of each month be working as a dispersed team. All worked on a part time sessional basis on different projects and days of the week had consequent difficulties in communication, coordination and in finding time for the team to reflect on performance, consider improvements, undertake their own professional development and discuss new policies and training in the latest techniques.

The LAMD module gave Caroline the opportunity to undertake an analysis of these difficulties, discussing these in various forums with fellow students, and to experience for herself the uses of blogs, wikis and other relevant tools for collaboration and communication.

She chose to focus in her final project on the development of a wiki and a group web page for her team which could be used as a noticeboard, document repository and discussion forum to enable everyone to keep in touch and up to date with changes in regulations and practice.

From this she went on to develop another wiki to aid communication and collaboration in planning a CPD conference with another dispersed team.

Caroline Taylor is Lead Dental Care Professional Tutor - North East Scotland. She can be contacted at caroline.taylor@nes.scot.nhs.uk for further information.

Alison: how my leadership style has changed..

"... I have learned many things both about technology and its application to team work. I was aware of some means of online communication but had not related it to my working practice nor experienced its use. That has changed and I have now set up and administered a wiki which I would not have had the confidence or knowledge to do before. I have used blogs and accessed online learning. I did find the use of the wiki and online discussions very helpful to gain differing views and opinions.

I have also learned about my own abilities and am aware some of the pitfalls of leading and managing at a distance. I believed I had good communication skills but have become aware that these need to be better when the opportunity of face to face communication is not available. I have learned to listen to my team more and use every opportunity to give positive feedback rather than focussing on the negative. I will also be encouraging more reflective practice....

So what will I do now?

......... I could have used a better method for introducing the wiki to the team which may have been more successful. Instead of using email I plan to relaunch it with improved explanations of the benefits it could bring at the next team meeting . In this way I hope to better motivate the team to embrace new technology and to look for other means of improving the service to patients. It will also encourage the team members to think as a team and communicate with each other more consistently.

My Myers Briggs personality is ISFJ which means I like structure, hierarchy and organisation all features that are difficult with a dispersed team . I will need to work on being less controlling and more trusting of my team members’ abilities to allow them to develop their own skills. "

Alison Pendlowski is Deputy Head of Speech & Language Therapy at Perth Royal Infirmary