We consider the social dimension of virtual teams critical to a team’s success in the academic context. How does a blended learning environment foster social interaction, conversation, and deep learning for virtual team members? Our research study asks this, among other questions, and presents a framework and guideline set for successful virtual teamwork practices.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION AND GOALS:
PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION:
Our project, led by four researchers from Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management, was designed based on the critical need for a more robust pedagogy/andragogy for virtual team project learning and teaching across our online and blended program offerings. Please note, our project is currently in the data collection and analysis phase, and is intended to be completed by August, 2017.
PRESENTATION GOALS:
- To disseminate the findings of our research on the social dimension of deep learning among virtual team members
- To foster discussion and collaboration surrounding the challenges faced by virtual team members today
- To share our pedagogical tool: Guidelines for Effective Virtual Teamwork in the academic context
CONTEXT
E-learning has been hailed as offering the “potential to enable student centred learning through the realisation of constructivist teaching principles” (Edwards & Bone, 2012). In addition, there is growing practical evidence that one of the key factors for e-learning success is an understanding of the social component of learning, i.e., the importance of person-to-person, and group/team, interactions within the e-learning context. Social aspects of peer learning are argued to build student motivation, enhance social connections and increase student access to feedback about their learning (Morrison, 2006). In Canada, e-learning’s provision of the needed flexibility and accessibility (i.e., any time, any place), is recognized as a fundamental vehicle for fostering a lifelong learning society. However, e-learning potential has not been realized, as most studies describe current activities in e-learning as mostly replicating or transferring traditional existing teaching and learning approaches into e-learning environments (Salmon, 2005). Moreover, a report by the Canadian Council on Learning in 2009 revealed Canada as trailing behind the efforts of other countries in e-learning, with Canadian post-secondary institutions lagging behind many other countries in incorporating online components into their programs. The same report, however, highlighted the importance of e-learning to Canadian social and economic development and called for a coherent framework to shape e-learning’s development in Canada, noting, among other things, the need for concerted efforts to fill gaps in research and harness the potential of technology to meet the needs of learners. A stronger understanding of online learning is therefore essential for the future success of education and training.
The Faculty of Management currently offers four graduate programs through an online/blended platform, reaching close to 650 students across the country. Other programs, such as the Bachelor of Management, are planning to offer more online courses. The need for a robust pedagogy/andragogy with respect to our current, and future, online offerings is critical, especially in a very competitive environment.
It was within this context that members of our research team conducted, over a six-month period, a systematic literature review on e-learning and virtual teams, with a focus on understanding key factors from virtual teamwork which can be useful or transferred to general e-learning. The outcome of this work was the development of a framework that identified critical success factors for effective virtual teams in the e-learning environment.
QUESTIONS:
We embarked on this project with the goal of exploring the following questions:
- How and where are virtual teams in our programs’ blended learning environment having conversations regarding project work?
- How is this connected to the ways that they share, create, and manage content?
- Did our guidelines shape interaction between virtual team members in our programs’ blended learning environment? How?
METHODS:
Using our framework as a starting point, we designed a set of guidelines intended to improve the social interaction component of online learning, to be distributed to students in one of our blended courses. These guidelines were pilot tested for clarity and concision by presenting them to a small group of students who have had experience with online group work. Based on these students’ feedback, the guidelines were edited and finalized. The refined guidelines were then presented to our study participants at the beginning of their coursework for a blended master’s level marketing course, offered to mid-career professionals by the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University.
Participants agreed to make use of and follow the guidelines, as well as complete a survey at the end of the course, reflecting on how the guidelines altered their online learning and virtual teamwork experience.
Two methods are being used to assess the efficacy of the guidelines in improving social interaction in the course. First, interactions among students within the online learning platform for the course (Learning Management System ~ Desire to Learn’s Brightspace) were tracked using LMS’s Data Analytics function to gauge frequency of their social interactions in that particular platform throughout the term.
Second, a survey is currently being administered to the students. The survey is designed to collect data on their use of the guidelines and how the guidelines (potentially) changed their interactions, as well as their preferences for, and the relative utility of, various forms of communication used for social interaction relating to course projects. The survey consists of both quantitative questions, including Likert-style scales, and open-ended questions. Analysis of quantitative data will consist of appropriate statistical analyses (accounting for sample size) and qualitative data will be analyzed using content analysis techniques that will allow us to assess data for the efficacy of the guidelines in aiding social interaction in the course.
RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS:
Our survey is currently being administered to the study participants. Our project timeline includes data analysis, (as discussed in Method section), discussion, and conclusion to occur in the coming months prior to OLC Accelerate 2017.
DISCUSSION/ INTERPRETATION:
Our goal for this project was ultimately to create a pedagogical tool that could be applied to virtual team management by teachers, professors, trainers, consultants, and eLeaders in any sector. The efficacy of our guidelines, and the communication trends indicated by our study participants among their virtual team members, will be the focal point of our presentation discussion.
SESSION OUTCOMES
- Current climate of trends in social interaction for virtual teams presented
- The distribution of an effective pedagogical tool: Guidelines for Effective Virtual Teamwork
- Discussion of challenges faced by virtual teams