Attendees will gain information on the following: Course design for teams, team forming activities, tools for group assignment, team building activities, presentation tools, and group projects as a whole. Attendees will have a group hands on experience using Marco Polo for the "Becoming a Team" activity at the end of the session.
Attendees explore 5 Steps for completing a group a project, that they can share with learners: Becoming a Team, Team Communication, Working Together/Planning the Project, Simple Tools to Present your project, Building & Presenting the Project. The presenter will also provide brief feedback from an anonymous survey following a recent implementation of this framework. This conference presentation will prove very useful for attendees as it includes practical application of the framework.
On line, students tend to function more autonomously and may say, “I will never see these people again”. Unbeknownst to them, Social Work is a well-networked, close-knit group known around the world. Social Workers rely on relationships with colleagues to obtain resources for clients, gain insight from peers and supervisors, gain upward mobility for their careers, and work in multidisciplinary teams with colleagues in a variety of disciplines. We have a National Association of Social Workers (NASW) that meets locally, state wide, and nationwide. There exists The International Federation of Social Workers. In fact, Social workers have ethical responsibilities to clients, colleagues, agencies, and society. Some of the values from the NASW Code of Ethics are importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. (Workers, N. A., 2008) Employing team based learning techniques in the classroom is essential for social workers.
Because project-based learning is filled with active and engaged learning, it inspires students to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they are studying. Research also indicates that students are more likely to retain the knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning. In addition, students develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-based and independent work. Edutopia (2008)
Team based learning allows social work students to actively participate in the learning of what it means to be culturally aware, respect others, collaborate, develop resource networks, promote social and political action, that all leads to competent practice. In addition to the development of professional attributes through online team projects, students would do well to consider the personal benefits of being a well-networked social worker. Social work students and younger professionals really need to be out there networking to ensure your career development is an easy transition from school and your career develops successfully. We are also the next generation of leaders, and it is good to connect with the current leaders now to understand how we can one day be in those positions (Richardson, 2014). Today’s social work organizations are no different from any employer: They all hope to have someone willing to work with others and do it well. Having members rely on each other helps members to use the talents of the team to become stronger. Every time you see your coworkers utilize a different approach in sales, you have a chance to adjust or improve your methods (Mattson, 2015) goes on to explain how teamwork builds trust, teaches conflict resolution skills, promotes and sense of ownership, and encourages healthy risk taking.
One of my current students said, “I took an online course, not a face to face course because I prefer to work independently”. The current project seeks to help students understand the benefits of networking through a team based on line project. In addition to the assignment, students gain knowledge through videos and readings that further explain the importance of teamwork and networking. It is anticipated that the antithetical viewpoints of team based learning in the on line environment will become outdated.
The primary motivation for employing this framework for team building into their required group presentation is to educate students not only by completing a project together, but to help them understand why this type of project is beneficial overall. Additionally the new design allows students to have a broader understanding of developing themselves as truly marketable professionals who have experienced the verbiage of “team”, worked with a team, and possibly even lead a team. I seek to encourage use of team projects by these potential leaders in organizations, communities, and societies. In addition to increasing leadership and administration concentrations, there is a need for universities to offer more comprehensive, innovative, and interdisciplinary curricula to their social work students. Emphasizing social work’s value of lifelong learning, social work curricula must also include components of post-graduate/continuing education and professional development specifically focused on leadership and administration of social service agencies (Gilliam, C., Chandler, M., Al-Hajjaj, H., Mooney, A., Vakalahi, F.O., (2017). Through course participation, students in the course I employed this team framework will come to view their leadership capabilities as assets rather than liabilities in Social Work. Many students express “no one else does the work; I’m always the only one who does anything”. Providing info on how to work as a team with roles and assignments and information about expectations will help with these issues. Students may feel that working independently is more efficient. Students will gain exposure to information on building strong viable teams that produce good results. In the article, Leadership and Teamwork in Social Work, Victoria Brewster, MSW (2013) explains that being intentional and listening at a deeper level fosters relationships with others in the group which brings out the positive in those individuals and in turn produces positive results. This current proposal suggests the best method for a successful team project begins with a strong team. One way to build a strong team is for individual members to participate in building their own team before beginning the project.