Page Synopsis:

Teamwork benefits individuals, organizations, and society. Good teamwork skills are learned, not innate.
Good teamwork requires individual commitment and engagement
Your teamwork skills will be evaluated by your peers
Respect for all is essential for good team work

Teamwork creates synergy. Because the combined effect of an effective team is significantly greater than the sum of individual efforts, teams can tackle problems that are too big to solve for any individual. In the professional world, effective teamwork is paramount. For this reason, AP50 uses a team-based approach that will help you develop collaborative skills, that will help you work effectively in a team, and that will maximize your learning. As in the professional world, three important features affect your productivity and success in a team: your own effort, the effort of people you depend on, and the way you work together.

Throughout the term, you will work closely with two or three of your classmates, as part of a project team. You will be assigned to a team at the beginning of each roughly month-long project, starting in the third week of the course, when the first project period starts. The teams will change for each of the projects, so as to provide an opportunity for you to become better acquainted with your peers and also to develop the interpersonal skills you need in the professional workforce where you are likely to encounter a diverse ensemble of people.

The activities in AP50 are designed so that no one individual can successfully complete them alone. It is therefore very likely that on the parts you work on alone, your performance will be significantly worse than in a course that does not involve teamwork. Don’t let that discourage you, as individual activities are always followed by a phase where you get to work as a team on that same activity, permitting you to improve your performance with others (and learn in the process).

To be successful in AP50, therefore, you need to first try your best on each of the activities on your own and then tackle those activities and the projects as a team. While it is expected that you will divide and conquer when working as a group, each individual is responsible for the whole product.

Research on teamwork suggests the following good team practices:

Come prepared before getting together with your team. Before working as a team, read any relevant material(s) and formulate your own approach to the task at hand.
Actively participate and contribute to all activities when the team is together. When even one team member checks out and starts working individually (or starts checking email, text messages, etc.) instead of engaging with the team, the overall performance of the team is adversely affected.
In all team activities, be prepared to share three things with your teammates: (a) what approach you chose as an individual, (b) why you chose that approach, and (c) how confident you are about your approach.
Be respectful and listen and evaluate other people’s points of view.
Deliberate as long as time permits. Regardless of the make-up of the team, teams that deliberate longer do better in team activities.

Peer Assessment

It is important to provide positive feedback to people who truly worked hard for the good of the team and to also make suggestions to those you perceived not to be working as effectively on team tasks. Three times during the semester you will provide an online assessment of the contributions of the members of your team (including yourself) to all the class activities and to the project. The feedback you provide should reflect your judgment of each team members’:

                  preparation – were they prepared when they came to work with the team?
                  contribution – did they contribute productively to the team discussion and work?
                  punctuality – were they on time when they came to work with the team?
                  engagement – were they fully engaged and participating during team work?
                  respect for others’ ideas – did they encourage others to contribute their ideas?
                  flexibility – were they flexible when disagreements occurred?

Your teammates’ assessment of your contributions and the accuracy of your self- and peer-assessments play an important role in your final grade for the course — see also Assessment on the next page.

Diversity, inclusivity, and productive teamwork

Great teams tend to be diverse (so each team member can provide a unique perspective) and inclusive (so everyone can contribute equally). The best teams need to have a range of voices, experiences, viewpoints and skills in the room when decisions need to be made or projects need to be completed. For that reason, creating a team culture that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities (including race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability, etc.) is likely to lead to the best possible learning outcome for all. The teaching team will treat everyone in the course with equal respect so that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives benefit from this course. Respect is perhaps be the most fundamental principle in all of ethics and I therefore expect everyone in the course display respect for others, as doing so will maximize the outcome of this course for all.

My goal is to provide an environment in which everyone’s learning needs are addressed — in all class activities and aspects of the course. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups.