Technology is too Wimpy for Teamwork
One of my recent grad school assignments required that I work collaboratively with a group of my classmates. In a traditional classroom setting, a group project would most likely be completed in a series of in-person meetings.
But I’m enrolled in an online academic program. I’ve never met my classmates in person. The only reason I know what my professor looks like is because he records short introductory videos for each week of class.
So imagine how difficult it was for me to lead a group assignment using an internet-based discussion board and a group wiki. Because we’re all working adults with varying schedules, the communication was sporadic and unpredictable.
I tried to provide encouragement and direction through the discussion board. Each group member volunteered to write a portion of the assignment. We used the wiki to format and finalize our assignment.
While we accomplished the task at hand, I’m not convinced that the discussion board and wiki were conducive to effective group work. There really wasn’t a moment in the process where we worked collaboratively to weave our assignment together in a way that fulfills the benefits of teamwork.
In my opinion, the missing element was the in-person meeting where we could have gotten to know each other and figured out a way to incorporate all of our strengths into the project.
Technology is great. It makes my job a lot easier. But it’s too wimpy to replace good old-fashioned, face-to-face human interaction. Web conference anyone?
