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Sun, Nov 7, 8:30 - 8:55, Ballroom D Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: LaBelle, D. Before the Team Project: Cultivate a Community of Collaborators. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2004, v 21 (Newport): §4133. ISSN: 1542-7382. (A later version appears in Information Systems Education Journal 3(28). ISSN: 1545-679X.)

Before the Team Project: Cultivate a Community of Collaborators

Refereed

8 pages

Deborah LaBelle    [a1] [a2]
Information Science and Technology
Pennsylvania State Delaware County    [u1] [u2]
Media, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

The team project has become an essential component in undergraduate education, especially in the information science and technology curricula. Often, the students are also required to utilize a "Collaborative Learning Tool" such as Blackboard ? to carryout their collaborative activities. However, many students, dare I say the majority of students, cringe at the mere mention of a "Team Project". There are many reasons for this reaction, but one reason is that the students are not prepared to collaborate. They are not prepared to collaborate with each other, and they are not prepared to use the collaborative learning tools effectively. The research in collaborative learning has indicated a need for students to learn how to collaborate, and to engage in non-task interactions to build socio-emotional connections that lead to effective collaboration. This paper explains a few project assignments that I use to create a collaborative work environment both face-to-face, and online, that encourages social interactions alongside task interactions.

Keywords: collaborative learning, team projects, social interactions, CSCL

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