1. Using E-Mediation to prepare students for the Real World.
20/09/2018
Using E-Mediation to prepare students for the Real World.
About an Assignment in IT-Project Management.
Dr. Marc Conrad, University of Luton
These slides are available at:
Cambridge
Luton
Oxford
London
20/09/ :20:46
Marc Conrad - University of Luton

2. Marc Conrad - University of Luton
People and Projects
Human Resources are a central issue in companies.
Human Resources usually refers to people working together, for example you, me, or our students in their future job.
Productivity, job satisfaction, or simply the quality of our life depends on how we get on with people that are not our friends!
Can we teach that to our students?
20/09/ :20:46
Marc Conrad - University of Luton

3. Marc Conrad - University of Luton
The Assignment
150 Students
Distributed randomly in groups of 8-10 people (via discussion boards in the VLE).
Given the task:
Form a team!
20/09/ :20:46
Marc Conrad - University of Luton

4. Marc Conrad - University of Luton
From the Assignment…
Tasks:
Each group has to organise at least two “social” events.
Generate reports (reflection).
Marking:
Participation in the discussion group.
Activity shown in organizing team building activities.
Approaches to conflict management.
Quality of contributions.
Weekly summaries
This is not a group assignment!
The assignment
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Marc Conrad - University of Luton

5. Marc Conrad - University of Luton
The final report
13 questions, for example:
This assignment, as you know, is about working relationships and not making friends. Anyway – did you make new friends in doing this assignment?
What do you think was your most useful contribution to the group?
If you had to start the assignment again – would you do it differently? Did you learn something from it?
What was the biggest problem in your group and what did you do in helping to solve that problem? Was the problem solved?
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Marc Conrad - University of Luton

6. Cultural Underpinning
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions:
Power distance
Individualism/Collectivism
Femininity/Masculinity
Uncertainty avoidance
The student reports give evidence on their cultural profile.
(see next slide for example)
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Marc Conrad - University of Luton

7. Example: Uncertainty Avoidance
Question 11:
What do you think was your most useful contribution to the group?
A focus on intellectual contributions, or responsive participation (“I attended all the meetings which took place every Wednesday”) may indicate that the individual is able to cope with a high amount of uncertainty while a high proactive behaviour showed that uncertainty should be avoided at all cost (“I undertook the responsibility and orchestrated the majority of the groups meetings”).
See paper for more:
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Marc Conrad - University of Luton

8. Student Experience (based on data of report)
92% of the students explicitly acknowledge that they either did learn something or would do things differently.
Answers vary in the details given:
“Of course, the main thing I will do is how to organise the time, that because we had a problem in organising the time before” (time management)
“I would probably put a little bit pressure on some members and wouldn’t be so trustful.” (social skills)
“I have learnt from this assignment that good communication skills and enthusiasm has got to be at the heart of each of the team members, [...]” (team skills)
The open structure of the assignment that gives the students a high level of freedom on how to solve their tasks evidently shows here its strength.
20/09/ :20:46
Marc Conrad - University of Luton

9. Marc Conrad - University of Luton
Conclusion
E-Mediation (here: discussion boards) provides a powerful tool for teaching students fundamental team skills.
Students gain valuable experience via the transition from a virtual environment to a real team.
The reflection in the final report leads to an understanding of the student’s own behaviour in a team environment.
20/09/ :20:46
Marc Conrad - University of Luton