The presentations by Dr. Haycock and Enid Irwin were both very insightful.
I really enjoyed learning about the different types of teams, such as temporary, permanent, horizontal, and vertical, from Dr. Haycock. These definitions allowed me to think further about where I want to work and what kind of team I want to be part of. I also had not realized that so many people working in teams shared common fears such as lack of trust, conflict, lack of commitment, and inattention to results. Now that I am aware of these fears, I can work to overcome them myself as well as help others to do the same.
Like many people, I do not prefer working in a team. But Professor Irwin helped me understand the benefits of teams and their characteristics as they relate to real world team environments within jobs and other professional settings outside the classroom.
Two of my classes require a team project. As selected Team Leader in one class, I am now more informed and prepared about how to proceed with my teammates to complete the assignment. My team and I have already had our first meeting (using Google Docs), but I am already planning activities for the next meeting. Taking both instructors’ advice, I plan to discover each team member’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, some of my strengths are organization and time management. I enjoy using calendars to map out assignments and due dates to see how much time is available to accomplish a task. I also enjoy creating separate folders for each class. For instance, I have folders for each of my classes this semester: 200, 202, 203, and 204. Furthermore, these classes are in a single folder titled ‘Fall 2011’ which lies in an even larger folder called ‘SJSU’.
After listening to Dr. Haycock’s and Professor Enid Irwin’s presentations, and reading the Tips for Success and Tools for online teamwork, I feel that I have sufficient qualities to not only participate in a team, but to be an effective team leader as well.
