Session 4: Growing and Managing Teams

Key Links

Recap

It was great to see everyone in @may24a-cohort! I hope that you enjoyed our session which emphasized the importance of collaboration and teamwork in the Textbook Success Program (TSP). As we see it, collaboration is an Indigenous way of being that allows us to step out of the dominant mindset of individual, single hero-modes of working. When we share and when we work as a collective, we can have more impact and do more good in the education sphere. The learning objectives and activities in this session prompted you to think about your role and contributions to the OER project and about how to effectively work in your teams through the rest of the TSP.

Collaboration works best when we adopt the following three principles:

  • work together as equals;
  • develop shared meaning about what we are doing;
  • show consideration for each other.

Many of our TSP graduates noted that the commitment of their team members to the OER creation process and the identity as a group have deepened over time, especially when rooted in a “shared power.”

We acknowledge that collaboration takes time. But who says it’s less efficient in the long run? Of course, in the short-term, meetings take time. We think shared ideas, feelings of being respected and being on the same wavelength, are a good investment for the future. It will enable everybody’s growth and connection on multiple levels, including institutional capacity and greater contributions to society. We, your cohort, and your teams learn from those collaborations, and all of us learn to collaborate better in the process.

The following activities were part of our fourth session (find session materials linked above):

  1. Individually reflect on your role and contributions in your team [slide 8]
  2. Indicate to cohort whether you can commit to the TSP team approach [slide 10],
  3. Discuss with your team the roles and responsibilities in your team using the Roles and Responsibilities.

Instructions for next week’s 1:1 meetings.

Next week, your teams will meet with me 1:1 for 15 min each. This will give us the opportunity to talk about your projects in more detail, and for me as your facilitator to more clearly understand what you are working towards. I will spend some time reviewing your submitted materials in the forum, to guide your team in the next steps.

Please use the regular meeting link at these times:
11-11:15 a.m. Foundational Skills
11:15-11:30 a.m. Flood Mitigation
11:30-11:45 a.m. Pharmacology
11:45 - 12 p.m. Nutrition
12-12:15 p.m. Anatomy and Physiology II
12:15-12:30 p.m. CDL

To prepare for your 1:1 with me, please ensure that:

  • Everybody in your team understands who is holding what responsibility,
  • Your team has set up a transparent organization and documentation system,
  • A draft of project summary exists and has been shared on the Project Forum pages,
  • Your team has set up a regular meeting schedule,
  • Your team started to identify and review OER for your project,
  • Your team identified and addressed challenges within teams that have come up so far.

Homework Activity

Please respond below with the roles and responsibilities that you are responsible for based on completing the Roles and Responsibilities Template. These roles and tasks may shift over time, but it’s critical you begin your project work with clear expectations on who joins your team and what contributions they bring as humans and professionals.

Let me know if you have any questions! See you next week.

My roles and responsibilities include: author, reviewer, and copyeditor.

My roles and responsibilities include author, researcher, reviewer, and copyeditor. We each bring unique skills to the team, so we each took multiple roles because we recognized that we wanted a diverse perspective.

My roles include author and instructional designer (focusing on drafting learning objectives).

Hi, everyone! I apologize that I will miss this week’s session as I am in South Carolina attending an evidence-based practice workshop. I am the project manager for our team. I am in the process of scheduling our team meeting…we have a doodle poll to confirm a date and time that will work for everyone.

My roles and responsibilities include Author, Instructional Designer, Researcher, and Reviewer. Sharing some of these roles and responsibilities with other members of the team allows for greater collaboration and diversity. The Instructional Design piece will include developing assessments and ancillary materials for each module. Author, Researcher, and Reviewer will include writing, researching, reviewing, and editing modules, as assigned and needed.

Tech lead, reviewer, copy editor; maybe author or instructional design. Our team needs to discuss when we meet.

My roles in the A&P II OER will include author, instructional designer, reviewer, and copyeditor.

I’ll be working as an author, reviewer, and copy editor for the A & P II cohort,

My roles are tech co-lead, researcher, reviewer, and author. I am excited by and committed to the TSP team approach.

I will be primarily working as an author but our team agreed to help each other in all needs as we go through this journey together.

My role is Project Manager, reviewer, and copyeditor

Based on completing the Roles and Responsibilities Template with my team (Nutrition cohort), I am assigned the role of an author. As a subject matter expert and author, I am also tasked with researching and reviewing content for accuracy and relevance. I will also assist in the success of the other roles as needed.

My role for this project is project manager. The CDL team is still in flux at this time, so we haven’t completely worked out the roles and responsibilities for everyone yet.

I am the project manager for the Nutrition cohort. My other roles include copy editor and instructional designer.

The roles and responsibilities that I have been assigned to and am responsible for based on completing the Roles and Responsibilities Template in my Anatomy and Physiology II group is as an Author. This role will require that I help to write and adapt the textbook chapters, lab book chapters, and course module introductions.

Another role that I am a part of is the role of Instructional Designer, where I will help to develop a draft of the learning objectives as well as to develop a draft of the syllabus. I will also help to develop course assignments and assessments.

Lastly, I will take on the role of Technology Lead, where I will I will use and apply Pressbooks formatting as well as help to develop interactive elements (H5P).

I look forward to learning from the above endeavors and contributions to this extraordinary effort!

Joy Davis

My roles and responsibilities include author, reviewer, and copyeditor.

My roles will include: Author, Instructional Designer, and Reviewer.

My roles and responsibilities (Flood Mitigation Cohort) include author, reviewer, and researcher.