To Team or Not to Team

Team work is a critical component of online teaching. While I believe all teachers form and re-form teams all the time to meet the demands of their online classroom jobs, just how skilled are they really at developing teams complete with purpose, agendas, and assigned roles - and, do they even see the need for any degree of formality as long as the job gets done by someone? Do they regularly get caught with work undone or less-than-satisfying results? Are the same people taking the lead and does that work in some circumstances and not others? If there are other would-be leaders who wish they could lead but are frustrated in their attempts to be heard or followed, is that lessening the effectiveness of the overall team? I have routinely believed in self-organization so a group can function comfortably. Perhaps, however, it has not been all that comfortable.

I left one online graduate degree program because of the failure of the group system. Six people were
put together by the instructor and all but two were in vastly different time zones. That wouldn't have been a stopper had some of the people who were the farthest away done their part. But two didn't and the instructor had made it very clear that what one person attained as a grade would be what everyone received. At first I thought it was an exploratory exercise meant to show us the frustrations of ill-formed teams. Perhaps the instructor had notified one or more member in each group to play a certain part so we would experience the best and the worst. However, nothing that teachable occurred. I simply was a part of a dysfunctional group and it was beyond a frustration. I stepped in with one other team member three hours before the ten page report was due and pulled it out of the hopper, but it soured me on the culture of random teaming for success. Overall, it was not a pleasant experience and the learning was lost - all I knew was that I didn't like the failed team structure.

I do believe team work is necessary and critical, but for some, it is not a natural skill. Since education, business, healthcare, marketing are all expected to be working in teams, often put together by demographics in many cases as opposed to strengths and weaknesses, it is overdue to help people work well within that skill set. Leaders need to meet those needs so all are as successful as possible, not just for student and school growth, but for professional growth as well.