Initial Publication Date: August 9, 2022

Better Together: Teamwork and Collaboration

This exercise asks students to reflect on how teams can function effectively as well as how they can get collaborations back on track when they run into trouble. The aim is to prompt students to think about how to have a good research team experience. This exercise can be used anytime.

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Background

The goal of this exercise is to help you learn how to learn about your own learning and how to make adjustments to learn more effectively. This process, called 'metacognition,' has been shown to improve student success in all sorts of ways, including boosts in reading comprehension, exam performance, and problem-solving. This exercise gives you an opportunity to learn about your own learning and apply those lessons to your research project.

Purpose of the exercise

This exercise asks you to reflect on how teams can function effectively as well as how you can get collaborations back on track when they run into trouble. The aim is to prompt you to think about how to have a good research team experience.

Instructions

Think about your research project related to this course.  Answer the following questions. Your answers do not need to be overly long, but you should try to provide enough detail so that you explain your responses.

 

  1. In your view, what does effective teamwork look like? What are the signs that things are going well?
  2. What are three ways you might distribute tasks between team members? Which do you consider the best?
  3. When conflicts arise between team members, what's the best way to resolve them?
  4. What's the best part of being on a team?
  5. What do you how to get out of the research team experience?