Anna+Reflection+draft

Here's my draft. It was harder than I thought putting in to words, thoughts that I had had along the way. This is rough - I think my paragraphing needs work and the first half may be too conversational and not critical enough. Ta

REFLECTION In reflecting on the Virtual team project, there are two major critical incidents that were the most influential on my experience. The first is how critical the personalities, skills and knowledge of the team members are to the success of the project. Communication between team members and individual commitment to the success of the project’s outcome are very important. Reliable technology is the second critical incident that I will reflect upon. By its nature, a virtual team’s main tools are computers and a reliable internet connection. Disruptions with either of these results in stilted communication and can affect the overall outcome of the project.

The members of Team D, of which I was a part for this virtual team project are all committed, skilled and knowlegable students. From our very first Elluminate session, we all got on very well and decisions about the topic and tools we used were easy. I found that each of us had particular strengths and, as a group, we harnessed our own and each other’s skills and knowledge to create our web page. From my point of view, I am very good at beginning assignments and I start brainstorming immediately, so I posted some ideas on to our group discussion board within the first couple of days of receiving the assignment. This was valuable as, when are group met on Elluminate, we had a focus from which to start the discussion about our topic. Another member, Greg, came to the first meeting with an idea for an online tool to use, diipo, and this got the ball rolling on possibilities for tools for our web page. Because of this, Jennifer, who was using a particular tool called Protopage for her Year 6 class, recommended that we all check this site for its suitability. This was great as we could see how she had used this tool in her teaching which made evaluating its usefulness much easier. From the first week, it was already evident that Greg and Jennifer were going to lead the way with the technology side of the project.

While some technical hiccups are inevitable during virtual team work, I think that it is important that they are rectified as quickly as possible and that the team find alternative ways of communicating. If face to face contact is impossible, phone contact would be the next best option. It might also be necessary to adjust the day and time for Elluminate meetings so that the person who is having technical troubles at home can participate on their work computer. These are ideas that I would keep in mind for future virtual team projects. It’s important to remember that each person’s situation is different and virtual team work requires flexibility in communication.

Though I have concentrated on the limitations of virtual team work due to possible technological issues, I am aware of the positive aspects of this type of team work. The convenience of meeting online, storing work in a shared space and being able to create a product together has limitless potential. My experience of working with four other conscientious and skilled students on our virtual team project was very positive. Though I had minor technical problems, our use of the internet tools was, on the whole, problem free. In future virtual team work, I will be more aware of promoting regular communication between team members, even when working on individual sections. Though I was extremely lucky to be teamed with people who all got on well with each other, I am aware that this is not always the case and that, in the future, more effort may need to go in to establishing positive relationships with team members.