(Experience) Teaming: Reflection Paper Guidelines – CS 158

Part of a successful teaming experience is the ability to critically reflect on that experience and articulate it well to others. It would appear that in order to adequately reflect on your teaming experience a 1400—1600 word paper is reasonable. College-level writing that has been spell-checked and proof read is expected. This paper is to be uploaded to Blackboard Learn in PDF format ONLY by 11:00pm Monday April 28, 2014.

Preparation

1. Plan in advance for this paper by keeping a journal.2. Spend some time organizing your thoughts and experiences: review specific examples from your lab.3. Try to sum up your experience in a sentence or two. Is there a word, phrase, or theme that captures it?

Analysis

In your paper reflect on ALL of the following related to your experience and interactions on the three teams this semester in CS 158. Specific examples from your teaming experience may address more than one of the points below. Include comparisons/contrasts between your team experiences. Please do not list the names of any other students in your paper.

Division of Work – Roles of the Team

How were the defined roles (driver, manager, and navigator) interpreted differently by the three teams on which youserved? Do you feel you had adequate experience in each role on every team?

Who did which tasks on your teams? Did everyone contribute equally? How was this determined? Considering each of the three team roles you assumed, discuss which one(s) played to your strengths and which

one(s) caused you difficulty? How would you revise each of the roles used this semester to evolve as new topics are presented in the course? How

does each role change in terms of expectations and responsibilities as the semester progresses?

Group Dynamic and Conflict Resolution

How did you discuss with the more assertive members of a team to convince them to be more willing to incorporate the ideas of their partners? What would you do differently if you had another opportunity to repeat the experience?

How did you deal with members who were just not interested in contributing or did not share your high standards of academic achievement? How did you determine that this is indeed the case and it is not a matter of personality (shy,feelings of inadequacy of programming ability)? What would you do differently if you had another opportunity to repeat the experience?

In your teaming experience, did you gain any insights into how cultural or gender differences have an impact on teamwork? If so, please describe, use details while avoiding unfair generalizations.

What trait or traits did team members bring to your team that influenced its functioning negatively? Give examples of the negative traits and impact on the team. How did the group respond to these negative influences? How would you respond differently in the future?

Assignment to New Teams

What challenges were associated with the assignment to a new team? What did you feel had to be resolved between the members of the group before you could become productive as a team? What techniques did you employ with new group members to bring them together to solve the task at hand? What did you determine to be the most important information to share with each new group to determine how

to proceed solving a problem? Did you, or anyone else, when meeting for the first time discuss what they liked/didn't like about their previous

team?

Goals of Individual Team Members

How is collaboration for the purpose of learning a different experience than collaborating for the purpose of task completion (for example, working as a group to solve a problem in a business or research lab)? Identify how each of your groups collaborated, whether more for learning or task completion, and provide examples as evidence to support your claim.

Did your team struggle with personal agendas? Were you able to work toward a common purpose? How? How did your goals in the class differ from that of your partners? How did your groups function outside of the official lab time? What would you have changed in regards to your

outside of the official lab time experiences? Did the group ever meet outside of class for a purpose other than completing a programming assignment?

Were there any members just interested in task completion rather than collaborating to understand or to help others understand course and assignment content?

What do you believe is important to completing the lab assignment during lab time? How might your teaming experience affect your future? Consider future academic and career endeavors.

Paper Requirements

Written to address all content guidelines above. Length target of 3 double-spaced pages (1400 – 1600 words). Arial font, size 11, with one inch margins on all sides. Upload the final document to Blackboard Learn in a PDF format.

Evaluation Criteria

Deductions Inadequate (-5 points)

Below minimumexpectations (-2 points)

Meets expectations (no deduction)

Use of correct font and document layout.

Wrong font or size, margin, orline-spacing used.

Minor concerns related to layout and formatting.

Correct font and size, margins, and line-spacing used.

Grammatical issues. Paper not up to college-level expectations.

Minor grammatical concerns.

Correct grammar, spell-checking and proof-reading.

File Format Not in PDF format. In PDF format.

Length Target Insufficient or excessive length.

At or near length target.

Points Earned Inadequate (0 points)

Meets minimumexpectations (1 point)

Meets expectations (2 points)

Discussion of roles Not referenced or done so minimally.

Lacks elaboration of roles on teams.

Provides examples of roles oneach team served.

Division of work Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples or reflection on distribution of work.

Examples and reflection on distribution provided.

Role Preference Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples or reflection on distribution of work.

Examples and reflection on distribution provided.

Role Revision Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples or reflection on distribution of work.

Examples and reflection on distribution provided.

Assertiveness and Participation of Individual Group Members

Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples or reflection provided.

Both examples given and reflection provided related to the role of assertiveness on a team.

Evaluation Criteria (continued)

Cultural/Gender Issues Not referenced or done so minimally.

Topic referenced but dismissed without reflection.

Reflection made on differences and accommodations made.

Negative Traits and Response Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples given or no responses provided.

Examples and responses provided.

New Teams Not referenced or done so minimally.

No specifics given that demonstrate how a new group comes together.

Examples including actions provided to bring a new group together.

Collaboration Goals (Learning vs. Task Completion)

Not referenced or done so minimally.

No examples given or no reflection provided.

Provides both examples of agendas and reflects of responses of group.

Working Outside of Class Not referenced or done so minimally.

Topic referenced but dismissed without reflection.

Examples including reflection on future behavior.

Future Applications Not referenced or done so minimally.

Topic referenced but dismissed without reflection.

Examples provided related to the differences between learning and task completion.