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I don’t know about you, but I am the type of person that likes to get things quickly and not spend a lot of time debating or arguing. Case in point, whenever I go shopping I tend to buy things quickly with the goal of getting out of the store as soon as possible. This usually results in my forgetting to purchase a few items or my buying something which is overpriced or doesn’t fit right.

I have realized, the hard way, that whenever I spend a few moments and make a list of things I need to buy my shopping experience is greatly enhanced. When I use a checklist I tend to find what I need faster and almost never have to go back to the grocery store to buy things I had forgotten to earlier. The idea is that writing down what you need to do actually helps you to do it. This concept can be applied to a group project.

The act of writing down something seems to enhance its importance at the same time as helping us remember what to do. Daniel Boorman of Boeing Airplanes has written about the importance of checklists in the operation of commercial Boeing aircraft. According to Boorman, ‘In five years of service …the tool [checklists] has consistently found to prevent errors’[i]. Furthermore, noted surgeon and author Atul Gawande has written an article (which is a must read) that has morphed into a book (called ‘The Checklist Manifesto‘) that really addresses the need for simple checklists in complex places like an intensive care unit. Gawande discusses situations where hospital staffs have been able to treat severely injured people in ICUs, where time and process are extremely important, by using checklists. The checklist in this case is a way of ensuring that all the necessary steps have been followed and that the correct process is being implemented.

To extend the point, Gawande discusses the work of Peter Pronovost who has successfully implemented the use of checklists in hospitals around the world. Pronovost’s work has shown that checklists have reduced the incidence of preventable complications such as infection. By following a simple checklist, doctors and nurses discovered that they were routinely skipping steps in accepted medical practices. The reason wasn’t necessarily because they were poorly trained or lazy, but simply that in the confusion of the moment that they forgot. Furthermore, as was the case at Sinai-Grace hospital in Michigan, the necessary supplies such as certain soaps and gowns weren’t usually available. Hence this was an issue of ensuring that the right steps were documented and could be followed.

From this work I think we can dispel a couple of myths about the use of checklists which are that  they’re only for the chronically forgetful or stupid. As we’ve seen, even doctors, nurses and pilots can skip crucial steps so we can rule out forgetfulness and stupidity. Rather I would suggest that checklists act as both reminders and enforcers. They remind us of the sometimes mundane and they enforce a systematic approach.

Working in group projects also requires a systematic approach in which following certain steps can greatly help your group. At EnterTheGroup.com (a free site for managing group projects) we supply users with a checklist which breaks down a project into 4 phases. The first phase is called ‘Pre-Project’ and asks questions concerning how you will organize your group, if everyone knows the objective of the project and if misunderstandings are being taken care. These are all important steps to think about before you start working on your project. The next phase of the project is called ‘Project Proposal’. This is where your group will start to organize specifically how it wants to tackle the project. It involves making sure you have had an initial meeting, written up a project outline, chosen a project coordinator and so on. The third phase is called ‘Work breakdown’ and it involves making sure that everyone in the group is communicating about their tasks and milestones. The final phase is called ‘Project Wrap-up’ where the project is near completion and everyone should make sure that all the assigned tasks have been completed, the project has been reviewed and a lessons learned document has been filled out.

Following a process when it comes to working on projects is essential and the checklist is one powerful way of ensuring that everything gets done.

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[i] “Safety Benefits of Electronic Checklists: An analysis of Commercial Transport Accidents” by Daniel Boorman, Boeing Airplanes

Popularity: 100% [?]

Here’s an interesting result from a scientific study – self-control (or lack of it) is infectious! In other words, these studies found that when we affiliate ourselves with people who have a lot (or little) self-control it affects our life decisions.

Maybe this isn’t so shocking after all since we know that group think is very powerful and people tend to conform to the average of the groups to which they belong. This type of conformity can be both a psychological and physiological phenomenon. We see it all the way from the joining of cults to the synchronizations of women’s ovulation cycles.

This idea of conformity exists in the working world as well. Anyone who has worked in a large corporation can attest to the fact that peer (or boss) pressure has significant influence. Finally and the main reason why I posted the link below, is that when it comes to students working together on group projects, conformity can take hold. Groups must encourage dialogue and constructive criticism through open communication. Of course you may reach a point where you want conformity. This will likely be after a lot of thinking and discussion has already occurred.

Here is a link to the research study: http://entertheblog.com/wX

Popularity: 25% [?]

Part1 of A Review of Technology and Education

This article is part I of my multi-part investigation into the extent that technology is becoming a part of the educational process. As I am building a website which is designed for students to collaborate and manage their group projects online, I thought it important to investigate the extent that people are turning to the web for learning.

I’ve never taken an online course (they weren’t so popular back in the stone-age days when I was in university) and I was curious just how large the market for distance learning has become. I was somewhat shocked to learn how they have grown into an incredibly important part of the university course load. There are a few other important bits of information that I have learned as well, but first let’s define what distance learning is exactly. Distance learning is any type of educational program where the students and teachers are not in the same physical location. According to Wikipedia, the first university to offer a distance learning program was the University of London in 1858. These days most Universities offer some type of distance learning. The name that typically comes to my mind when I think online education is the University of Phoenix. They have grown into a behemoth and offer many different reputable degrees and programs.

Here are some interesting thoughts that I found in a research piece by the Babson Survey Research Group entitled, ‘Staying the Course: Online Education in the U.S. 2008’ by Allen and Seaman:

• Over 3.9 million U.S. students took online courses in the fall of 2007 (sorry for the outdated stats, but that’s the most recent I could find)
• Over 20% of all U.S. students were taking at least 1 online course in 2007
• The number of online students has grown from 1.6 million in 2002 to 3.9 million in 2007
• A survey across educational organizations shows that building an online presence is an important strategy to them
• Online classes seem to have penetrated equally across most subjects (except for Engineering, no reason was given for that)

According to the a research study done by the U.S. Department of Education called ‘Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning’ (Center for Technology in Learning, 2009):

• ‘Students who took all or part of their class online performed better on average than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction’

While these stats are bit stale I doubt that it’s much of a leap to estimate that the number of students involved in distance learning today is much larger than the 3.9 million in 2007. Keep in mind as well that that number was just in the U.S. If we factor in the rest of the world I’m sure the figure exceeds 20 million students.

From the research I have read it seems that there is a marginal benefit of learning online versus the traditional face to face method. This benefit may increase over time as technology improves and end users (students and teachers) become more tech savvy. The real motivation for online learning appears to be two main factors; 1. Flexibility in learning when and where you want and 2. Capacity, meaning that universities are able to teach a larger number of students with online courses.

While it seems certain that online learning is here to stay (and grow), my question is to what extent are online tools being utilized in these courses? And how effective are they?

Please join me for part 2 of this series where I will explore some answers to these questions.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Have you ever worked on a group project which seemed doomed to failure? I think most of us have been there at least once. At the point where a project gets stalled it’s extremely important to get past whatever obstacle is impeding your project because your morale will suffer and your deadline will soon approach. This article will provide some advice for removing road blocks and getting your project back on track.

To begin with it’s important to identify what types of problems groups typically run into. I would say that most road blocks fall into three broad categories;

1. 1. Arguments over management – These arguments arise from differences in working style, approach to the project or quite simply from different personalities clashing. It can be a serious problem when one (or more) strong headed person(s) want the group to do something because they think its best.

Solutions: This is a problem of communication, each side needs to come to understand and respect each other’s ability, style and ideas. Respect can only emerge when people get to know each other and there is a genuine sense of trust and commitment to the project. A good way to gain respect and trust is for everyone in the group to spend some time getting to know each other on a personal level before starting the project. Set up an informal session where people can grab a coffee together and talk. The group should try to learn how people work, what their schedules are like and more importantly what kind of people they’re going to be dealing with. The group must be upfront about ground rules such as; how much time they will commit to the project, how they will work together, when they will meet and an agreement to compromise.

1. 2. No consensus on project decisions – This problem arises when group members have very different opinions on how the project should be completed. One person thinks it should be a Power Point presentation, while another wants to do a skit and so forth. Furthermore, problems can arise when no one can seem to find ANY good ideas for the project. This can come about when the project is very difficult, the group hasn’t approached the subject properly and/or there is a lack of leadership in the group.

Solutions: In the case where there are strong opinions on which path to take, your group should examine the strengths and weaknesses of each idea and then take a vote. If the democratic method doesn’t make everyone happy then see if you can either combine ideas in some way or make compromises. In the case where no one can think of ideas, or none of the ideas that you came up with seem like winners then you need to get down to basics. First make sure the objective of the project is clear and then do some research on the topic. After that try to get the group together to do some brainstorming. Another useful tool is ‘Mind Mapping’, which is a form of visual notes. In a mind map, the group starts off writing the main subject of the project on a whiteboard and then draws nodes from it which represent related topics. The group continues to draw sub-nodes and further sub-nodes until they have ‘mapped’ all the pertinent ideas surrounding the project subject. The point is to achieve an understanding of the context of your subject and to foster creativity with regard to potential project ideas.

1. 3. A minority of the group is doing the majority of the work – A recurrent scenario in group projects is where you have some members who are very determined to succeed (and very afraid of failure) paired up with members who are willing to ‘go with the flow’. This tends to produce situations where the type ‘A’ personality is allowed to hijack the project because they want to make sure the project is done correctly and on time. While this may seem like a good compromise for both parties it can be a big road block since you may have too few people working on too big a project. Furthermore, the project will end up with the input of a small number of members. The point of a being in a group project is to learn to work with people and how to collaborate.

Solutions: People who obsess with grades tend to be frightened of deadlines. Therefore to persuade them not to take on more work than others they need to be assured that their colleagues are committed to the project and are capable workers. It also helps if everyone agrees to break down the project into tasks and distributes the work evenly. If the problem persists then you need to bring it up at the next group meeting. Remind the group that EVERYONE has a stake in this project therefore everyone has to be involved.

Sometimes when we encounter the roadblocks I’ve described above it may seem that there is no way around them. Our problems are usually never as bad as we envision them at the time so we need to take a step back, remove ourselves from the situation and think about some of the solutions outlined above and things will undoubtedly improve.

Popularity: 16% [?]