Assignment: Team Project: Discussion Board Facilitation
80 points

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Due: Various Dates

For this assignment students will work in small teams to develop a set of questions for one of the discussion boards. The teams will be responsible for facilitating the discussion board for that week, writing a reflection on the process and/or discussion, and evaluating student and team member participation.

Minimum Requirements

1. Request a team. Using the Team Request Form, submit your request no later than June 27. Teams will be assigned based on each student’s answers on the request form. Once you have received your team information, contact your team members immediately in order to create the Team Contract.
2. Team Contract: Each team is responsible for creating a Team Contract. Once you have read through the complete instructions, develop a contract that addresses team member conduct, responsibility, and/or roles. A good contract will include, but isn't’t limited to the following:
• How will you communicate? Each team will have its own discussion board, chat room, and file sharing area. Click on Teams in the navigation menu to access. You can also easily email your team members from the Team areas.
• How often will you be expected to check for updates from your team members?
• Will there be a permanent team leader or will this task be rotated in some way?
• Who will be assigned to turn in the required paperwork?
• What will be your team’s policy on, if any, absences and covering for one another if need be?
• What policy will you have in place to resolve any intra group conflict that may arise? You may use me—your instructor—as a higher court of appeals (I will always be happy to moderate and intervene, but you will first be expected to document for me that you implemented your initial conflict resolution plans per your contract).
3. Develop questions. Develop a set of questions based on the assigned readings—questions are due on Tuesday of the week your team is facilitating the discussion. Questions should encourage critical thinking and/or reflection from your fellow students. Your questions must be approved by the instructor prior to the discussion taking place. If your team posts questions to the week’s discussion board without approval, I will delete the questions. If questions are not approved and posted in time for the week’s discussion, each team member receives a zero for the assignment.
4. Facilitate the discussion board. Each team is responsible for facilitating the discussion. Teams in the past have found it easiest to have one question for each team member to facilitate. Facilitation requires posting responses to students’ comments that encourage clarification and further or prompt the discussion. Each team is responsible for moderating conduct on the board as well; teams have the ability to remove offensive posts; however, you must contact me and let me know why you believe it is offensive. I will then contact that student.
5. Evaluate student participation. Each team is responsible for evaluating the rest of the class’ comments and responses. An evaluation form has been provided (see below). It is easiest if each team member fills out an evaluation form for the question they are facilitating. Each form is then sent to ONE team member who will compile the data into a single evaluation form. This single evaluation form will be uploaded to Blackboard by that one individual.
6. Write a reflection. Your reflection should be a minimum of 300 words. It can be on the team synergy and/or the discussion itself. When finished, upload your reflection to Blackboard.
7. Evaluate your team member’s participation. Each team member must fill out an evaluation of their team members. Part of the team evaluation is a self-evaluation. Failure to turn in a team member evaluation results in a loss of the Interact outcome points. This evaluation form will be uploaded to Blackboard. THE BULK OF YOUR GRADE WILL BE DETERMINED BY YOUR TEAM MEMBERS.
8. The student evaluation, reflection, and team evaluation is due on the Thursday following the discussion.

 Assessment

Learn Actively: 10 points

• demonstrated a willingness to be open to new and differing attitudes and behaviors: student was able to negotiate the intricacies of working with a team in a virtual environment
• completed all aspects of the assignment

Communicate with Clarity and Originality: 10 points

• have worked on developing effective means to communicate in various forums: through team member evaluations, student demonstrates ability to communicate effectively and timely in a group situation; student facilitation comments are comprehensible and add substantially to the content and/or effectively facilitate the conversation
• have practiced cross-cultural communication skills: team member evaluations indicate responsible communication with team members; facilitated discussion by responding to peers

Think Critically, Creatively, and Reflectively:  10 points

• have reflected on personal attitudes and behaviors and their consequences: in the reflection, student demonstrates an awareness of synergy and their contribution to its effectiveness
• developed thoughtful, thought-provoking questions

Interact in Diverse and Complex Environments: 50 points

• practiced cooperative and verbal skills through online classroom discussion, reflections, and projects: student effectively communicated with team members
• shared ideas, experiences, and reflections with classmates with openness and respect: student demonstrated respect by participating fully in project and meeting team-set deadlines. Student responded to team members’ communication promptly, thoughtfully, and respectfully.
• used empathy and thoughtful analysis to improve communication skills with others: student able to navigate the complexities of group work, e.g., ability to negotiate question development without rancor, ability to develop questions based on reading material, ability to develop thoughtful, probing questions.

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