Team Composition, Activities, and Peer Apportionment of Credit

As discussed in class, teams will be assigned on as fair a basis as possible for the project. The danger most students perceive in working on projects with other students is in being saddled with (what they think is) a "non-producer". This is particularly true when you do not get to choose your teammates (the situation here). Many factors dictate the use of a multi-person project for this course. You will not, after all, be able to choose your workmates in the future. Therefore, to alleviate your concerns and to grade you appropriately, each week throughout the term project you will be asked to divide 100 points among the members of your project team, corresponding to how you believe they contributed to the project that week. This "peer apportionment of credit" will be used to help determine appropriate individual grades for the project component, and to intervene should team problems arise.

Team Organization

There are several obvious dangers to group work that can be circumvented. Since communication and coordination seem to be one of the greatest hurdles to overcome, it is essential that you know each other's login names for electronic mail. Know each other's phone numbers. Meet at least three times per week (outside of class lecture) at the same, pre-determined time each week and same location (so as to avoid confusion and misunderstandings). Regularly scheduled meetings and locations should be posted on your website

Have a contingency plan for submitting a document on time even if the responsible manager becomes unavailable.

You are strongly advised to consult weekly with the instructor about your progress, problems, questions, etc. In fact, much of the course is structured to faciliate this discussion in class. Use that time as such!

Most problems can be alleviated by simply discussing them with your teammates - don't wait until the last minute to do this - it is best to address issues as soon as the come up before they become a major problem and have a negative impact on your project. If you feel you are having a misunderstanding with a teammate try to address problem tactfully. If you are unable to resolve issues by discussing them between yourselves then let the instructor know as soon as possible.

Meetings

Meetings are an important part of a team project. A successful meeting requires that the meeting have a definite purpose and associated agenda and that all decisions be recorded in minutes. The purpose of minutes is to record decisions made and to be available for updating any team member who misses a meeting. Each deliverable must be accompanied by agendas and minutes for the team meetings held during the associated period of time. I.e., keep the agenda, and the minutes, on-line as part of your project web page. The minutes should outline: agenda for the meeting team members present and reason for any member's absence major decisions discussed task assignments made future meetings scheduled

Minutes should be handed in every week!