Partially Distributed Team (PDT) Project Overview

1. Partially Distributed Team (PDT) Project Overview Fall 2009 Prepared by Rosalie Ocker, project lead College of Information Sciences & Technology Pennsylvania State University

2. 14 PDT Participants U. of Wisconsin USA NU Ireland, Ireland Universität Zürich, Switzerland U. of Applied Sciences Germany La Salle BES Spain St. Louis U. MO,USA UC3M Spain Tecnológico de Monterrey Mexico Georgia C&SU GA,USA Jacksonville State U. AL,USA • Washington • WA,USA NU of Singapore, Singapore Kaunas U. of Technology Lithuania Penn State U. PA,USA

4. Partially Distributed Team (PDT) • consists of two or more subteams that are separated geographically • members of a given subteam are co-located, they must collaborate with members of other subteams which are distant • PDTs are increasingly a “normal” mode of operation in the field of information system development

5. Team Configuration • Partially distributed team (PDT) Subteam University X Subteam University Y distance ~ 5 co-located members ~ 5 co-located members

6. Key challenges faced by PDTs • Establishing trust • Maintaining awareness • Creating a shared team identity • Coordinating work across time zones • Different cultural norms • Language barriers

7. Project Goals • Expose students to PDTs • Positive learning experience • 2 Aspects of PDT project work • Teaming across distances • Upstream development • Determine high-level functional requirements for an emergency management information system • Create screen mock-ups

8. Research Goals • Develop a set of learning materials to • help teachers to educate students on effective PDT behaviors • help students to learn and practice these behaviors • Continue our investigation of how distance impacts the effectiveness of PDTs

9. Data Collection Students complete: • Prior to start of PDT project: • Consent form (USA participants) • Background survey • Weekly personal reflections (5) • Reflect on experiences of week just completed • End of project • Post Survey Faculty provide feedback at end of project

10. PDT Project includes: • Project preparation – week before project begins • PDT Project -- 5 weeks • 3 teaming units in weeks 1,2,3 • 4 analysis & design units in weeks 2,3,4,5 • Weekly • activities • deliverables • data collection

11. Get off to good start From “Us vs. Them” to We Establish positive team trajectory Complete Stakeholder Analysis Successful completion of project proposal GOAL Self-introduction 3 scenarios on PDT challenges Interview distant team members Team Assessment TEAMING Team Contract Team Web Page Corrective Action Plan SHA I Identify Stakeholders SHA II Identify Information Outputs SHA III Identify Data Inputs Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 BTMAPS Project Describe Stakeholders (10) Design Output Screens Design Input Screens Proposal -- Funct’l Reqs. & User Interface Design Data Collection Background Survey & Pers Reflection 1 Personal Reflection 2 Personal Reflection 3 Personal Reflection 4 Post Survey Pers. Reflection 5

12. Project Preparation Week before project begins: • Students log into PDT “class” on Moodle http://pdt2.ist.psu.edu • Check logins and change passwords we will send you an excel file with student logins & pw • Complete Background Survey (all students) • Complete Consent Form (U.S. students) • Review the PDT system tutorial (all students)

13. Week 1, Teaming: Getting off to a good start Key to good start: • Participation from distant subteam • Familiar with layout and mechanics of PDT system on Moodle • Class time for project • Start right away • Deadline approaches quickly

14. Week 1: Getting off to a good start Activities to complete for Week 1: Each student: • introduce him/herself in team forum on PDT system (Moodle) Each subteam: • complete three scenarios • draft a contract using contract template • exchange contract draft with distant subteam • collaborate with distant subteam to prepare a single, overall team contract Each team: • Choose one leader per subteam, instructions provided • Complete team contract template Deliverables due at end of Week 1 (Sunday midnight; GMT-4): • Each team submit one contract to dropbox on Moodle • Each student complete Personal Reflection one • Each student complete Background survey (if not already completed)

15. Week 2, Teaming: Getting from “us vs. them” to “we” Address Key challenges: • Coordination problems due to • different time zones • different class meeting times • Teams benefit from an established weekly rhythm of collaboration • Regularly schedule online meetings • Timely exchange of documents & feedback

16. Week 2, BTMAPS: SHA I BTMAPS Task: • Responding to Request for Proposal (RFP) for Bioterrorism Management and Planning System (BTMAPS) • Location is Buenos Aires • Determine high-level functional requirements • those functions of the software that end-users would utilize (e.g. deployment of emergency services). • written for a non-technical audience; • they are not detailed specifications, but rather descriptions of the software’s functionality. • Design User Interface • Screen mock-ups cover the top two or three levels of the interface. • can be as simple as screen shots using Powerpoint or basic web pages

17. Week 2 Stakeholder Analysis Part I • Identify stakeholders 10 groups (or types of individuals) that are affected by the event. • Describe the interest of each stakeholder • Template provided

18. Week 2 Activities to complete Each Student: • Member one-on-one interviews • Write-up answers to interview questions Each Subteam: • Prepare SHA I template • Share results with distant subteam • Review results of distant subteam Each Team: • Create team web-page with links to member interviews (questions & answers) • Complete SHA I Deliverables due at end of Week 2 (Sunday midnight; GMT-4): • Each team submit Team Web Page URL to dropbox • Each subteam submit SHA I to dropbox • Each team submit SHA I to dropbox • Each student complete Personal Reflection Two • NOTE: Week 2 has the greatest number of activities & deliverables

19. Week 3, Teaming: establish positive team trajectory • Typically, teams are either having positive experience or negative experience by this time • Want to help all teams get to positive

20. Week 3 Activities to complete Each Subteam: • Complete 3 Bin Team Assessment • Share 3 Bin Team Assessment with distant subteam • Review 3 Bin Assessment provided by the distant subteam Each Team: • Devise an Action Plan to address problem areas • Complete SHA II – Design output screens Deliverables due at end of Week 3 (Sunday midnight; GMT-4): • Each subteam submit 3 Bin Team Assessment to dropbox • Each team submit Action Plan to dropbox • Each team submit Output Screens to dropbox • Each student complete Personal Reflection Three

21. Week 4 Complete SHA • No more teaming activities • SHA Part III • Design Input screens

22. Week 4 Activities to complete Each Team: • Complete SHA III – Design input screens Deliverables due at end of Week 4 (Sunday midnight; GMT-4): • Each team submit Input Screens to dropbox • Each student complete Personal Reflection Four

23. Week 5: Successful completion of proposal • No more teaming activities • Complete project proposal – response to RFP • Template provided which includes • Several sections to be completed • Integrate SHA (already completed; revise/update as necessary)

24. Week 5 Project completion Deliverables due at end of Week 5 (Sunday midnight; GMT-4): Each Student: • Post Survey • Personal Reflection 5 Each Team: • Project Proposal • Include refined/updated SHA • Include refined/updated input & output screens Debriefing • At the end of the project, a link to the Project Debriefing page will be made available. It will appear in the Week 5 block . Students are encouraged to go to the debriefing page to find out about the research aspects of the PDT project.

25. Grading • PSU graders will • grade all deliverables using the rubric posted on PDT • track completion of all research instruments for extra credit • We will provide this information to you in a spreadsheet within 2 weeks after the project ends • Of course, as instructors, you assign grades to your students

26. Alternative Extra Credit Assignment • For students who do not want to participate in the research portion but still want to earn extra credit • Reading and assignment uploaded in faculty resources

27. 6 Teaching Notes • one for pre-project and kick-off activities and one for each week of the project. Each teaching note contains: • a description of the weekly goal • an overview of the associated teaming and BTMAPS activities & deliverables • instructor activities to be completed during the week • student activities to be completed during the week • deliverables due at the end of the week

28. Questions/Concerns???