October 2, 2020
List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned.
- A) Teaming Approach: All of us had individual roles and areas of expertise B) How it has changed: We still have areas of expertise, but now we work more fluidly in the sense that we work outside of these roles as well C) Skills Developed: Allowed us to learn multiple skills outside of our comfort zone D) Lessons Learned: How to be flexible and adaptable
- A) Teaming Approach: We met once a week with our faculty advisor B) How it has changed: We still meet with our faculty advisor but now we also often meet just as a team throughout the week C) Skills Developed: We learned how to be more independent in regards to managing our work on our own D) Lessons Learned: How to be responsible and take more initiative
- A) Teaming Approach: We all met in person B) How it has changed: We are now meeting remotely only C) Skills Developed: I learned how to use zoom very quickly as a result D) Lessons Learned: We must be able to adapt to new circumstances and continue to work on our venture
- A) Teaming Approach: We were not communicating as frequently as we should have B) How it has changed: We have a group chat and often CC each other on emails C) Skills Developed: We developed our communication skills D) Lessons Learned: Communication is key
- A) Teaming Approach: Our faculty advisor led our team meetings B) How it has changed: Students now mainly lead the meetings C) Skills Developed: Flexibility and independence D) Lessons Learned: We work a lot better if we are primarily involved
- A) Teaming Approach: I was hesitant to involve myself in qualitative research B) How it has changed: My teammates helped teach me how to code and understand qualitative research C) Skills Developed: Professional skills D) Lessons Learned: It is important to learn new skills
- A) Teaming Approach: I was hesitant to ask my faculty advisor for help B) How it has changed: I have become more comfortable emailing her to ask questions C) Skills Developed: Personal skills D) Lessons Learned: It is better to ask for help than to not know what to do
- A) Teaming Approach: I was more focused on learning about the culture of Sierra Leone B) How it has changed: At this point in our venture, what will benefit our venture the most is continuing to conduct research, publish papers, and develop our screener. It was important for me to be able to help my team reach these goals C) Skills Developed: Versatility and flexibility D) Lessons Learned: It is important to be able to focus on the right goals
- A) Teaming Approach: We had contact with our partners on the ground in Sierra Leone B) How it has changed: COVID and remote working has made it hard to keep in touch C) Skills Developed: Adaptability and consideration D) Lessons Learned: The pandemic has made us realize how we must be ready to tackle new challenges
- A) Teaming Approach: We were mostly focused on our screener B) How it has changed: We realized that our venture needs work in other areas such as building connections and funding C) Skills Developed: Critical thinking D) Lessons Learned: Our venture does not end after we develop our screener, we must work to build relationships and receive funding in order to have a real impact.
Updated Collaboration Plan
What are my personal goals (small g) on this team? Pull those goals from the dreams on your individual profiles. Capture them by person in your collaborative plan. e.g., get an A, learn laser cutting, start something I can continue after the semester
My updated goals mainly revolve around being able to take the skills I have acquired over the course of this year, and develop them in order to better further our venture. For example, recently my team has been really focused on publishing papers in order to bring credibility to our venture. A personal goal I have is to continue working on coding and contributing to the development of these papers.
What is the Project GOAL (big G) we’re all committed to achieve together?
The project GOAL for our team is to develop a culturally appropriate, highly effective Autism diagnostic screener. Throughout this process we must also be committed to finding a way to disseminate the screener, bring awareness and education on the nature of Autism, as well as providing training for community health workers throughout Sierra Leone.
Establish Roles – How will you leverage the assets each member brings to the team? How will you leverage the experiences each member brings to the team? How will you ensure that the team’s work gets done on time and with high quality?
- Qualitative Expert (Emily): Responsible for the study design & approach. For example, which approach (e.g., case study, ethnography, etc), what types of data should we collect, develop protocol, how to synthesize and write up the data, develop focus group and interview questions/format. Experience in working on psychological/sociological research–both quantitative and qualitative. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
- IRB Expert (Alyssa): Responsible for anything & everything related to the IRB. She is the point of contact with the University, she will write, submit, revise, and resubmit IRB, develop consents (verbal only), and work with the qualitative expert to create data collection forms, etc. Experience in working on psychological/sociological research–both quantitative and qualitative. Alyssa also leads the meta-synthesis that our team is collaboratively working on.
- Assessment Expert (Kathleen): Responsible for main analyses on current Western assessments and screeners and will work with SPED & cultural experts to decide what questions/tasks our assessment should have, learn how to validate the assessment.Knowledge of available western screeners and experience using, scoring, and reporting these tools. Previous experience developing and validating a new measure. Psychometric expertise. Kathleen is also responsible for the psychometrics paper that our team has been working on. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
- SPED/ASD/Education/Healthcare Expert (Lindsey): Responsible for understandinding these facets in order to inform the team on how best to approach our goal. Will seek to answer questions like: how did we get from where we started in the US in terms of level of knowledge, awareness, and services, to where we are now? What can we do in SL to make progress in this area? What is the education structure of SL? What trainings do teachers need to be qualified to teach? What is the healthcare system like? Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
- Cultural Expert (Grace): Responsible for thoroughly understanding the culture of Sierra Leone: its history, language, values, beliefs, geography, different districts, etc., the strengths and challenges of the people and country, and will report on current events weekly which are impacting and shaping the country. Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.
- Ted: Collaborating on the meta-synthesis.Providing collaborative help with Kathleen on the psychometric paper.
By assigning roles in this format, we can ensure that every facet of our broad and ambitious project goal is covered in depth so that we can gather data as comprehensively as possible–to form a firm foundation for our screener and education dissemination.
Establish Team Procedures Decision Making – What process shall we use: consensus, majority rules, deference to expert, default to the loudest, or? Effective Meetings – Focus on key, timely decisions together vs. status/update (offline); meeting roles: scribe, facilitator, time keeper Communication – FTF: frequency, time, location; type of technology: (Google docs, Hangout, etc.); expectations for responsiveness; ‘best time to work’ (AM, PM, weekends?)
- So far, we have not had an issue with disagreements and finding a consensus on important decisions. Thus, we will continue with our usual approach where someone proposes a question or suggestion on a problem and all are given a chance to input their own thoughts, stance, and comments so that we may discuss the most viable decision based on all the cards put forth on the table. If there is still a strong disagreement, we may consult our various experts (both team members and professional contacts) depending on the area of which the disagreement stands. We are currently meeting weekly with our teams on ZOOM to discuss the outcomes of screening abstracts for a publication. This is another example of how we work well together to resolve conflicts. If two team members disagree on an abstract or article, a professional discussion where we explain our reasoning is held. We have collaborative conversations and come to a final consensus.
- Each week we set a goal as a team. We have individual responsibilities of managing our time wisely to ensure these goals are attained by our next team meeting. We follow a pretty explicit format set forth by team leaders on how to mark items as done, your status on screening through a color coded system and open communication throughout the process. We always have a due date to have work completed by 5PM the day before our weekly team meetings so that team leaders have time to review the work to give meaningful feedback at the meeting.
| Prior Plan
If fieldwork were canceled, how would we advance the dream forward? |
New Plan
What we have accomplished and our focus |
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