RH 2. Teamwork requires cooperative effort toward a common goal wherein each individual contributes in a particular role while subordinating personal interests.

Criterion A1. Describe how collaboration facilitated the dissemination of the result(s) and/or solution(s) to a problem.

Primary Traits: A passing submission for this criterion must:

1. Provide a clear description of the problem statement.

2. Discuss each member's contribution to the solution.

3. Provide a clear solution/conclusion statement.

Potential documents: Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to): Essay from the student group, one paragraph essay that includes the three primary traits listed for the criterion.

Additional information:

1. A description that indicates that one member did the majority of the work is unacceptable.

Criterion B1. Demonstrate how you reached a decision as a team.

Primary Traits: A passing submission for this criterion must:

1. Describe the team goal.

2. Provide a description of a specific team decision listing (a) the alternatives considered with (b) attribution to the members suggesting them.

3. Justify (in terms of the team goal) the final decision.

Potential documents: Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to): Memo describing the decision making process to show that a) multiple team members suggested specific alternatives, and b) a goal-oriented evaluation of the alternatives was used to guide the team decision.

Additional information:

1. A description of a decision making process without contrary input or alternatives, only one input considered, or only one member involved in the decision making process is unacceptable.

2. Also not acceptable would be a simple statement that alternatives were considered without attribution of the ideas, or lacking a discussion of their relative merits.

Criterion B2. Describe the team role you filled and how that contributed to the final project.

Primary Traits: A passing submission for this criterion must:

1. Describe the team goal.

2. Provide a description of a specific team-enhancing function (might not be a “formal” team role from a textbook) performed by the student.

3. Provide an example of how the student performed in that role to help the team achieve its overall goal.

Potential documents: Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to): Memo asking the student to describe their own role in facilitating team interaction, and how their performance of that role helped the team.

Additional information:

1. Indication that the student avoided interaction with other team members (divide and conquer is not acceptable), or failed to contribute is unacceptable.

2. No specific team-enhancing role described, or no example of how the student’s contributions were important to achieving the team’s goals is also deemed unacceptable.

Criterion B3. Describe how your team coordinated time and resources to achieve your goal.

Primary Traits: A passing submission for this criterion must:

1. Provide a clear description of the team goal.

2. Provide a list of deadlines and a list of actual dates on which the milestones were accomplished.

3. Explain the why the goal deadlines and the actual dates on which the milestones were accomplished were inconsistent.

4. List detailed records of time spent by each student.

5. Explain why levels of effort varied over time and between students.

Potential documents: Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to): Memo describing the team’s initial schedule of subtasks, budget (if applicable), and an explanation of how the actual allocation of time and resources differed from the plan.

Additional information:

1. A memo including an initial Gantt chart and the actual dates on which the milestones were accomplished with an explanation of the differences, or detailed records of time spent (how much and when) by each student with an explanation of why levels of effort varied over time and between students is appropriate.

2. The team goal must be clearly described.

3. A document with no plan for scheduling or budget or no explanation of variations in time spent is unacceptable.

4. A plan or explanation with no significant detail, such as only one or two milestones, or trivial explanations is also unacceptable.

Criterion C1. Explain how working as a team allowed the team to accomplish something that those individuals could not have accomplished separately.

Primary Traits: A passing submission for this criterion must:

1. Describe how a team has value beyond sharing workload.

2. Provide a description of how each member contributed different skills, ideas and perspectives.

3. Explain how the group can keep making steady progress even when individuals must vary their level of effort.

4. Show how a key benefit of teamwork is drawing on each other’s strengths.

Potential documents: Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to): Reflective essay on the benefits of working in teams.

Additional information:

1. A document that involves complaining about teamwork or describes a simple divide and conquer approach is unacceptable.

2. Failure to give a specific example of benefit in the student’s own project team is also unacceptable.

Revision History:

April 7, 2008 by CASO