TPOT
Team Project Organizational Tool
Old Dominion University
CS410 Team Black
Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Team Black
Mentor
Dr. Pilar Pazos, Ph.D.
mpazosla@odu.edu
Thomas TJ Carson
tcarson522@gmail.com
Jose Brandariz
jr.brandariz89@gmail.com
Pernell Dixon
pdixo005@odu.edu
Joe Elder
jelde010@gmail.com
Josh Ward
jward056@odu.edu
Aaron Walden
awald001@odu.edu
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Problem Statement
In an increasingly asynchronous educational environment,
the organization of geographically dispersed teams has
become a significant challenge.
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Outline
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Problem Statement
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Case Study: Dr. Pazos’ Proposal
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Instructor Process Flow
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Virtual Teams’ Rise and Importance
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Problem Characteristics
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Solution Statement
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Solution Goals
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Improved Instructor Process Flow
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Major Components Diagram
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Potential Benefits of TPOT
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Potential Drawbacks of TPOT
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Competition Matrix
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Summary and Conclusion
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References
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CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Case Study: Dr. Pazos’ Proposal
Team Mentor
Research interests:
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Dr. Pilar Pazos
Ph.D. Industrial Engineering
Emphasis Engineering Mgmt
Texas Tech University, 2005
Assistant Professor – ODU,
Department of Engineering
Management and Systems
Engineering
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Knowledge management
Computer-mediated communication
Collaborative learning
Engineering education
Teams research:
•
•
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Key factors contributing to teams’ effectiveness
Conflict management in virtual teams (VT)
Global virtual team management
Impacts of technology on virtual teams’ effectiveness
Virtual team training
Development of tools to support team collaboration
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Case Study: Dr. Pazos’ Proposal
Managing Multiple Team Projects
Instructors of online, project-based courses are
regularly managing 15 or more teams.
With such numbers, it becomes difficult to:
• Determine/track team status
• Offer support/feedback
• Assess deliverables
Additionally, students have difficulties collaborating
from dispersed locations.
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CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Case Study: Dr. Pazos’ Proposal
Currently:
• Organization left totally to instructors
• No tool to aggregate team data
• Mostly ad hoc solution: email, Blackboard,
Google sites, Smartsheet
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Instructor Process Flow: Team Status Determination
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
ODU – Team Black
Oct 23, 2013
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Case Study: Dr. Pazos’ Proposal
Dr. Pazos’ proposed project:
• Team collaboration software
• Focus on the development of student teams
• Instructor Dashboard
o Monitor teams’ status
o Receive deliverables
o Provide Feedback
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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What is a Virtual Team (VT)?
According to an oft-cited 2009 literature review:
Necessary Characteristics1
Other common characteristics2
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Geographical dispersion
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Impermanence
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Unification by a common purpose
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Small size
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Electronic communication
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Knowledge workers
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Cross-boundary collaboration
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Inter-company
Distance learning (DL) project teams satisfy 7 of these 8
1,2. Ebrahim et al.
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CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Dispersed Student Teams Are VTs
They satisfy all necessary characteristics:
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And most common characteristics:
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Geographical dispersion – nature of DL
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Impermanent – single course
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Common purpose – course project
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Small size – typically under 7
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Electronic communication – email, Blackboard
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Knowledge workers – most degrees
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Cross-boundary collaboration – students have
in this domain
diverse backgrounds, electives, minors
Additionally, they will become the professional VTs of the future.
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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The Rise of VTs
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1980s: self-managing expert teams increasingly common3
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1990s: self-managing team concept globalized4
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2000s: cheap Internet facilitates connection of dispersed team
members—the virtual team proliferates5
Currently, according to surveys:
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46% of companies employ virtual teams6
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72% of employees’ work at least partially virtual7
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61% of employees attribute 50% productivity to virtual teamwork8
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6.7 million US college students (1/3) involved in virtual coursework9
3,4,5. Ebrahim et al.
6. “SHRM Survey Findings”
7,8. “Challenges of Working in Virtual Teams”
ODU – Team Black
9. Allen and Seaman
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The Benefits of VTs
Once again, according to Ebrahim and his colleague’s literature review:
• Great flexibility
• Reduced costs
• Recruiting not limited by time/space (get best people)
• Effective decision making (more time to stew)
• Reduced time-to-market
• Increased productivity
• Reduced pollution
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Problem Characteristics
For virtual team members10:
• Team member status difficult to determine
• Trust takes longer to develop than in co-located team
• Expectations often differ (roles, responsibilities)
• Conflicts more difficult to resolve
• Deliverable versions confusing
For instructors11:
• Information gathering very time-consuming
• Support less effective
• Accountability assessment prone to error
10. Ebrahim et al.
11. Dr. Pazos Interview
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CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Solution Statement
Provide educationally-focused collaboration software which
facilitates transparent, efficient virtual teamwork through the
careful monitoring and presentation of data.
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Solution Goals
• Reduce instructor tedium
• Reduce time required to trust team members
• Provide concise team and team member status
• Delineate roles and responsibilities (tasks)
• Organize deliverables
• Maximize ease of collaboration (accessibility)
• When project “boils,” TPOT “whistles”
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
Improved Instructor Process Flow: Team Status Determination
Original:
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CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Major Components Diagram
Oct 23, 2013
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Potential Benefits of TPOT
• Decreased time needed to trust team members
• Decreased time needed to determine status
• Decreased time needed to gather deliverables
• Increased accountability
• Increased clarity of team status
• Increased clarity of team member roles and
responsibilities
• Maximized ease of collaboration
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013
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Potential Drawbacks of TPOT
• Accountability by activity tracking imperfect
o Vulnerable to deception
• Dashboard only works with our base page
o Must abandon Google sites
o May lack features of commercial competitors
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Competition Matrix
Y
N
?
Instructor
Dash
Open Source
Web-based
Tasks
Track Activity
Status
TPOT
Basecamp
Collabtive
Project.net
ProjectLibre
Microsoft Project
Teambox
dotProject
Smartsheet
Central Desktop
Project Kaiser
Project Insight
Clarizen
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Summary and Conclusion
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TPOT will:
• Be web-based collaboration software
• Be designed for mature college students and their instructors
• Implement an aggregative Instructor Dashboard
• Address the lack of information available to VTs
• Hopefully be used by future CS410 students
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Oct 23, 2013
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References
Allen, I. Elaine and Jeff Seaman. Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education
in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group, 2013.
<http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/changingcourse.pdf>.
Bullock, Charles and Jennifer Klein. "Virtual Work Environments in the Post-Recession Era."
Brandman University, 2011.
<http://www.brandman.edu/files/attachments/virtual_teams_brandman_forrester_white_paper.pdf>.
Ebrahim, Nader Ale, Shamsuddin Ahmed and Zahari Taha. “Virtual Teams: a Literature
Review.” Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, no. 3 (March 2009): 2653-2669.
Pazos, Pilar. Interview by Team Black. Personal interview. ODU, October 2013.
"SHRM Survey Findings: Virtual Teams." Society for Human Resources Management, 2012.
<http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Documents/Virtual%20Teams_FINAL.pptx>.
“The Challenges of Working in Virtual Teams.” RW3 LLC, 2012.
<http://rw-3.com/VTSReportv7.pdf>.
ODU – Team Black
CS410 Feasibility Presentation
Oct 23, 2013