Question

The Economist Intelligence Unit, in its 2014 report entitled, “Closing the Skills Gap: Companies and Colleges Collaborating for Change,” presents findings from a survey of 343 senior business executives. When asked what skills are most important to them for employees to have, 63% cite collaboration and teamwork skills. The only skill set ranked higher was critical thinking.

Business schools and their regulatory bodies correspondingly place a high level of emphasis on team and groupwork. Understanding that the output of teamwork should be larger than the sum of its individual parts, what do you see as the benefits and challenges of working in teams, specifically in an online learning program targeted at adult learners?

Answer 1

Answer: Some of the benefits of working as a team in online adult learning programs are

1. It offers collaborative learning for the entire team as learning takes place with sharing of ideas between the participants

2. This learning takes place in social context where the team members interact with each other and share their ideas

3. This helps in creative thinking as discussions are made by considering various perspectives

4. This fosters Innovation because of creative thinking and collaborative learning

5. Better cognitive learning takes place which is engaging and more meaningful

6. Helps in developing online networking and communication skills

7. Helps in preparing the individuals to work as virtual teams

Some of the challenges are

1. People are not always efficient in using technology and hence limited participation may occur

2. It is difficult to create team spirit in a virtual environment

3. Managing such teams is difficult because there is no face to face interaction

4. Differences due to difference in opinion are hard to control in a virtual environment