Collaborate, communicate

Appendix II. Instructional Strategies. Appendix III. Examples of Adapted Work. Appendix IV. Adaptive Products and Services. Appendix V. Student Profile Sheet. Appendix VI. Co-Teaching Lesson Plans. Appendix VII. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Lynne Cook, Professor, School of Education. California State University, Dominguez Hills. Toby Karten, Author. It happens across all touch points and players, essentially greasing the wheels for collaboration.

A company would not even think about having multiple sales databases or work-order management systems, yet when it comes to streamlining company-wide communications, many organizations are using a myriad of different tools, which creates fragmented communication across teams and departments. Even worse, many companies still rely on outdated email, bulletin boards, and Intranets to keep everyone, including field workers, in the know.

That essentially translates to 6 hours wasted every week or hours a year per employee. The bottom line is that effective communication is necessary not just for successful collaboration, but also for a successful business. From productivity to employee retention and customer satisfaction, good company communication drives business results. For the most part, the book did an excellent job of conveying complex topics in accessible language.

There were moments when the book would have benefited from more focused editing. There are minor errors in consistency. For example, in its section on conclusions, the text advises students: "If the writer started with statistics, offer more statistics" However, on the next page, it warns students against "introducing new material" The authors did a good job creating a modular text. I hope to see them develop several of the sections in the future. For the most part, the book was organized well, with separate chapters focusing on the writing process, types of essays, etc.

Some organizational choices seemed questionable, though. The book could integrate the Intellectual Standards for Quality into each of its chapters, since doing so would show readers how the standards inform everything the book discusses. The book's interface was very good. One way to improve it would be to offer hyperlinked references from one section to another. I noticed a few grammatical errors throughout the piece, and they were a bit distracting. I think the book does a nice job of referring to the culture and vernacular of the Hawaiian people.

I can see other institutions adapting this format to benefit their own student populations. I also like how a couple of the book's "student stories" focused on non-traditional students. The authors did an impressive job with this resource, given that they had only three days and nights to complete the "book sprint.

I would love to see the authors develop and revise the text based on the feedback they receive. A first semester composition course has to make certain specific foundational choices about its topic. Do you want to emphasize analysis and paragraph structure? How much should be given to research and argument, and the citation How much should be given to research and argument, and the citation process?

This textbook hits all of these topics well, but would function best integrated with further exercises and assignments which implement specifics. The text never strays from the facts in content areas. Claims regarding the efficacy and value of parts of the writing process are backed up with research references.

Citation directions and examples are clear, useful, and easy to apply. The content covered is not radical; it proceeds through useful and standard methods of composition which are unlikely to require seismic revision any time soon.

Contemporary examples are interspersed with classic ones. The web links and appendixes are arranged such that any further updates look easy for the authors and editors to develop. You notice how the topic and word choice reflect the authors' time in the university and community college classroom, refining how they express their points. Sometimes it feels brief, but never because it is skipping over essential pieces.

It states it is targeted at level students, but I feel it would also be effective with developmental students a level below that. My community college students in English were all able to grasp the sections I assigned from this text; no problematic areas stood out. The team of writers appear to have collaborated tightly, making sure that terminology defined early on in the text remains useful to students throughout the entire book's topics.

Once in a while, some areas of the text seems more developed than others. Usually, though, it's steady in its focus. The sections are broken down into the same subheading format throughout. Minimal confusion should ensue.

I used sections of this book out of order, supporting my own existing unit plans. The text sections are very to-the-point and focused on the essential information at hand, which made them plug in well. Subheadings are used frequently. Even more detail and development under each subheading would improve re-usability. In general, though, I did not encounter any troubling tangles.

I appreciate that the topics covered do not dive directly into writing an essay, but rather build up carefully and step-by-step through the portions and process of writing. This is the sort of instruction which helps bring together a class which starts with widely different backgrounds.

Some student populations may be ready to dive right into paper-writing, which allows for more time spent on learning and practicing research. But this text's organization and choice of topics makes it very useful for a more heterogeneous community college classroom. As far the interface's clarity and lack of error, this text is fine. Everything is where it should be and works correctly.

The interface and layout only suffers from being a little boring. It could be improved by further editing attention to include more charts and images which set the scene of the work being done. But the text as it is remains useful and functional, with no interface problems interfering with student use. Next to no grammatical errors turned up during textbook use, and none which proved confusing to students. This text's cultural sensitivity and range reflects its state of origin.

The University of Hawaii educator authors range from indigenous to African-American texts as relevant and valuable examples. Some other sections seem more generic; perhaps a future revision might include similar attentions throughout. This text does an admirable job of covering a lot of ground without excessive verbiage. It reads as every section being useful to students and applicable to the Composition classroom. I plan to use it, adapted as needed, in my upcoming classes.

The book is a beginning to hopefully providing more in-depth lessons and instructions. Lessons touch upon different concepts of first-year college composition but rely on the person using the text to find almost all examples and supplemental Lessons touch upon different concepts of first-year college composition but rely on the person using the text to find almost all examples and supplemental materials for further understanding of the concepts.

There is a hyperlinked table of contents of the text, but no index nor glossary for the text. Chapters within the text are quite short, sometimes only covering one page in pdf format. Many of the chapters feel disjointed, not quite building on concepts of the previous chapter.

In other words, the chapters feel like they are independent lessons rather than concepts building on previous information obtained. Chapter 4 introduces ten rhetorical modes of writing but only includes detailed instruction on four of them.

There are no full internal writing examples in a composition text for students to get a sense of completion of essay composition. Overall, the text has few noticeable errors. There are some formatting choices for headers and subheaders that lead to some confusion in the online text, but those same formatting choices seem clear within a printed pdf version of the text.

References to "Sources" or "Works Cited" should be centered in the text to follow normal expectations of students producing papers. Chapter 4 introduces different rhetorical modes of writing, but it presents only four of those modes in detailed instruction and includes them out of order from the introductory text. Also, the chapter introduction claims that there are "links to real student essays.

The second bullet point on that page has an unnecessary comma in "attitude, toward" and there is a misspelled "Stating" instead of "Starting. Overall, this section looks like it is doing what is expected. External links look like they can be easily replaced by current examples.

Appendix 2 gives a list of online content contained in the text, so that section can be updated as needed. The text seems to do a decent job of being clear throughout on the terms used.

There are several introductions to Latin and Greek phrases used in logic and rhetorical concepts with a definition of those words. A glossary and index could be helpful for further reference. Terminology throughout the text remains consistent. Terms that are defined early in the text are used throughout.

That is why the glossary may be necessary. Some terms are defined again, like ethos, logos, and pathos in 4. Because the text is short overall, it does divide sections into smaller sections. In some cases, the sections are too small, with headers and subsequent spacing on the page dominating over actual instructional text. More specific examples could and should be included for each of those sections to give each header more information than what is on the page.

For example, in 4. This section either needs bullet points with the definitions or full explanations with examples to give depth to the section. While the chapters are justifiably ordered by the book authors' preferences, there is little transition from one chapter to another and from one section of a chapter to another.

Composition is a type of subject based entirely on adding more information building on previously addressed concepts and practices. While those concepts and practices are indicated, the authors do not explicitly make those connections from one chapter or section of a chapter to another.

This may be a space or content decision, but understanding how each of the steps in the writing process connects with the structure of essays and the types of essays could help in giving students a more comprehensive understanding of English composition courses.

Pictures and graphics are minimal. The only effective graphic throughout is the 2. However, that particular map seems to be out of place for the purpose of the book. Alike or similar graphs for other essay types would prove useful here.

All suggestions come from the paginated PDF version of the textbook. The text is not specifically geared towards a particular region, but the authors are all a part of the Hawaii university system. Therefore, some of the materials and examples given are based on their particular knowledge of the region.

There are no noticeable insensitive or offensive materials throughout the text, and none of the examples of "A Student's Story" seem to indicate the student's race, ethnicity, nor background. For being a three-day project as indicated in the Foreword, this is an impressive compilation. There is definitely potential in the future of the text with my main recommendations being to make the different chapters and subchapters of the book relate to previous chapters including internal hyperlinks and an index and glossary section AND adding more in-text examples for students to have an easier time comprehending and processing the information presented.

Chapter 1 is odd as it does not use the Sections 2 or 3 as modes to introduce a learning narrative, for example; instead, the information consists of details that students should have received in their New Student Orientation program or a New Chapter 1 is odd as it does not use the Sections 2 or 3 as modes to introduce a learning narrative, for example; instead, the information consists of details that students should have received in their New Student Orientation program or a New Student Experience course.

In Chapter 5. Jaden may be lazy, but in the authors' example, he did not commit plagiarism. Yes, but some terms are more discipline-based; e. When revised, consider the terminology from the students' perspectives, those who are first-year and non-traditional, and know, too, that in Hawaii there are numerous cultures and languages to be considered and yes, I know the authors know this!

My recommendation here is somewhat developed in Chapter 3. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. A thesis statement does not always have to be arguable; a thesis statement, depending on the form of writing, can be opinion-based and this more creative in its narrative, which, also, is not always i the 5-paragraph structure.

Chapter 4. If the authors include ten types of essays Chapter 4. Chapter 5. The Citation Management in Chapter 5. The Chapters arrangement lacks flow as students should be introduced to pre-flection, research and formatting guidelines in the beginning of their academic writing career rather than in the middle or end of the semester.

The graphics, charts et al. Most students will not know what Meta-cognitive Chapter 2. Will this be addressed as it is not in the SLOs? Provide examples of 2. So glad the OWL at Purdue link is included as this resources is current on MLA formatting, offers applicable examples and is free to students and teachers. I like the inclusion of frequency adverbs in 2. Consider adding more in-text or connect to the OWL at Purdue and discourage the overuse of these terms as they are vague in their meaning.

In Chapter 2, Introduction, the term "vocabulary" is used as a plural when it is a non-count noun and must be connected with a singular verb; e. In middle school, she found that her vocabulary was not were embarrassingly limited.

In "A Student's Story," the commas are not uses correctly as the set-off portion is not an appositive, so the second comma should be removed; i. As she entered college and enrolled in her first-year writing course, she was anxious about attending a required conference with her instructor who was meeting with each student to discuss the rough drafts of their first essays.

I don't find any culturally insensitive content, but I admire that this text is written for a certain demographic, which is why I recommend the authors include examples that students will relate to, such as prior students' essays written in pidgin, which they can revise as a collaborative activity, with the teacher's help into Standard Written English to see how code-switching works and can impact their academic and professional writing experiences. If the text will be used mostly?

The text should be an exemplar for students, especially as first-year learners tend to copy what is presented, which is why I recommend that MLA formatting be consistent; e. Works Cited in 1. This OER textbook has been designed for students to learn the foundational concepts for English first-year college composition. The content aligns to learning outcomes across all campuses in the University of Hawai'i system.

It was designed, written, and edited during a three day book sprint in May, Content Accuracy rating: 5 Scholarship is reliable, accurate and timely. Clarity rating: 3 Writing is accessible and very clear. Consistency rating: 5 It seems like the text has a coherent voice--This is important for students who struggle connecting to a text. Modularity rating: 3 I wish the sections were more "chunked. Interface rating: 5 Very clear navigation and visual "hamburger" menu.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5 No errors found. Cultural Relevance rating: 5 Selections emphasize college-level literacy and seem bereft of any bias.

Comments I like this text's organization approach in both design and content. Content Accuracy rating: 5 I found this text to be very accurate throughout.

I am not aware of any errors. Clarity rating: 5 I found this text very clear, and the language very easy to read. Consistency rating: 5 The chapters are arranged in a pattern and the terminology is equally consistent as well. Modularity rating: 5 The text can be broken up into smaller units, and the readings can be realigned with different subunits without any difficulty. Interface rating: 4 The text easily transforms into an e-reader, and the pdf version is easily downloaded and read without distortion.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5 I did not find any grammatical errors in this text. It seemed to be very well edited. Cultural Relevance rating: 4 The text has examples from the Hawaiian culture because it was created for a Hawaiian University and its students. Content Accuracy rating: 5 Content appeared accurate and error-free. Consistency rating: 5 Most chapters follow a similar pattern. Modularity rating: 5 This text appears designed to support modular as well as linear use.

Interface rating: 4 The open-access platform offers an easily used online ebook. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 No errors impeded my reading. Cultural Relevance rating: 4 I saw nothing that would concern me while teaching. Comments Overall, 'English Composition' offers few of the bells and whistles I associate with for-profit first-year composition textbooks, which now seem as highly-designed as a spaceship. Content Accuracy rating: 3 The text is appealing because it is brief, but it tries to do too much in too little space.

Clarity rating: 3 The text takes a very basic approach to all its subjects, making it appropriate for a first-year college student, specifically first-generation or academically underprepared college students. Consistency rating: 4 The text's chapter structure and tone are consistent throughout. Modularity rating: 3 Smaller sections of the text could be assigned effectively without losing much.

Interface rating: 5 The text is very easy to navigate and is visually simple. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 The text is grammatically sound. Content Accuracy rating: 3 See comments above--in several areas, I found content inaccurate in terms of what happens in English comp courses. Clarity rating: 3 I found the prose too formal, and, especially in the first chapter College Success Skills, too scoldy and too much "you must.

Consistency rating: 5 The text is consistent. Modularity rating: 5 The textbook is well-organized and is visually pleasing with plenty of white space and attractive, though generic, photos.

Interface rating: 5 The book's interface is clear. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 The grammar is excellent. Cultural Relevance rating: 3 Code-switching needs to include various races and ethnicities. Content Accuracy rating: 4 The information is highly accurate and synthesizes topics in contemporary composition, such as that related to process theory, code-switching, counterargument, rhetorical appeals, and civil discourse.

Clarity rating: 5 The text is highly accessible. Consistency rating: 5 The text is consistent in both tone and content. Interface rating: 4 The interface is highly effective. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 I did not observe any grammatical errors throughout the text. Cultural Relevance rating: 5 This book was most impressive to me because of its culturally responsive and culturally sustaining approaches to the teaching of writing.

Comments I am grateful for the existence of a text that is so culturally situated and attuned to the needs of students within its context. Content Accuracy rating: 4 The bulk of content appears to be accurate and unbiased. Clarity rating: 4 The language of the book is clear and approachable. Consistency rating: 4 The layout of the text is mostly consistent. Modularity rating: 5 The book's modularity is one of its strong points.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5 I did not find any glaring grammatical errors. Cultural Relevance rating: 4 The book often incorporates examples from the Hawaiian culture, which is appropriate for the context of its writers. Content Accuracy rating: 5 The text accurately reflects the current-traditional approach to the teaching of composition.

Clarity rating: 4 The text is written clearly and concisely. Consistency rating: 4 The text is consistently designed and user-friendly. Interface rating: 5 I read the PDF version of the text and did not encounter any issues with the interface. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 There are no glaring issues with the grammatical structures in the text. This group may have had an engineer explaining the mechanism of rope-pulling, a foreman deciding who would be on the rope-pulling team, and countless others defining their roles and using their expertise to solve the problem.

Collaborative leaders can span the scope of your business by engaging people outside of their direct control and getting them to work as a team with a common goal.

When businesses talk about collaborative leadership , they mean distributed organizational structures that are either cross-unit, cross-functional, or cross-organization. These groups get employees at all levels with a stake in the outcome.

This strategy is more about facilitating the group effort than about making decisions for the group. Another type of collaborative leadership involves performing inside an organization. This occurs when leadership shifts from person to person, based on the problem to be solved. Leadership then becomes the collaborative effort. Therefore, when we talk about collaboration itself, we are talking about problem-solving with a group of people with different skillsets.

However, what makes this type of group work compelling and successful can also make it fail. Different skill sets often come attached to people who think differently from each other, which can make communication among them difficult. Moreover, they frequently possess different priorities, which can cause surges of disagreement.

A big part of collaboration is coordination. Coordination is about achieving efficiency and about telling participants how and when they must act.

This concept is similar to collaboration and teamwork because its goals are the same. If we return to our rope-pulling image, we see coordination as someone first organizing different groups and activities individually, with each group performing their own aspects of the work. It involves the group that brings the rope, the one that sets up the rope, the one that makes sure the ground is solid enough to stand on, and the one that pulls the rope.

When these four groups have already completed their work independently, the coordinating person accomplishes the rope-pulling. Of course, cooperation is an integral element of teamwork, collaboration, and coordination. Cooperation usually consists of two or more people sharing ideas or activities.

You often share the information you generate from cooperation - while it is sometimes required, it is an informal process. Compared with teamwork, collaboration, and coordination, cooperation is the activity that requires the least amount of shared purpose and dependence on team members.

Communication is another key element of working together. It is the well-mannered approach to the workplace, requiring all members to talk to each other. It involves interacting in whatever way works best for you and your team personality and relationship-wise. Even though these five terms have similar connotations, they differ in their level of purpose and dependence. Get the free e-book to improve remote work effectiveness.

Watch the demo to see how you can more effectively manage your team, projects, and processes with real-time work management in Smartsheet. Watch a free demo. The demand for a collaborative work product is only increasing, and the amount of time the workforce spends in team-related activities will also continue to increase, according to author Jeanne Meister.

Even though it has become crucial to workplace success, however, collaboration is often difficult. Workplace failures can happen when collaboration and team skills are absent.

Your business can end up as an incohesive collection of competing silos, departments, and individuals. Without strong collaboration and communication skills, you can lose productivity and money. You need to add in other skill sets, such as decision-making and leadership to guide your group. Some other factors that can tank your team include:. Communication refers to how people send out and receive messages.

This critical skill involves nonverbal cues, including active listening, managing yourself in the moment, and being able to understand yourself and others. Often considered a soft skill, communication is vital because it is the soul of your business. Good communication is at the center of everything successful you do within your company.

A good communicator conveys their point in a simple and clear manner, people understand their message, and the work gets done. Good communicators:.

Remember that teamwork includes an ultimate authority who makes decisions and resolves disputes for the team. Collaboration may not have an ultimate authority, but it should have a leader who understands the nature of the work.

Collaborations should also have ground rules that the group itself has established. Collaborations push your deliverables to be more innovation and competitive in the marketplace.

Thus far, we have focused mostly on the benefits collaboration brings to your company. However, there are benefits that collaboration can bring to individuals, as well. These include:. Before you consider a collaboration, whether internal or with other companies, you have to consider a number of factors and ask some questions. First, you should evaluate whether it is necessary.

Collaboration for its own sake can waste precious time and resources. You should ask why collaboration is the best answer. Then, you should ask the following questions:. Machines and computers are replacing many jobs that require skilled labor. However, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research , the hottest jobs not only require skilled labor, but also demand social skills.

Many people consider social skills soft skills, and therefore they are not always as valued as more discrete skills like science and math. These soft skills include the ability to cooperate, empathize, and be flexible, all qualities that contribute to relationship-building and collaboration.

If a skill is a particular ability to perform a job, then it would follow that the ability to collaborate, which is in high demand, is in fact a skill. If collaboration is a skill, then you can hone it. In order to, you must become proficient in a variety of areas:.

Effective business collaboration does not just bring together a group of folks with disparate information. In other words, it is not just about collecting areas of expertise. The blending of these different thinking styles is what makes up the most successful teams — as long as you can manage them effectively. Experts agree that in order to have a successful collaboration, you need to implement intentional leadership. This kind of leadership considers and purposefully implements factors for good collaboration.

This includes creating a culture and environment that makes it easy to collaborate. Some things that you can do to improve this environment include the following:. Companies rely on their teams to get projects done. Whether they are large and diverse or small and specialized, teams can accomplish much more when given the opportunity to collaborate with one another. According to a study conducted by Gratton and Erickson , even though big, diverse teams are becoming increasingly critical, they begin to devolve as they grow.

Further, the more expertise the members have, the more difficult it is for them to accomplish results. Finally, the study recommends four main areas to concentrate on to cultivate and maintain strong teams: executive support, solid HR practices, strong leadership, and good team structure.

Breaking it down, these areas give you the basics of how to build a successful team. The following are evidence-based practices that will help you do it right:. Whether you are building a team or a collaboration, some environments are more successful than others.

In the context of a team or collaboration environment, we are referring to the social rather than the physical environment. Although, having workspaces designed to facilitate conversations is helpful - for more information on collaborative workspaces, see How to Maximize Team Collaboration in a Workspace. In order to work well together, teams must:. An educational environment is an excellent opportunity to teach not only technical skills, but also soft skills like collaboration and teamwork.

Being in school allows people to try new things, make mistakes, and learn hands-on without fear. This also develops social skills, positive cultural relations, self-esteem, and self-management skills. Team-based learning TBL is a type of small group learning that is structured to help students learn to work in teams. They prepare their materials outside of class and apply it while in class. This structure grades students as individuals and as a team. It helps them verbalize their thinking within their team and about other teams.

TBL is evidence-based, and usually taught in modules. Instructors may use several methods to teach TBL, including those by L. Dee Fink , Michaelsen , and Koles. Today, fostering collaboration is a hot topic in business. Some businesses are looking for answers on how you implement, teach the soft skills, and build a collaborative environment. Others are looking for ways to improve their technology game in order to make collaboration easier.

According to technology experts around the web, some current trends in technologically-driven collaboration include using the Internet of Things IoT , software as a service SaaS , and your own devices. In this section, our experts will share some of their experiences developing collaborative teams and give tips on the best ways to get your team to collaborate and communicate well.

In my opinion, small teams are better in almost every way. In a small company, everyone knows each other. Small teams work the same way. If you find similar interests in growth, you can push each other to the fullest. You must find common ground with your team and work together to achieve a common goal. Work with people's strengths and make sure the weaknesses are covered! For instance, my current content team consists of me analytical, strategy, implementation , our content marketer creative, illustrative work, editorial , and our writer.

In one way or another, we cover each other.