Was it wise to take the Editor role?

I’m exhausted. My entire weekend was spent editing the report for our virtual team assignment. I’m asking myself now – was it wise to take the editing role?

Yes, of course it was. On a Technical Writing course, to practice the skills of document editing is invaluable (even for me – a Technical Writer whose skills are rusty).

If you were the Editor, think of the skills you were using: collating information, checking for inconsistencies (of which there were many!), checking grammar and spelling, localisation (and not ‘localization’ ;-) ) rewriting text, formatting the document, and so on. If you are able to do these skills well (and you enjoyed it), then you will quite likely enjoy Technical Writing. Editing is a huge part of the job.

Whether or not our report reads well, academically, I can only hope so. I believe academic writing is a separate skill and there is only so much editing you can do to make it sound like one voice (especially in a limited timeframe). It's just hard to believe it is only worth 30%, for all the effort it required.

Are blogs any good for teamwork?

The majority of our virtual team would probably say no. Members were practically forced to use it at times. Our blogging specialist was frustrated at continuously writing up minutes of meetings and posting them in the blog, and then finding that no one really had anything to say. She tried, laboriously, to encourage the team to use it as an interactive tool by posting issues and discussions on the blog, but to no avail.

It was never going to be any good for issues and discussions. The purpose of a blog is to reflect on learning (from what I can see). Issues and discussions are for the discussion forums and the meetings, blogs are for reflecting.

Personally, I found the blogs useful. I read all of the posts, and commented on most of them. If I identified an issue, I took it to the discussion forum. It definitely made me think! I also found it interesting to see how others interpreted the meetings. It helped me gage their attitudes to them, which is yet another socio-emotional clue in a covert and virtual team environment.

So, in my opinion, yes they are good for teamwork. However, the issue lies in finding ways to encourage everyone to use it.

What is this blogging and discussing all about?

In the past week, I know more about the students in my MA class than I did previously. Suddenly, they have a voice, and a very loud one. That is not to say they did not before (absolutely not), but that their voice has suddenly become louder in the past week. And the two main tools that have facilitated this are blogging and discussion threads.

It makes me ask the question: what is this blogging and discussing all about?

I looked up a couple of articles on blogging, which helped me understand it a little bit better (refer to the links at the end for sources):

‘It is about taking control of your own learning, finding your own voice, and expressing your own opinions. It is about responding to the world around you and listening to the responses you receive in return.’

Without a doubt, I have heard the (fervent) opinions of many people in my class. It has been interesting. Equally, I have been able to state my own opinions, and that has been exciting.

‘This public aspect of blogs also exposes the author's own thoughts to challenges by others as part of the constructivist learning context.

‘It is claimed that in a blogging setting, the sense of community is stronger than that experienced by students in the conventional classroom.’

Words like constructivist and community definitely start to ring some bells. But I must admit, I never really thought that such an informal tool like blogging could really be used in third level education. I am amazed. And yet, it is proving quite effective. Even though I reflected on tools before, I am more inclined to do so now that I feel that someone may be listening (or reading rather). But why do it online?

‘The theory is that learners feel less inhibited about disclosing their true feelings and anxieties regarding their level of understanding because they are not under scrutiny. Avoiding assessment is also suggested to further liberate the learner to take advantage of the private space afforded by the journal.’

We actually are under assessment but sometimes one can forget that they are because the nature of the technology is so similar to social networking sites and forums which many of us are already accustomed to.

No tool is without it’s criticisms. For instance:

‘It should be acknowledged, however, that this can be at the cost of sacrificing of individual freedom to take a stand, disagree with another person's perspective, or explore a controversial topic while secure in the knowledge that what is written will only be seen by the instructor or remain completely confidential. Similarly, compulsion to participate in a public forum may not suit introverts or those for whom the issues to be discussed are novel. This may adversely affect the quality and depth of students' discussions in an online environment.’

One has only to read the discussion that is going on regarding fees for one of our modules to appreciate how uninhibited our class is to online discussion. Perhaps it is because we are studying technical communications that make us more open to it? Or perhaps there are students in the class that are not at all comfortable with it? I’m sure there are.

Anyway, these are just some of my current thoughts on blogs.

In my next blog, I think I would like to reflect upon the best way to write a blog. It definitely seems to be an art. I would like to consider ways in which to promote or gain the interest of readers. Blogging is, quite possibly, a tool we will have to utilise in the future.

References:
Weblog: Learning in public.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1509888

Social software as support in hybrid learning environments: The value of the blog as a tool for reflective learning and peer support.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W5R-4P190F0-3&_user=103702&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1650207822&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000007923&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=103702&md5=558c59e98858f2c51ee4966d00cea6f5&searchtype=a#bib27#bib27

Something has to be said about the Help

If we are assessing the effectiveness of technologies in a virtual team environment, then we are (quite obviously) assessing them against ‘real-life’ methods or traditional technologies that everyone is familiar with.

It occurs to me that most of our technologies are up against a whole plethora of existing standards and support that exist for their rivals, for instance, the Help and support. Have you ever tried to use a new technology and come to a halt, pretty much upon installation, and then tried to contact the Help only to come up with a whole new set of problems, like 'why won't they answer the phone' or 'why are they making this more difficult than it seems!'? I’m pretty sure most of us have. I know I have and I’ll not mention any names of companies or software that I have had issues with. But my point is that sometimes the Help and support of a technology are crucial in enhancing usability, and if it’s not good, the user will turn immediately to any alternative, including traditional methods.

Take for instance Skype, the technology I am assessing. I had some technical issues before hosting the video conference with my team-mates so I accessed the Skype Help page. When I couldn’t find the information I needed, I contacted their support desk. With only a day or two remaining before the video conference, I crossed my fingers and hoped that they would get back in time. They did – and within an hour!

It’s just another tick I can add to why I like Skype. Good Help, backed up by excellent customer support, are reasons that increase my confidence and abilities with using a technology.

Have you tried using your Help yet?

The following quote in the e-book ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol Architecture and Features’ by Abdul Sattar Mohamand inspired my thought today: 

Note: Skype is a VoIP and PSTN are regular phones.

‘The most deteriorating disadvantage of VoIP is that it is new to the ordinary customer, that is, it has not gained a specific level of user experience which is the most attractive aspect of marketing innovative products of VoIP. VoIP technology is still developing and a VoIP provider needs high skilled experts to solve the day to day problems occurring during the use of the service. PSTN on the other hand has a vast infrastructure for customer care and skilled technicians which are available at the ease of a call.’

http://books.google.ie/books?id=guprsQQMQg0C&pg=PA19&dq=voice+over+internet+protocl+advantages+and+disadvantages&hl=en&ei=1yRXTf_zG9SxhQfqwpjhDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

A review of Skype

14 February

We used Skype for the first time today to have another team meeting. It is brilliant, but for those of you using Skype, you may relate with the frustrations we felt as well!?

Our difficulties lay with the Video Conference facility. The first issue was that some members needed to download the most up-to-date version of Skype – version 5.0 – in order to use the facility. Unfortunately, one team member’s computer crashed when she tried to do this and we lost her from the meeting (her internet connection had actually caused some difficulties in test calls before the meeting so it appears that a strong internet connection is vital for the smooth operation of Skype video calls). The second issue was that another team member had problems hearing us because of the background noise in the room she was in so she needed to find a quiet room in which to talk. When she resettled, we were not able to actually see her (but could hear her voice). I’m not sure why this happened – it may have something to do with the settings in Skype which just need tweaked.

Lucky we had Chat tools to back us up while all of this was going on…!

In my last blog, I addressed that I wanted to specifically assess the following:

• the sound quality of the conference call – it was excellent.
• if team members are comfortable using it to interact – everyone seemed to be.
• if team members speak in turn and not over each other – yes they did. It was just like communicating as if we were in the same room.
• if the connection and quality is good and consistent – the connection was good except for one team member’s computer crashing (which resulted in her not being able to attend the meeting).
• if we need to use the other tools/features, provided by Skype, for the discussion. And if so, if these tools are effective for their purposes – we used the Chat tools feature briefly and it was fine (in fact it was a life saver when some team members were having problems connecting to the video call). We didn’t need to use the other tools.
• if it is successful for resolving any issues and moving forward in our project (some of the articles on this subject mention how it is particularly effective for problem solving and negotiation in teams) – yes, we were able to discuss any issues much faster than if we were using Chat tools or other forms of technology.
• if body language has an effect on the interactions, i.e. whether you can see it clearly on webcams and if it helps (this is largely subjective but interesting all the same) – it was great to be able to see each other – I felt it added a personal element to the interaction. Although, we were not able to see one team member which made it difficult to know if she was there or not (especially when she was listening to the conversation).

After we discussed the report, we chatted casually about Ireland and America. I imagine this is what the literature terms as ‘socio-emotional communication’ – the type of communication that builds rapport. I am not sure if it did not but it added a bit of fun to the communication in my opinion.

We used both Pamela and Audacity to record the meeting. However, we had some problems with Pamela and were relieved that we had Audacity to back up the recording. Use Audacity!

Introducing the technology and team

The technology - Skype

For the virtual team assignment, I have chosen to evaluate Skype, a Voice over Internet Protocol technology.

Although Skype has been around since 2003, I have only recently started using it. Before I started this course, I had to use it to communicate with the Documentation Manager of a company I worked for – he worked from home half of the week so Skype was one of the main technologies we used to communicate. I was really impressed with it! I actually sometimes found it more advantageous to chat with him over Skype because he had to schedule me in to meet online and devote that time to our project (whereas in the office, he was often distracted or interrupted by other people). The sound quality of the call was excellent and we were able to exchange files easily. Also, it was easy to ask him the odd question instantly using the Chat tools feature of Skype. My main concern was getting used to chatting directly to someone online. I felt a little self-conscious at first, but after a while, it was fine.

Although I am already familiar with Skype, I am interested to see how it works in a virtual team environment where there are more than 2 people using it to communicate. The most up-to-date ‘standard or free’ Skype now allows you to make conference calls to 2+ people so our team is going to use it to meet during our assignment. I am particularly interested to assess:

• the sound quality of the conference call
• if team members are comfortable using it to interact
• if team members speak in turn and not over each other
• if the connection and quality is good and consistent
• if we need to use the other tools/features, provided by Skype, for the discussion, and if so, if these tools are effective
• if it is successful for resolving any issues and moving forward in our project (some of the articles on this subject mention how it is particularly effective for problem solving and negotiation in teams)
• if body language has an effect on the interactions, i.e. whether you can see it clearly on webcams and if it helps (this is largely subjective but interesting all the same).

I may use ‘Pamela’ to record the meetings (see the first link below). This is free to download and is compatible with Skype. However, it can only record 15 minutes of a conference call so it is not perfect. I may instead use podcast technology to record the meeting (see the second link below)

http://www.pamela.biz/en/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Using-Skype-For-Podcasting

I have looked at other blogs on Skype but so far I have seen nothing worth reporting. The articles posted on Sulis such as ‘FlammiaClearySlattery2010’ are very useful for ideas.

My team

My team consists of Brian Carrigan, Katrina Slammon, John Savage, Stacey Marmorstein, and me. We are using Skype, Podcasts, Wikis, Chat tools and Blogs to collaborate. So far, we have used Chat tools for our meetings; we have made a Podcast (which we have sent to the US students); we have documented our meetings in Blogs; and we have uploaded our files to the Sulis Wiki. We have made substantial progress on the project but my main concerns/observations so far are:

• Virtual teams can lack the quality and revelations of informal face-to-face chats. A few of our ideas have arisen over coffee.
•  You have to wait patiently for replies to posts. This can slow progress.
• Although we have measures in place to make each other accountable, a lot of it comes down to trust.
• Chat tools, although good, are possibly not the best solution for meetings.
• If enough rapport has been built up in the team.
• Do you encourage people to use particular technologies more often so you can assess their use or do you not interfere and instead watch which ones they prefer to use?

The effects of these issues may become more apparent as the project progresses.

Maresa