Yes, you read that correctly.
Take 21 seconds to read point #6 of "Working Together...When Apart."
I am the Project Manager for Kogod's class KSB-252: Washington Initiative [Instructor: Allison Holcomb]. The goal of the class is to execute an AU-wide marketing initiative surrounding the Help the Homeless Walkathon, which is sponsored by Fannie Mae and takes place on the National Mall on November 17th.
Our team of 8 meets once weekly, and as such it is my responsibility to make sure that everyone is doing their jobs outside of the meetings. Each member of my team has a lot to do, and my job is essentially 8-fold in trying to keep up with it all. I require my team members to produce finite results for every meeting, and as such I am able to keep them accountable to the group.
I also take ITEC-200 with Professor Melander. You'd better believe that there's a wiki page for that course too. Blackboard, in my opinion, is not the best tool for keeping a class organized. This is why I commend Professor Melander so much for using the wiki pages. I had no idea the things that were possible with wiki's. Likewise, the blog for Brendan Monaghan, our guest speaker two classes ago, featured an awesome video about making a wiki page for a team or an event. My team needs to be able to edit documents together, and collaborate on our project. The above sources [i.e. Professor Melander] inspired me to make a wiki for my team. So, I created ksb252.wetpaint.com. Wetpaint is another site that hosts wiki's, although it does have advertising.
My team members have been responsible for editing several pages, and making noticeable contributions each week in preparation for meetings and events. As a result, our team is very connected, both in and out of the boardroom (we meet in the Kogod boardroom). Our client is very happy with our presentation, and our team is able to get things done in a no-excuse [online] environment that I feel promotes punctuality and cooperation.
So, when I read point #6 above, it made me very excited because for my e-connected team, this is something that I had actually done. And, I was able to related to the article instead of taking it with a grain of salt and much skepticism.
Thank you, Professor.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Social Networking on Steroids, Speed, and X
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3 comments:
Man 8 people in a group, I feel for you. I was the project manager for two teams of 4 last semester.
If I had Prof. Melander class last semester, and got the idea to make a wiki, it might've been a lot easier.
One of the biggest problem I had last semester with my groups was the inability for everyone to meet, due to schedule conflict. Using a conferencing program to remedy that would've been a tremendous help. Too bad, not everyone in my team had access to these tools. Hopefully this will not be the case in the future, as the peripherals for these type of program become cheaper and more accessible.
Jeff, it's great you've found such use for things we're doing. I've seen the same kind of overlap with other topics we've covered in this class and material in my other courses. I feel that, overall, as strong as one course might be, it becomes infinitely stronger when you can link up the material and apply it to something else. This one is all the more relevant because it is so current. Anyways, you're definitely ahead of the game in your use of technology but it's important not to overlook the basics in business...your sponsor's name is not fanny mae it's Fannie Mae!
You make a great point. Wiki's have the versatility and ease of use that make them ideal for the workplace. Online collaboration and organization is furthered greatly by the use of such a tool.
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