Group Expectations for working collaboratively

The majority of this course involves working collaboratively in a group to reproduce key findings from scientific papers. Working as a team is a difficult task as everyone has their own unique style of communicating and contributing. This document is intended to be a starting point to facilitate discussion and set preliminary expectations for how you will communicate, manage conflicts and meet the expectations of the course.

Before your first TA meeting, we would like you to discuss the following questions as a group and come to a preliminary consensus.

Communication:

What will be our group’s primary mode of communication? (Slack, Phone, etc.)

How will we collaboratively work on the project reports?

When will we have our sections done to work on the project report together?

If my section will not be done on the agreed upon time, when will I inform the group?

How do we share responsibilities for writing collaborative sections?

When or will we have regular group meetings to discuss our written report before submitting it?

Mediation:

How will we handle when a group member does not meet the expectations agreed upon?

Will we address it privately first or raise the issues during our group meetings with our TA?

If a group member is still unresponsive or not completing their responsibilities, when do we escalate the issue to the instructors?