1.
Changing the Way We Teach
Teams: How would you do it?
Presented by Shauna Jones, Senior Lecturer & Faculty Teaching Fellow
Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Symposium, November 6, 2017

2.
In this workshop
By the end of this workshop, you will:
• Leave with some ideas of how to move forward in
designing a 100-200 level course to teach students
how to work in diverse teams
Agenda
1. Use Liberating Structure MIN SPECS to compile a list
of principles for the course
2. Hear how we did it at the Beedie School of Business
3. Watch a video introducing BUS 202 at Beedie

3.
Your Purpose Statement
You are to design a 100-200 level post-secondary course teaching
students how to work in diverse teams. This course will help
students learn to work across diverse teams and to build
emotional intelligence.
MAX SPEC
Process
1. Generate list
individually – 1
minute
2. Consolidate and
expand in groups
– 5 minutes
In terms of the PRINCIPLES of the course list your:
“must-dos” “must-not-do”

4.
Your Purpose Statement
You are to design a 100-200 level
post-secondary course teaching students
how to work in diverse teams. This course will
help students learn to work across diverse teams
and to build emotional intelligence.
If we broke or ignored this principle,
could we still achieve our purpose?
MIN SPEC

5.
Our story

6.
Our Principles
Students:
• Must have a project through which they learn about being in a
team
• Work in a small intact team AND cross-functionally in a larger
group
• Write reflections bi-weekly to learn about themselves
• Use a behavioural assessment (SDI) to understand self and
others
• Participate in a full day Summit for team building and self-
awareness
• Complete face-to-face peer evaluation
• Weight team assessments higher than individual (60% versus
40%)
• Learn from industry professionals (Living Books)
• Introduce students to co-curricular experiences in tutorial to
acclimatize and orient to Beedie
In Fall 2014

7.
In Fall 2014

8.
Collaborate Effectively
Work in larger group, made up of three cross-
functional teams to sell a Beedie branded
product for the Bookstore
- Pitch, recommendations – Bookstore
- Mid-term exam
- Final verbal report on collaboration
- Individual reflections
Learn from Team
Experience
Product Group Debrief &Evaluation
Task Team Evaluation
Task Team verbal report
Host Productive
Conflict
-two sessions with tools
-Mid-term and final report
Seek & Use Feedback
Giving & Receiving Feedback ~
Appreciative & Coaching
Understand Self & Others
Summit
SDI
Reflections
In Your Toolkit
SDI – MVS, Personal Strengths and
Conflict Sequence
Summit
5 Collaborative Skills
Collaborative Intention
Truthfulness
Self-Awareness
Accountability
Problem Solving and Negotiation
In Fall 2016

9.
What we learned

10.
What we learned about institutional requirements
• Teaming and collaboration MUST be reinforced
across the curriculum
• Requires changes in how we design curriculum
across the program
• Need university supports for international students
and language acquisition

11.
What we learned about course design
Starting a new course that is different:
• Gets resistance
• There was no map – few introductory UG courses teach
teams this way
• Takes time to change perception and acceptance
• Requires a senior administrator as a champion
• Hard to find faculty to teach the material – need
experienced people
• Takes collaboration to build and maintain the course
• Must live what you teach – takes more time and
resources

12.
• Need to help students be curious about each persons’
uniqueness (culture, personality, preferences, familial
and religious beliefs
• Help students learn they are not alone in their fears
• Have them learn to give face-to-face feedback - it is
difficult and essential for building a coaching culture
• Need to help students build emotional intelligence and
resilience
• Help students learn that making mistakes is necessary
for growth and that they have the capacity to solve
things
• Need to show them the value of the course
What we have learned about
teaching the course

13.
What students learned
“I really appreciate the emphasis on working alongside and supporting people
from all backgrounds as SFU’s diversity continues to grow. I have found this to
be a barrier in previous group assignments. Please continue this!”
“Collaboration, to me, is the possibility to create something extraordinary that
we cannot do individually.”
“…where collaboration wasn't maintained, things started to slip.”
“Every individual has strengths and vulnerabilities…each individual, in all that
they are, brings value.”
“Don’t be afraid of conflict. Productive conflict is how you build as a group.”
“Thank you for teaching me to assert myself and stand my ground.”