1. Seite 1
Hands-on Project on Sustainability
PraxisprojektzurNachhaltigkeit

2. Seite 2
Welcomespeechfrom Dr. Günther
Bachmann, Secretary General, German
Council on SustainableDevelopment
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

3. Seite 3
Hands-on Project on Sustainability:
Introduction and overview
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

4. Seite 4
What is the project all about?
Virtual practical project accompanying the Webinar Series “Global.
Fair. Together – Concepts for a sustainable world”.
Main idea: Alumni form virtual teams and work together on a
sustainability topic. Mainly four tasks:
1. teambuilding
2. research on selected topics + scenario writing (future)
3. video production
4. gathering alumni votes
The winning team travels to Germany and participates in an
event on sustainability!
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

5. Seite 5
Topics and groups
Five Sustainability topics
• Climate change and flood prevention
• Sustainability in urban transport
• Urban self-sufficiency – urban agriculture
• Sustainable tourism in protected areas
• Tilling fields and protecting species - biodiversity in rural areas
Each applicant (500) has selected a topic (one alternative topic).
Groups were matched according to topic preferences and regions.
• 24 teams; three members each; four continents
• Communication in German and English
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

6. Seite 6
Project period
All virtual teams have four weeks to complete the project; each
week, a new task is published in the webinar group
Beginning: Method webinar (11.9.2013, 16-17 h, CET)
First task: 11.9. - 13.9.
Second task (scenario): 13.9. - 25.9.
Third task (video): 25.9. - 2.10.
Fourth task: 2.10 - 9.10.
Presentations + online prize ceremony (16.10.2013,16-17 h, CET
Don‟t hesitate to ask for help! There‟s a team behind the project…
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

7. Seite 7
Team Alumniportal Deutschland
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org
Felicitas Schnabel,
DAAD
Viola Erlenmaier,
AvH
Birgit Sondergeld,
Goethe-Institut

8. Seite 8
Jury, evaluation, price
Three committee members:
• Prof. Dr. Martina Schäfer, FU Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Einhard Schmidt-Kallert, TU Dortmund
• Prof. Dr. TorstenSchäfer, HS Darmstadt
• evaluation criteria  Alumniportal
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

9. Seite 9
Team work and communicating in
virtualprojects
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

10. Seite 10
Intro – Virtual projects
Some issues in virtual teams:
Different countries/ different time zones
Groups members do not know each
other personally
Technical equipment and tools
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org
Can virtual projects be successful?
Can they even be fun??
Some ideas…

11. Seite 11
Getting to know each other
Take some time to present yourselves
and connect
Connect on social media platforms,
exchange some info about you (your
job, family situation, studies)
Not only chat, also personal calls (e.g.
via Skype)
Explore some tools (Alumniportal group
forum, Skype and other conferencing
tools, google hangouts etc.)
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

12. Seite 12
Communicating virtually
Efficient communication is key in virtual
teams (E-mails do usually NOT work)
Synchronous communication is
preferable (chat, calls)
It can be helpful to summarize your
communication concept (and tools)
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

13. Seite 13
Communicating virtually – Alumniportal
Alumniportal group forum
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

14. Seite 14
Communicating virtually - Alumniportal
Alumniportal – Personal messages and contacts lists
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

15. Seite 15
Communicating virtually - Chat tools
Skype
Download Skype in yourlanguage on
www.skype.com
Free chats, skypegroupschatsandcall(withoutvideo)
Google Hangouts
Google+ account
Facebook
Chats
Groups
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

16. Seite 16
Working together – somebasics
Defineclearrules: How do youwanttocommunicate?
Language
Platforms
Dates formeetings/ howoften/ when
Defineresponsibilities: Who doeswhat?
Who coordinatesthe group?
Who coordinatestasks?
Definerulesofbehaviour: Howtobehave?
How quick shouldteammembersreact?
Wheretostoredocuments?
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

17. Seite 17
Dividingtasks + organizingdocumentation..
Foreachtask:
Who will do it?
Howtodivideit?
Wheretowork on it?
Untilwhenshoulditbefinished?
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

18. Seite 18
Online collaboration - Alumniportal
Group Files and Pictures
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

19. Seite 19
Online collaboration - Alumniportal
Group Pages
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

20. Seite 20
Online collaboration tools - External
Externaltoolsforstoringandsimultaneouslyworking on documents
Google Drive (Google account)
Severalpeoplecanworksimultaneously on ONE doc.
Dropbox
Free storageandsharingoffolders
Onlyonepersoncanwork on a doc. at a time
Andothercloudservices…
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org

21. Seite 21
First task: teambuilding
Start now and usethetutorialsforeachtask
No chattool in theAlumniportal find yourownchannel
Don„thesitate to askforhelp! Usethetools in theAlumniportal
www.alumniportal-deutschland.org
Thanks a lot foryourattention!