Team working in distributed environments
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| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-course assessment | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
This course gives you an understanding of the issues and processes involved in planning and carrying out a team-based, problem-solving project where team members are not co-located: a situation that is becoming more common in the electronic age. You will gain practical experience in team working on a case study, which will be developed through several phases. You will be able to develop your skills in analysis, design and evaluation; your ability to reflect critically on the processes and outcomes involved; and your team-working skills. You will work remotely, communicating with your tutor and collaborating with other team members electronically.
Course content
This Level 2 course covers the fundamentals of working in geographically distributed, computer-mediated teams (so-called ‘virtual teams’). The broader context for the course is the increasing frequency with which people in the workplace are required to work not only in teams, but particularly in teams which are not (or not often) co-located. This is a mode of working which is spreading from large, multi-national organisations into smaller firms as well as more ad-hoc projects such as the various forms of the Open Source Community.
This course gives students an understanding of some of the issues and processes that are involved in working in a geographically-distributed team. It does this through practical, collaborative investigation of a case study, supported by private study materials and resources. The case study, which runs throughout the course, is described in the course guide and other course materials. The case study could take the form of a scenario such as a tender for a product, involving analysis of the problem domain, the design, development and evaluation of a prototype, leading to the presentation of a tender document.
During the course, you will work on different aspects of the case study, collaborating with your fellow team members and your tutor through online forums. At intervals during the course, each team will submit a progress report on the results of their investigation to their tutor, as well as a short commentary on progress to date by each individual team member. These reports form the assessment on the course. Your tutor will provide both you and your team with feedback on the content of these reports and on your personal progress and performance during the course. The final submission, which will be submitted at the end of the course, has a larger report from each team member, in which you will be able to demonstrate your ability to reflect critically on the processes and outcomes involved in the team exercise.
The course is supported by a number of resource sheets that can be studied alongside the practical, collaborative activities. These resource sheets will enable you to gain the specific skills necessary to study the course. This will include team-working issues such as those which might arise in planning and managing the team, as well as in working collaboratively.
Unlike many of the more conventional OU courses that you have studied, or will be studying alongside M253, you should be aware that the demands on your time for this course are of a substantially different nature from those to which you have become accustomed.
M253 requires continuing interaction with your fellow team members throughout the whole six months of the course, on a regular and frequent basis. As usual you will need to study the course materials and undertake the activities which lead up to the assignments. However, in order to complete the activities on which the assignments are based you will have to communicate and cooperate with your fellow team members, working within a tightly constrained time-frame, to meet intermediate team deadlines.
Such communication will take place via electronic media such as email or online forums, so it does not matter if you are away from your normal home or work situation; indeed, this adds to the realism of M253. If you do not make these contributions, however, you will probably find it difficult to develop the team spirit necessary to make a success of the course, or will simply discover that the rest of the team has moved on in your absence.
Having said all that, it does not mean that you cannot take any breaks during your participation in M253. If you know in advance that you are going to be away, and unable to participate in the course for a period of time, it should be possible to negotiate with your fellow team members so that your absence can be accommodated by your team in its allocation of responsibilities and in its schedules for completing the assignments. A similar situation may arise in the event of unexpected illness. Nevertheless we would strongly recommend that, under normal circumstances, you should expect to engage with the course several times each week throughout the duration of M253, for about four hours a week on average.
Entry
M253 is a Level 2 course. You will need to have a good knowledge of computing and study skills obtained either through Level 1 study with the OU, or by doing equivalent work at another university. While prior study of Data, computing and information (M150) is not a prerequisite for the course, you will find it helpful if you have studied M150 or its equivalent before taking M253. You are expected to be able to use a personal computer, to be competent with word-processing, and communication software such as email and online forums. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Qualifications
M253 is a compulsory course in our
- BSc (Honours) Computing (B29)
- BA/BSc (Honours) Computing and Statistics (B34)
- BSc (Honours) Computing with Business (B35)
- Foundation Degree in Computing and its Practice (G06)
- Diploma of Higher Education in Computing and its Practice (E41)
- BSc (Honours) Computing with Psychological Studies (B49)
M253 is an optional course in our
- Diploma in Computing (D12)
- BSc (Honours) Information Technology and Computing (B13)
- BSc (Honours) Computing and Systems Practice (B33)
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it is equally appropriate to a BA or BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
This course will involve working with other students as a member of a team. It is expected that communication and collaboration with other members of your team will take place via electronic means. Therefore the ability to travel to, or physically participate in meetings is neither required nor expected. You will need to be able to send and read messages using email, use computer conferencing software and visit websites using a web browser.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Electronic study materials, online forums, course website.
You will need
You require internet access at least once a week during the course to download course resources and keep up to date with course news. You will need the means to share documents with other team members and submit documents for assessment by your tutor during the course. Therefore you will need software that can save documents in a Microsoft Word format, such as Microsoft Office or Sun Star Office.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. Some of your course software will be provided on disk.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you can use an Apple Mac or Linux computer if you can run Windows using Boot Camp or similar.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you get the most out of the course, will mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Each assessment has two sections. The first is given over to a piece of work that your team will produce together; this will be based on the case study that runs throughout the course. The second part of each assessment will be written and submitted individually, by each student. The deadlines for the assessed pieces of work are spaced throughout the course. Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it all. You will be given more detailed information when you begin the course.
Professional recognition
This course may help you to gain recognition from a professional body. You can download our Recognition leaflets 3.3 Professional Engineering Institutions and Recognition leaflet 3.7 Computing or ask our Student Registration & Enquiry Service for a copy.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in November 2009 and May 2010. We expect it to be available twice a year.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
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An undergraduate course in Computing and ICT.
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Student Reviews
The course attempts to provide an insight into distributed working. In fabricating a realistic working scenario - building a new ...
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Good course and reasonably simple to do, expanding on what knowledge and experience I had gained prior to the course. ...
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