To Be a Successful Learning Team

To Be Successful Learning Team Foundations of University Studies/ GEN/195 Laura Elsner 1/2/2013 To Be Successful as a Learning Team Cooperation and communication are the main ingredients when it comes to a successful learning team. Effective team management is a vital part of becoming a successful learning team. â€Å"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage (Thomas, E 2012) says it best. Just because we are successful on one project, does not mean failure will not revisit us. It is the trust and confidence that we put in to each other that makes failure obsolete.Being in a learning team at the University of Phoenix has really been a great experience. When working in a group, it is important to first get a feel for your group members. In our learning team, we are extremely lucky that we get along and gel great together. When working in a team, that is one of the most important pieces to this puzzle. Also, we have had an opportunity to get together for a non Univ ersity of Phoenix related activity and it has also given us a chance to get a feel for each other outside of the school type atmosphere.We felt that was a very important piece of the team bonding experience. We also understand that we all have different learning styles but luckily there not too far off from one another. When we first formed our group, we understood how much more important it is to get together and meet as opposed to trying to do a conference call with one another. We decided that at least once a week, we will meet at the Kalamazoo Public Library to do our learning team assignments so there is no confusion with what needs to be done and what our individual responsibilities are.Trusting your team members is another vital piece to the learning team puzzle. If you cannot trust the members of your learning team, it will be difficult for everyone to participate and it can also deter the group in whatever assignment that needs to be completed. Although, trust is earned and not given, every group member needs to understand that the most important thing is the completion of the assignment and every group member needs to pull his or her own weight. â€Å"Less ssertive team members will be encouraged by the atmosphere of trust in an effective learning team to take on a more directive, custodial role on occasions. The more assertive will learn that their success depends on the success of the entire team, and they will become more aware of the value of team work and joint effort in achieving goals† (Baker University Handbook, 2010 ). When assigning tasks to different group members in your learning team, you want to assign the tasks that will appeal to a person’s strengths.If you have a member that is not very familiar with a computer or someone that is not very proficient at typing, then you do not want to put that person in charge of typing your project. You want to try to cater to everyone’s strengths, while at the same time, working to strengthen some of their weaknesses. If you have the opportunity to choose your group members, it is important to choose people that you are able to get along with. Also, you want to try to bring some diversity to the group. Different people bring different things to the table, both good and bad.It is not always a good idea to bring someone in to your group because they are your friend or you like hanging out with them. Remember, the main goal of the learning team is to have maximum participation and most of all, completing the assignment, the right way. By understanding what you need to accomplish and the steps you need to take in order to accomplish your mission, working as a learning team can be extremely beneficial to all parties involved. â€Å"Those who want success should think like a planter.They should understand that having the right seed is an essential key to success, but they must also understand that the soil that they entrust to the seed is just as vital†¦ C an you honestly say the environment(s) you are in will yield the kind of harvest you are expecting? † (Thomas, E 2012). References https://twitter. com/EricThomasQuote http://www. bakeru. edu/images/pdf/AC_schools/Learning-Team-Handbook. pdf http://www. thegreatnessmind. com/2011/12/28/inspiring-quotes-from-eric-thomas-et-the-hip-hop-preacher-and-the-secrets-to-success/