Introduction

I teach a course in project management at New York City College of Technology. It is a capstone course meant to present the students with methods to plan their final projects and prepare them to work in the professional world. I assign a series of projects that present the students with opportunities to use the knowledge they have built over the past three years in practical situations. The class projects include team collaborative opportunities. The first and last projects are part of a case study in the research of the decision making process in a team environment beginning in the fall of 2013. The study tracks each team’s progress and ability to make decisions at critical moments in the project. I am using instructional scaffolding to teach the students the collaborative team process. They will experience directed learning in class and practice self-directed learning outside of class. The collaborative team projects are the self-directed portion of the process. The directed portions of the process are in class assignments, created to mirror potions of the team projects. This allows each team to practice key elements of the projects before attempting the self-directed element themselves. 

 

Developmental Relationships

A developmental relationship is usually defined as a relationship between one mentor and one individual mentee. (Higgins, 2001) The relationship can develop into a developmental relationship of two-way learning. (Clutterbuck, 2013)This paper presents to idea of the mentor/faculty working with a team of mentees/students all driving towards a common goal. The mentor is actually mentoring multiple relationships. (Higgins, 2001) The mentor mentors each individual mentee, the mentees mentor each other and the faculty also mentors the team as a collaborative unit. The faculty member has had contact with the students for the past four years on indivudual and team projects. The significance of this project is that it is inside a capstone course. The students have completed studying their specialtys and are learning how to use their accumulated knowledge in a team environment. The students will be moving into the professional world within the year. These projects are meant to present the likely stresses and pressures of the next phase of their lives.  

 

Collaborative Team Project

Planning is a key ingredient to completing the project as a theoretical live production process. The concept is that as the mentees’ work to complete tasks as individuals using their specialized skills. They learn to collaborate in a team to create outcomes. The goal is for each student to learn to function as a team member. Live performance planning has conventions that allow the team to work within a structure. The timeline and completion dates are sacrosanct. As mentees’ grow and learn to trust their mentor; the teams learn confidence, and then their ability to make decisions mature.  

A transparent information sharing system is provided to the team. This allows the mentor to observe the team and provides the team with an instant communication and information sharing location. The mentor creates a plan to using instructional scaffolding (Ambrose, 2010) to direct the mentee through the learning process. The mentor work’s with the mentee to set up a system of feedback and self-reflection to monitor the mentees progress. (Ambrose, 2010)  The mentor can use language that supports the emotional well-being of the mentee and provide an environment that will support the potential risk taking tasks as the project progresses. As a team the mentor and mentee develop a communication stream that promotes active listening skills within the mentor/mentee relationship and the larger collaborative creative team.  The mentor develops and shares a rubric with the mentee of the expected outcomes of their process. The rubric was developed specifically for the team projects and is a work in progress. The rubric was created to be shared with the students so that they understood what elements of the team process were of value to the mentor. For the mentor the rubric is a tool to monitor the team and develop the mentoring skills. If the outcome was poor the mentor needed to evaluate her method and change strategies to improve student performance. The rubric demonstrates how the mentor plans to evaluate the outcomes of the guidance relationship. (Appendix A)

 

The Mentor

The mentor is a production specialist with knowledge of one or more production areas. Production specialists work their way up through the system from laborer to team leader to designer. The mentor is aware of the variety of technical areas in live production and the impossibility of being an expert in every area. Instead the mentor needs to be open to the idea that they are constantly learning about live production technologies when advising the design team. The mentees are going to present creative uses of technology. Guiding the design team allows the mentor to step back and present best practice techniques in a low risk setting. The mentor has learned through experience the value of collaboration within the creative team. The mentor is providing the students with a support system to bounce ideas and accomplish a plan of action. The mentor works with the students individually help them plan, present and execute a design element in collaboration with their creative team. The mentee is aware that a live performance production process can be a cruel work environment. Opening night is a solid unmovable deadline. An important aspect of the team projects is allowing the students to fail in an environment where nothing but a grade is at stake. The failing circumstance can be an opportunity to evaluate and reflect on the project. The mentee can reflect on what elements worked and what elements needed repair. The cruel truth is a poor performance professionally can be damaging, leading to a negative reputation in the industry. Sometimes a production element is cut due to cost, time or a complexity that will not allow it to be completed within the production timeline. In these instances design elements are cut within the collaboration process. This type of decision will not adversely affect ones professional reputation as it was made within the creative process with the design team.  The experience matures young professionals quickly. The process also culls out individuals who do not have or cannot develop the temperament necessary to be a part of a design team. It takes an honest and strong personality to admit when an element they are responsible for delivering must be cut for the good of the entire project. At the beginning of a career the experience is humbling. The student team members need to be persistent with their planning and beliefs of how best they can contribute to the whole. By participating in the process they will mature, receiving the experience necessary to build a professional career.

 

Methodology of Collaborative Team Projects

A class of sixteen entertainment technologist students will be put into four member theoretical production teams. Each team will be provided with access to a transparent communication system to complete a series of tasks. The teams are responsible for collecting information including:

• Locate a performance venue that has 150 or less seats.
• Visit the venue and evaluate the resources available. 

Each team will be given a production rider for a fictional production (A rider is a detailed list of all the technical needs for a touring show). The team’s goal is to find a venue that would best accommodate the rider in New York City. The culmination of the project is a presentation of each venue. The teams have thirty days to complete their tasks. Each group will need to demonstrate their ability to manage their team’s time, skills and resources. Each team is charged with creating an organizational system that would allow them to collaborate, delegate tasks and coordinate schedules of the team members.  The class meets once a week. They have 30 days to complete the task. Each team must make two presentations: one at two weeks into the project: present the chosen venue.  At the culmination of the project each team will present their outcomes; the evaluation of the venue.

The process will be repeated at the end of the semester with a more complex assignment. The teams will be required to have two face to face meetings per project, but are allowed to have more meetings as long as there are minutes taken. The minutes will include team member assignments, goals, deadlines and internal outcomes.  Each student group is given a task to complete. The lifespan of the team begins when the task is assigned and end on the assigned completion date. The transparent technology to be used is an online wiki inside of the classroom black board. This will allow each student access to the wiki to share ideas, data and content as well as an area to store research and collected materials. The software will allow the instructor to track the history and timeline of each student’s contribution to the content.

 

Goals to achieve

• Create transparent information stream to communicate.
• Communicate within a transparent information technology system
• Create a Collection of deliverables.
• Meet face to face.
• Document all decisions
• Document all meetings
• Present outcomes

 

Structure

The teaching plan is to use use instructional scaffolding to prepare each team to work together as a unit and prepare the students to collaborate with their peers. The instructor folds self-directed learning (Bolhuis, 2003) into the mentoring process.  Dennen defines Scaffolding as: “meaning support of students so that they can cope with the task situation. The strategy also entails the gradual withdrawal of teacher from the process, when the students can “manage on their own” (Dennen, 2004). The professor uses process oriented teaching (Bolhuis, 2003) to take the student through the production process from beginner to end. The first step is to have the team work on a hypothetical low risk practice assignments so they can use the practice to gain experience and apply it in their team project. This allows the mentee to take ownership of the realized project by building confidence with experience. The mentee needs to build on these experiences to move into moments of self-learning. (Hiemstra, 1994)  Over the course of four weeks the faculty presents in class assignments that simulate portions of the team project. Each key element in the team project is practiced in class; if the team is organized they will use the knowledge to build a good final product of their team project.The goal is for the teams to become an organized collaborative unit.

The mentor learns as much as the mentee when teaching moments are part of the process. If one element of the project is overwhelming for one mentee; the mentor can break down the process of that element into discreet steps. Practice each step as another hypothetical moment. Isolate the step that is causing the mentee so much concern and then work it into the other steps. Repeat the process until it becomes second nature to the mentee. Once the element is incorporated back into the process the element once dreaded becomes a point of certainty for the mentee and they can apply a new skill to their project. These moments allow the mentor to examine their process of teaching and how it can be a positive part of the learning curve of the mentee.

 

Ground rules

The mentor is responsible for establishing and reinforcing ground rules for interaction with the teams and individual mentees’. The rules exist to provide a consistent environment to support the mentor/mentee relationship. The ground rules should include: meetings times and lengths, agendas of goals. The mentees need to create the outcomes and deadlines. The process of creating a communication stream and the definition of confidentiality should be defined and agreed upon. No part of the mentee/ mentor relationship can be open ended. All communication with the mentee must be for a specific purpose. The mentee needs the consistency of a safe environment to express their ideas.

           

Face-to-Face meetings

The mentor must meet with the student teams face to face. All meetings should have time limits; this helps the team get through all the topics need to be discussed and also lends to time management skills. It is vital to have meeting with the individual mentees as well. Some students hide in a team environment; making promises they cannot deliver due to peer pressure. The mentor includes team building exercises at the beginning of the process to ensure the teams learn about their members’ strengths and weaknesses. The one on one meeting’s will give the mentor a better view on an individual students’ ability to succeed in a production environment.

All meetings between the mentor and the teams or individual mentees’ should have an agenda. The mentor should state that the mentees’ must prepare for the meetings with content on each topic. Keep track of the time during the meeting; do not let one afflicted item bog down the agenda. All items on the list need to have a planned outcome.  Beware of significant unresolved issues or SUI. (Clutterbuck, 2013). These issues tend to be ignored as its content may be misunderstand or perceived unobtainable by the mentee. An SUI is an element that the mentee does not want to focus on and attempts to save it for a later discussion. The mentor should set a date for deliberation of the SUI; otherwise the item becomes a problem with no possibility of resolution within the specified time frame.  The mentor and mentee should never meet without an agenda. Poor planning lead’s to wasted time by the mentee who may be worrying about one obstacle to the detriment of the entire project. It is the responsibility of both parties to ensure the time is used wisely. The mentor is responsible for keeping the conversation on track and to the point. Have a plan and structure that allows discussion of all topics on the agenda.

 

Timeline of mentoring process

The mentor also needs to setup a timeline of what is achievable for the mentor/mentee process within the project time frame. Items such as teaching moments (Cate, 2004) need to be a part of the process timeline. Each topic in the subsequent meeting agendas needs time to be presented, defined, practiced and implemented by the mentor/mentee team. Provide specific moments in the timeline for the mentee to self-monitor (Ambrose, 2010) and evaluate the process he is experiencing. This is crucial for the outcomes to be understood and improved upon throughout the process.

 

Feedback

The mentee will often desire feedback as it is a way for them to acquire quick self-assurance that they are on the right track. Feedback is supposed to give the learner insight into their performance (Clynes, 2008). The comments should include strategies for the mentee to improve their performance. Feedback is positive when the mentee uses it to move forward with the project. Feedback can be negative if it becomes a crutch for the mentee. Some individuals wait for positive feedback before proceeding with the project. The mentee transforms the feedback into instructions; and waits for all the answers to be given to them rather than take the risk of making their own decisions. The production team may stop mid project waiting for mentor feedback as a safety net before propelling the project forward. Instead create a system of self-assessment that the team or individual mentee can use to provide feedback between meetings. The mentor and mentee work together to create a self-assessment system for the mentee to practice and use to build a reliable assessment plan. Have the mentee post all self-assessment experiences and outcomes on their transparent communication system. This will allow the production process to continue and get the mentor out of the business of emotional support system for the mentee. The self-assessment can consist of a list of rules the mentee can use to evaluate and document their idea and its value in the design process.

 

The self-assessment list used to examine a potential project element

• Is the idea safe?
• Is the content available and budget sound?
• Is their adequate time to perform the task?
• Is there time in the planning process to execute this task?
• Does it support the production concept?

The mentee will face the reality of quality versus quantity versus time. Requiring the mentee to go through the checklist will enable the mentee to decide if the element is worth the use of time and resources. Because the mentee is posting the outcome in the transparent commination system, the mentor can read about the experience and give feedback between face to face meetings.

 

Trust

Trust may be gained when the mentor is perceived by the protégé as competent, concerned, open and reliable. (Bouquillon, 2005) The mentor has created a teaching structure that is both predictable and cooperative by having consistent meetings and rigorous planning. These elements present the mentor as being competent and reliable. Demonstrating concern and openness can be presented by using active listening with the students and teaching them active listening skills in an in class exercise. This exercise includes:

• Looking at the speaker eye to eye
• Presenting a calm physical demeanor
• Repeating back the speakers idea in the listeners own words
• Encourage the speaker to clarify points
• Helping the speaker to find the best solution by encouraging them to assess the potential risks involved.

Active listening fosters the relationship between the speaker and the listener. (Fassaerta, 2007)All elements are needed to earn the trust of the mentee. Trust provides the structure to build the student’s confidence. These elements will boost the mentees ability to take risks and make decisions. 

 

Taking risk and problem solving techniques

Taking risks and problem solving have similar steps for processing. Students take risks if they are confident. They will participate in problem solving if they are comfortable participating in the team process.  Steps to helping the student lower their stress and build their confidence when they perceive they are taking risk include: have the student research the idea and its content. The student should present his or her self -assessment of the idea and the outcomes of each bullet point to the mentor. Once it is established that the idea should be presented to the team have the mentee practice presenting the idea to the mentor for feedback. Lastly the mentee should examine how their ideas’ affect the other production areas. Create a picture or model of the idea and how it integrates with the project for the production team to see and explore when the mentee presents their idea to the creative team. This demonstrates that the mentee has examined how their idea affects the entire team and the project deliverables.

 

Conclusion

Mentoring team projects creates multiple developmental relationships. Individual mentoring occurs as part of the process, but the primary goal is to mentor the team to work together as a cohesive unit.  Planning how to mentor a team requires planning and acute observation of the process. The momentum leading up to opening night teaches the student team members to be aware of the schedule and collaborative nature of live performance production. The individual members become aware of the entire teams design areas goals, and how their personnel outcomes relate and affect the entire projects design objectives. The process of planning and executing the project with the mentor creates teaching moments that provide contact time to build the developmental relationships. The in class exercise’s build mentee confidence and strengthen the developmental relationship within the creative teams. As each milestone is achieved the teams move from directed to self-directed learning; the mentors’ role changes from teacher to observer to collaborator. At the end of the project the mentor and mentees evaluate the outcomes communicating ideas to improve future project results. The mentor’s goal is to prepare the students for the professional environment of live entertainment. The developmental relationships built during the project are critical to the students learning how to be collaborators in their future professional environments.

 

Appendix A

RUBRIC of mentor/mentee outcomes

Communication	Missed meetings	Started but ignored communication system	Created system not transparent	Observable process	Transparent accessible system with feed back
Ground rules	Late, ignored agenda items	Unable to complete agenda items	Completed some tasks	Followed agenda, tabled items cut	Excellent Follow through no items ignored
Learning	In class exercise attempted; experience not applied in project	In class exercise minimal effort. Process not deployed in project	In class completed. Scaffolding attempted, steps not completed.	Scaffolding process successful Self-learning demonstrated	Completed process from scaffolding through execution
Risk taking	Safe zone	Defined	Attempted	Communicated	Deployed
Time management	Timeline incomplete	Timeline Created	Timeline not followed or updated	Timeline Updated	Timeline planned and executed
Problem solving	Avoided	Defined	Researched	Presented	Process completed
Deliverables	Items cut poor time management	elements incomplete unacceptable execution	Items cut due to inadequate execution	All elements complete average execution	All items Completed on time. Excellent execution

 

 

REFERENCES

Ambrose, B. D. (2010). How Learn Works. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.

Bolhuis, S. (June 2003). Towards process-oriented teaching for self-directed lifelong learning: a multidimensional perspective. Learning and Instruction,13(3) 327.

Bouquillon, E. A. (2005, August). ‘It’s only a phase’: examining trust, identification and mentoring functions received across the mentoring phases. Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(2) 239-258.

Cate, O. t. (2004). Orienting Teaching Toward the Learning Process. AC A D E M I C ME D I C I N E,7 9(3) 219-228.

Clutterbuck, D. (2013). Making The Most f Developmental Learning. Liverpool: Wordscapes Metal @ Hill Station.

Clynes, M. R. (2008, March 27). Feedback: An essential element of student learning in clinical practice. Retrieved from School of Nursing, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland: http://www.nurseeducationinpractice.com/article/S1471-5953(08)00020-6

Dennen, V. P. (2004). Cognitive Apprenticeship In Educational Practice: Research on Scaffolding, Modeling, Mentoring, And Coaching As Instructional Strategies. Handbook of research on educational communications, 813.

Fassaerta, T. S. (2007). Active listening in medical consultations: Development of the Active Listening Observation Scale (ALOS-global). Patient Education and Counseling 68 (3) 258.

Hiemstra, R. I. (1994). Self-directed learning. The International Encyclopedia of Education (second edition),Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Higgins, M. C. (2001). Reconceptualizing Mentoring at Work: A Developmental Network Perspective. Acadamy of Management Review, 26(2), 264-288.

Mehraa, A. (2006). Distributed leadership in teams: The network of leadership perceptions and team performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(3) 232-245.

Parker, W. B. (2003). Scene Design and Stage Lighting. Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.