To provide a long case-study where-by you can observe and practise the techniques for working in groups.
There are two "hottish" topics at the moment in management studies: the learning organization and group facilitation. I want to learn about both of these - and I want you to teach me. On top of that, I also want world-wide fame for my "Management Web Pages" so that I get lots of visitors to see my book advert.
There will be two groups of twenty: A+B and C+D. Group AB will work on the learning organization and group CD will work on group facilitation.
The primary source of information is the Web. You will find links under my Management pages on the web to get you started. You may use any sources of information you wish. Note that direct copying of text will not display your own talents.
You have available all the time designated at Group project PLUS the final Friday Morning. There will be a short meeting for all at 2pm Friday 16th in CR10.
Twenty is a large number - you may wish to sub-divide soon - but be careful to ensure links/information-flow between the sub-groups.
Establish as soon as possible what tasks need to be done - gathering and presenting information may not be the most time consuming.
The technical aspects of producing large amounts of Web and text information may be difficult - it might be wise to assign resource specifically to investigating these problems rather than looking at your designated topics.
Evaluate all suggestions carefully before adopting them.
The Web is fastest in the morning.
Some links lead to archives of discussion groups. You might like to spend some time following "threads" in a discussion and then writing a summary of the issues and the "outcome" of the discussion.
Group CD may like a sheet of paper I have on FAQ sheets
Room availability is a difficulty. I have the room-booking timetable for the department if this will be helpful.
If you do not already have web pages of your own, you can create them by adding a directory called WWW (with world execute and read permission) in your own home directory. This would then allow references such as http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~ee4name/page.html. The coordination of your pages and pointers will require some thought.
If printing out informatin from the web, the commands "lpr -Pps5x2" and "lpr -Ps5x4" produce two pages and four pages to a sheet.
Both the assigned topics are vast - you will need to focus your material quickly, although the web-page and lecture foci may differ.
Schedule progress and tasks, and monitor and review progress.
Check that you (and everyone else) at all times has (have) a clear understanding ofthe task allocated to you (them) by the group.
You will initially suffer from information overload - do not pass this onto your deliverables.
Plan to critique/correct/revise each others work.