Chapter 8 focuses on teams and networks. Much of my research has examined teams, with special attention to interdisciplinary health care teams. I've blogged about this research in my graduate seminar in organizational communication (democracy and health care teams, organizational communication patterns, emotions in organizations, organizing and hospice care teams).
Today, though, I'm going to talk about why I'm currently in Long Beach attending the California Web Accessibility Conference (CalWAC4). As the authors of your text note, team-based organizations view all employees as able to decide how to manage their work. A project team in an organization is typically assigned to address a specific issue or problem. A work team in an organization is responsible for an entire work process that delivers a product or service to a customer. A quality improvement team in an organization is typically concerned with work-related issues such as customer satisfaction and reducing costs. I'm currently part of a project team that's been set up to help faculty make all their instructional materials fully accessible to all students. This includes, for example, having all syllabi and handouts in screen-readable digital format, close-captioning for video, and accessible digital slides.
Class websites have to be accessible as well (that's why CSU schools will be using blackboard only through the next academic year--it's not fully accessible). I'm in Long Beach attending the conference to learn more about how to make web instructional materials more accessible. Today, I'm taking three courses: how to test websites for accessibility, how to mentor others in accessibility, and accessibility issues in online learning. A few others on my team are attending as well, but have enrolled in different courses. At my team's first meeting in the spring semester, we'll report back on what we learned. Participating in CalWAC4 provides an example of Senge's notion of team learning as balancing inquiry and advocacy. When we report back to the other team members, we'll be practicing dialogue as the free flow of meaning.
~ Professor Cyborg
Week 5: Blog 4
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Web Lecture: Procedural Democracy
I think the main point of this concept is that without it, you cannot have
democracy at all. A profound example of this i...
14 years ago
1 comment:
I didn’t realize they offered courses on how to create and manage an online course. As you said, “blackboard is not fully accessible” and I believe it is not exactly efficient either. Part of this could be due to the fact that most instructors don’t know how to use it and partially because they don’t really want to nor do they have to time to learn how to use it. I really enjoy online courses and appreciate the time that instructors, such as you, take to make the material accessible to the students. Your courses have, by far, been the best and most efficient courses I have ever taken online. I always feel like I have a sense of where I stand (grade wise), what’s coming up next, and what’s left to complete in the course. This provides a sense of ease to students who are very busy with school, work, and other family or personal obligations because we have the entire course mapped out in front of us and there are never any surprises. Personally, I find that I succeed in this type of learning environment. And I thank you for offering me these tools to succeed. This is why this is my third course, I believe, with you. :) Thanks again for all your hard work and dedication to us college kids. :)
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