Most mid-life learners participated in a school system where collaborative learning was discouraged, and individual achievement was rewarded.

Royal Roads University (RRU) is situated in Victoria, BC on the site that previously housed Royal Roads Military College. Royal Roads University was formed in 1995 to deliver applied and professional programs to British Columbian, Canadian, and international learners. RRU delivers four masters programs in business, leadership, the environment, and conflict analysis. The programs are designed for mid-life learners who want to continue studying while devoting themselves to other commitments like work and family.

To create flexible learning options, and to serve a geographically disperse student population, the masters programs are delivered using a distributed model – where students alternate between spending between three to five weeks on campus, before returning to their communities to study by distance.

Present a clear rationale to students and faculty why teamwork is a key instructional strategy

It is important to convey to learners that teamwork is a critical skill for today's workplace. The Conference Board of Canada ranks teamwork as one of the three major employability skills.

Use diversity as the criteria for defining teams.

Before learners begin their first residency they are put into teams of five to six people. The teams are pre-determined and diversity is the defining criteria. Teams are made up of students of different ages, gender, professional expertise, education, and geographical region etc.

The rationale for creating teams with different skills and backgrounds is that students come to see each other as resources and to value different approaches and skills. For example, while a group of engineers might be particularly compatible working group because they think and approach their work in the same way, they might have difficulties when they are asked to complete a qualititative assignment, and can benefit from having a team member who is used to such an approach. Again, the learning environment is set up to reflect today’s working world where teams of different specialties are brought together to complete a task.

Make effective team work a core competency.

Teamwork is defined as a key competency for an RRU graduate.

Each course includes both team and individually completed assignments. While this rule of thumb varies – generally 60% of the grade is allocated to individual, and 40% to team work.

Teach students how to work as part of a team.

In each program students complete residencies on campus prior to studying at a distance. When they arrive on campus students form into teams that work face-to-face to become familiar and comfortable with concepts around team dynamics, personality types, roles and responsibilities, and team conflict and resolution. This experience forms the foundation for how they will work a virtual team.

During residency the students are also trained in how to use information technologies. This orientation includes 'virtual days' where students are asked to complete on-line assignments using the same synchronous, asynchronous and collaborative tools that they will have when working at a distance.

Provide training and strategies for the instructors. Instructors are trained how to support teamwork in a virtual environment, how to manage team conflict, how to create team assignments, and how to assess and evaluate on-line teamwork.

Develop strategies for resolving conflict.

It’s critical to get both instructors and students to think ahead about what they will do when conflict does occur. How can an instructor identify when a team is having difficulties? What will a team do when one person is not pulling their weight? What does the instructor do when teams say they can’t work together? What are the rules around ‘firing’ a team member?

In the future, we will be researching how to take the team-building exercises that are completed during residency, and replicate them in an on-line environment.