Describes the development of online courses at Penn State's World Campus, a virtual university that employs information technology to deliver academic programs to adult learners worldwide. Discusses the team development process, including instructional designers and faculty; communication; evaluation; and faculty opinions. (LRW)

The evolution of Project Adventure's Full Value Contract from its original No Discount format is described. Although wording varies among groups, all versions ask the group to create safe and respectful behavioral norms under which it will operate, to commit to those norms, and to accept a shared responsibility for their maintenance. (TD)

While working and playing together at camp, staff often work through most, if not all, of the stages of group formation, commonly referred to as forming, storming, norming, performing, and finally, transforming. Ten adventure-based games and activities are presented to help camp directors train staff and help them progress through these stages.…

The "Talking with TJ" teamwork-building series is a video-based program designed to promote social/emotional competence in elementary school children. The program emphasizes group planning, diversity appreciation, and teamwork. Presents data on the program's effectiveness with a sample of high-risk students. Results reveal significant positive…

This article discusses the role in the Netherlands of independent regional advisory teams made up of professionals who have experience with individuals who exhibit challenging behaviors. One team's methods are illustrated by describing the case of a completely isolated 24-year-old man who, after a 7-year intervention, was able to fulfill a long…

Describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Self and Peer Assessment Resource Kit (SPARK), a Web-based template developed to improve the fairness of team assessment and enhance students' learning from team tasks by allowing students to rate confidentially their own and their peers' contributions. Presents four case studies of SPARK…

This article describes the Future Problem Solving Program, a year-long curriculum project with competitive and non-competitive options. The international program involves 250,000 students and is designed to help students enlarge, enrich, and make more accurate their images of the future. Team problem solving and individual problem solving…

Investigates a graduate-level online course in which groups of four students were used to lead online discussions. The teams were examined for their ability to bring instructional design, discourse facilitation, and direct instruction to the discussion. Results indicate that the peer teams fulfilled each of the three roles and valued the…

Evaluated effects of a reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) intervention on arithmetic performance of 12 low-income, underachieving elementary school students. Results indicated that merely teaming students and providing them with positive attention for constructive team activities had no clear effect on arithmetic performance. RPT condition that…

Rather than focusing on "proven" practices, Washington State University and the faculties of more than 50 schools have collaborated on Project LEARN (League of Educational Action Researchers in the Northwest) to enhance teachers' professional lives. Teams of teachers actively pursue the answers to their own teaching and learning…

This paper presents the requirements for family participation on multidisciplinary teams under Public Law 99-457, reviews literature on family participation on teams working with handicapped children, identifies factors that influence team functioning, and suggests how team members can facilitate family involvement. (Author/JDD)

Describes how a writing teacher and a photography teacher teamed up to provide opportunities for high school students to combine their skills in the production of the school newspaper. (MG)

Few administrators fail to become leaders because they lack technical skills. The problem is lack of people skills and inability to exercise good judgment. Administrators can minimize failure by valuing honesty, objectivity, delegation, and feedback and by respecting chain of command and the limitations of power. Other potential pitfalls are…

The family is the handicapped infant or toddler's ecological system, is critical to the child's optimal development, and must be incorporated into early intervention programs. Characteristics of the ecosystem of the family of a handicapped child are discussed, followed by characteristics of ecologically attuned early intervention teams. (JDD)

A multidisciplinary team, including representatives from medicine, psychology, and residential living, examined 436 mentally retarded residents' regimen of psychotropic medications, with the goal of finding the least restrictive method of behavior management and lowest drug dosage. Significant reductions in psychotropic drug use were observed,…