Symposium 2017

The demand for innovation in the context of a globalized workforce has raised the importance of developing collaborative skills and increased the challenges of managing workplace diversity. Knowing how to collaborate effectively is an essential skill for business and other types of work environments (Conference Board of Canada, nd. Retrieved December 10, 2016,). Given this, many post-secondary programs have introduced courses in their curricular or co-curricular streams to address these needs. Developing such courses to teach students these skills can be challenging, exciting, and transformational – for both the student and the educator. 

In response to feedback from employers and surveys of both domestic and international students, our business school developed a course for new students in our undergraduate program to learn how to collaborate effectively in diverse teams. We crossed limitations that can often exist in higher education by teaching skills often not addressed until upper-level courses. In doing so we better prepare students for working with diverse groups to achieve a common goal – both within the university context and as they prepare and enter the workforce. 

In this session, participants will generate ideas, questions, and suggestions for developing a 100-200 level course to transform how students work with others and utilize diversity in teams. After this activity, participants will hear about the design challenges we have had to overcome and the areas where we continue to learn.

This session will appeal to educators (curricular and co-curricular) currently designing or delivering learning experiences to teach teamwork.