Introduction to Webex Teams
Webex Teams in Action
Students Reflect on Webex Teams

Introducing Webex Teams

[0:00] In this video we will discuss a tool available to faculty and staff at UW-Whitewater: Webex Teams. This app was designed to facilitate digital communication and collaboration among work groups—or teams. People can use it to chat with each other, share documents, and even meet online.

[0:25] Webex Teams comprises two principle components: a physical Teams Board, and the Teams app. The Teams Board is essentially a large touch-screen television that facilitates video conferences, and boasts numerous helpful features, such as a digital white board that can push images out to groups after they have been created. UW-Whitewater has a few of these boards on campus; however, they are not yet widely available.

[0:53] For now, we will focus on the space sides of Teams. This involves an app that can be used by anyone with a UW-Whitewater e-mail address, and can even include people outside of the university. The app can be installed on nearly any device, including cell phones, tablets, and computers. Once installed, users can use Teams to send messages, files, and hold online meetings.

[1:19] How might instructors use the app? Consider this example. After class one day, this student had a comment about that day’s material. They opened their Teams app and dashed off a very thoughtful piece of commentary to their instructor, who replied later than night to thank them. This exchange was one of many between this student and this instructor over the course of the semester. Teams manages an ongoing dialogue between any pair or group of individuals you would like. It makes for a quick and easy way to stay in touch with students, and for them to reach out to instructors, as well.

[1:59] Here is another great example of Teams in action. This image comes from a dedicated space for a small group of students within a larger class. One individual recognized that they might be late to class one evening because of a field trip. They reached out to their team to ask if someone could share notes from the first part of class if they did not make it to the meeting on time. A peer immediately responded with an affirmative, though, as you can see, they did it using a GIF. The student on the field trip responded with a GIF of their own. The instructor, who had been in meetings all afternoon, did not catch up on messages until after this group of students had identified and resolved a problem on their own. Tools like Webex Teams facilitate these sorts of positive and productive interactions.

Webex Team in Action

[0:02] In this video we will take a look at some of the advantages Webex Teams provides in the classroom.

[0:10] One major benefit is that Webex Teams facilitates digital small groups. Instructors can create what we might call personalized learning units, or virtual teams that include only members of a particular group. This helps instructors communicate with various groups, and supports teams of students working together asynchronously and/or remotely. Critically, instructors can easily monitor progress of various teams, even if students are responsible for managing day-to-day activities.

[0:44] On the right-hand side of the screen is an example of what personalized learning units look like in practice. Here, a class is divided into five different groups. Students select a team name, a profile picture, and make the space their own. When the team “Big Four” works on their project, they can chat, send documents, etc. within the “Big Four” space that does not include the rest of the class.

[1:15] Here is another example of students helping each other inside of a personalized learning unit. Here, an individual is struggling to generate an idea for an upcoming homework assignment, so they reached out to their team to ask how others were approaching the activity. A peer responded with some guidance within a few minutes. Other suggestions were shared later in the day.

[1:42] This example illustrates the value of Webex Teams when it comes to organizing team activities. Here, a student takes initiative, proposing to the rest of their team that the group get a head start on the end-of-term project. Within a couple of minutes, other team members agreed, and the team organized a meeting schedule, all without the input of the instructor.

[2:07] A second major benefit of Webex Teams is that it promote effective engagement online. Instructors can certainly mandate online engage through discussion boards and other required activities; however, students often focus on only completing the minimum necessary standards, and sometimes miss or do not fully appreciate the activity’s value as a result.

[2:31] Yet precisely because Teams is easily accessible and makes it easy to share information, it can promote a good deal more opt-in engagement. That is, course contributions that are not required, but rather emerge organically.

[2:50] Consider these examples. There three screenshots all profile instances where students took it upon themselves outside of class to share with the group applications of course concepts they observed. On the left, a student raises the issue of social desirability bias. In the center, another student jokes about being trained to look for representative samples when looking at polling information. On the right, a student shared with the class an unusual story about a prisoner who was momentarily died from an unrelated health issue while serving a life sentence, and argued (unsuccessfully) that, as a result of momentarily dying, had legally served his sentence. There are all examples of students applying course applications and objectives in their daily lives.

[3:44] Another example of this sort of opt-in engagement came in April 2020 during the primary election in Wisconsin. The election happened to be scheduled around the same time that the U.S. experienced a surge in coronavirus cases, prompting questions about whether the election should—and could—be postponed. This instructor asked their students to weigh on what they thought would happen. It was not required, and it was later in the evening outside of class hours, yet a number of students immediately jumped in to the conversation and shared their perspectives.

[4:23] Webex Teams offers a third significant type of benefit: community-building. Instructors know it can be difficult to initiate and facilitate productive conversations in college classes, particularly the content is tricky and students are in a remote and/or asynchronous setting. Webex Teams can help mitigate these challenges by contributing to a culture of collaboration and community within the digital space. When managed well, Webex Teams can help students get to know each other and grow more comfortable with each other, laying the foundation for productive conversations and interactions in the future.

[5:01] Here, we observe an instance where a group of students good-naturedly argue over what order teams would present their term projects during the final exam period. While not the most controversial of issues, it underscores how a group of individuals can grow comfortable with each other to the point that they kid and jest online. This sort of environment is crucial when the time comes for more serious content matter, such as students feeling comfortable asking questions, or groups engaging in heavy conversations about politically or socially controversial topics.

Students Reflect on Webex Teams

[0:02] In recent years, data have been collected from students enrolled in courses that use Webex Teams extensively. In this video, we will look at their feedback.

[0:16] The assessment project focuses on three key areas. The first is collaboration: to what extent did Webex Teams make it easier for students to communicate with their peers and their professor? These figures present answers to this question. Consider the image on the left. The horizontal axis indicates students’ level of agreement with the statement that Webex Teams made it easier for them to communicate with their peers. The vertical axis indicates what percentage of students indicated what level of agreement. The data indicate that more than half of students responded with the highest level of agreement possible-“Strongly agree.” The second-most common answer was the second-highest level of agreement, and so on. A similar pattern emerges in the figure on the right: students find the Webex Teams tool to facilitate communication with their colleagues in class and their instructors.

[1:27] The second set of data reflect students’ perceptions about community in the classroom. The figure on the left asks students how much they agree with the statement that Webex Teams made group work more effective. The figure on the right asks students about the ability for Webex Teams to help individuals build relationships with their peers. Here again we observe that large majorities of students agree that Webex Teams aids in group work, and in forming bonds with other students in the class.

[2:02] The final area of assessment is academic performance: do students feel that Webex Teams helps them learn, and helps them earn higher grades? As before, we once again see that on balance students see Webex Teams as helpful in terms of performance. There are somewhat more neutral feelings in the performance data; that is not surprising given that Webex Teams should have an indirect effect in this area; that is, it should help students complete tasks which, in turn, lead to higher grades. Webex Teams is not itself a study aid; rather, it is a tool that promotes more effective communication and collaboration. Despite this fact, a majority of students still find Webex Teams to have a positive effect on performance.

[2:52] In sum, early assessments of Webex Team’s efficacy suggest the tool is quite promising. It promotes some of the most critical objectives college instructors pursue: clear communication, productive teamwork, and effective learning.