In the real world, success doesn’t always depend on how good you are, but how good you are at working with others. Despite the number of group assignments that happen in school, however, this is a skill that’s still largely underdeveloped. Just think about the number of times group work has torn friends apart!
“Experience has long shown us that students will not spontaneously become effective team members without guidance,” reports Times Higher Education. “If we’re going to assign group work or team projects, and if we really do believe that being able to work well in a group is important, we should carve out class time to teach effective group processes.”
In the Real World Challenge (RWC), a program designed by OWN Academy to bring real-world learning closer to today’s students, participants find that working together with others isn’t merely an option; it’s actually a necessity. As such, they also learn to contend with the more uncomfortable aspects of collaboration, much of which mirrors reality.
“When working in a group, silence is not golden,” says Joshua Pritchard, one of the students in our past RWC program. “Don’t be afraid to say an idea if nobody else isn’t saying anything.”
Sejal Singh, another former participant, adds, “Cross-team collaboration and complete changing of teams pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me to work with different sets of people every day.”
RWC isn’t just about learning to work with other people. Participants who have joined in the past also come away with a much better appreciation for expanding their own network, for finding and building relationships with future collaborators if you will. As Darkan Budhrani puts it about the program, “Everyone you meet could be potentially helpful for you in the future. It is not only important for meeting people but it is also important to have a strong relationship with them.”
If you’re interested in making these connections and learning how to collaborate with others better, sign up for the Real World Challenge. You can sign up as an individual or form a team of up to four people! To be held on the metaverse, the case study competition has three challenges to choose from. Learn more about it here!
PHOTO: Pixabay
