Hot Teams
From ETS
Contents |
Hot Teams: Background and Purpose
The Hot Team concept is one that ETS has been using to get small groups of people together to do a quick assessment of an emerging technology, trend, or approach. The concept is based loosely around the Hot Team notion that the design firm, Ideo uses to do very quick designs for products or services. In a typical situation, our implementation of the Hot Team is given a set amount of time to collaboratively investigate, discuss, model, and create a set of outcomes based on several predetermined questions. The goals of a Hot Team project are to encourage various individuals to come together on a related task and to create a set of deliverables that can be shared. Typically, a white paper is produced and shared openly.
The Hot Team concept is born out of the need to quickly evaluate an emerging technology or approach and to assess its viability for use in an educational setting. In a general sense, we are also interested in creating a set of resources that we as educational technologists and instructional designers can share with our primary audiences -- faculty, staff, students, peers, and project sponsors. Each Hot Team can be assembled based on a recommendation from a member of the staff, from an organizational need, from outside interests, or for the purpose of informing ourselves. Typically, Hot Teams should not exceed six people. It is important to keep the group small and agile so that deliverables can be created within a short time frame. We like to see deliverables no later than one month after a charge is given.
If you have ideas for things a Hot Team could be used for, please contact Cole Camplese at cwc5 |at| psu.edu.
All Hot Teams are made up with a set of people with diverse backgrounds -- instructional designers, multimedia specialists, technologist, faculty, etc can be asked to participate together. Having multiple perspectives always yields strong results. The Hot Team will be assigned a team leader whose responsibility it is to organize the team around the project.
How Hot Teams are Formed
Hot Teams can be formed in several ways. Staff can self organize around a technology or approach and provide a short proposal to the Director. Hot Teams can also be formed by the Director based on understood interest, team member skills, and other factors. If anyone has ideas, please add some thoughts. At the moment I am selecting members for Hot Teams based on conversations with the management team and the overall goals of the project. As the program matures I am hopeful that we can build Hot Teams in a fluid, open environment.
If you would like to propose a Hot Team (either as a member of ETS or external to our organization) please send Cole Camplese an email with the following information:
- Title of proposed investigation
- Types of personnel needed
- Suggested faculty involvement
- Types of hardware needed
- Types of software needed
- Additional resources requested?
- Technical support needed
- Length of investigation (1 - 5 weeks)
Hot Team Time on Task
Typically, a Hot Team would be given three to four weeks to produce a short white paper. The final draft of the white paper should be made available within five weeks of project initiation. A presentation of the findings can be scheduled as soon as the paper is complete.
Hot Team White Paper Requirements
See sample Hot Team papers at the ETS website.
The white paper the Hot Team's findings will be made available via PDF download from the ETS web space and as handouts. The purpose of the investigation is to provide organizational insight into the technology or approach being investigated and to create shareable outcomes for our primary audiences. The white paper should answer the following questions and should utilize the following section headers:
- What is it?
- Who's doing it/Who's using it?
- How does it work?
- Why is it significant?
- What are the downsides?
- Where is it going?
- What are the implications for teaching and learning?
In addition, white papers should include at least one short scenario that provides a contextual example of the item being investigated. That paper should also provide information about how to contact ETS and list the Hot Team leader as a primary contact.
Publishing Guidelines for Deliverables
Paper Guidelines
ETS maintains a template file for final paper delivery. The template is available as an InDesign file and can be obtained from Derick Burns. All white papers need to be reviewed by TLT Marketing and Communications for editing and for obtaining an U.Ed. number.
Presentation Guidelines
For projects that require or would be enhanced by a presentation, the slides should be follow a standard format as well. **Does anyone want to add some content here talking about that?** A standard set of Power Point and Keynote themes will be created for the resulting presentation.
Podcasting Guidelines
Again, if the project would be enhanced by producing a podcast, a standard format will be agreed upon. While there is tremendous flexibility in the way in which the podcast be produced, I would like some standard intro and outros be added to the podcast in post production.
