Computer-mediated interdisciplinary teams: theory and reality

Kerryellen Vroman, Joann Kovacich
2002 Journal of Interprofessional Care  
The benefit of experience, tempered with the wisdom of hindsight and 5 years of text-based, asynchronous, computer-mediated, interdisciplinary team communications, provides the energy, insights and data shared in this article. Through the theoretical lens of group dynamics and the epistemology of interdisciplinary teaming, we analyze the interactions of a virtual interdisciplinary team to provide an understanding and appreciation of collaborative interdisciplinary communication in the context
more » ... interactive technologies. Whilst interactive technologies may require new patterns of language similar to that of learning a foreign language, what is communicated in the interdisciplinary team process does not change. Most important is the recognition that virtual teams, similar to their face-to-face counterparts, undergo the same challenges of interdisciplinary teaming and group developmental processes of formation: forming, storming, norming, performing, and transforming. After examining these dynamics of communication and collaboration in the context of the virtual team, the article concludes with guidelines facilitating interdisciplinary team computer-mediated communication. faculty team, the pedagogical approach selected, and the communication technology used, followed by an overview of the unique attributes of CMC, we focus on the team building process as it unfolds 'on screen'. By understanding the similarities and differences of on-line and face-to-face team building, unnecessary interventions can be prevented and energies can be focused on team facilitation and maintenance. ITHCRA's story: rapé e pie, ployes and creton 1 Mixing traditional ingredients with new methods Crossing disciplinary boundaries, the Federally funded Interdisciplinary Training for Health Care for Rural Areas (ITHCRA) project, administratively located at the University of Maine, recruited in-and out-of-state faculty from the humanities, social sciences, and health care disciplines for the explicit purpose of developing interdisciplinary health care curricula. Initially, the team included a medical anthropologist, clinical psychologist, occupational therapist, social worker, community nurse practitioner, music therapist, fiction writer, chiropractor, nutritionist, and child psychologist. As the project and team developed and additional tasks were identified, the team membership changed. A speech pathologist, psychiatric nurse, cultural anthropologist, ethicist, early education specialist, and health educator joined the interdisciplinary team. Importantly, the team members were not unlike rural practitioners, in that few of the interdisciplinary faculty team had a professional relationship prior to the computer-mediated team. Communicating via asynchronous CMC, the interdisciplinary faculty team had the primary task of developing rural, interdisciplinary, problem-based, learning case studies for a computer-mediated distance education program. The parameters for communication were that all communication would occur on-line and therefore be accessible to all team members. External individual e-mail communications were strongly discouraged, as were verbal communications (i.e. telephone or face-to-face exchanges). When individual communications did occur, it was suggested that a summary be posted on-line to inform the team members of the content. The intention was that all communications and group dynamics would be documented and accessible to everyone, including the project observers. The team's secondary function was that of a forum or communication laboratory for the project to examine the dynamics of on-line interdisciplinary teaming. This aspect of the project was an important precursor to ensuring the success of the primary goal of the ITHCRA project: to develop an effective computer-mediated interdisciplinary education model for rural health care professionals. Interdisciplinary collaboration requires professional maturity and a grounded professional identity (Petrie, 1976; Nandan, 1997). Therefore, a model of experienced professionals was selected to inform the project on processes (i.e. group dynamics) that would require consideration in the development of interdisciplinary teams in the context of CMC. An appreciation of the communication patterns in this relatively new medium is fundamental to the development and facilitation of computer-mediated educational programs (Bordia et al., 1999) . The need to understand computer-mediated team communication was heightened in the ITHCRA project by the selection of problem-based learning as the pedagogical approach for the distance education computer-mediated courses. Problem-based learning is small group self-directed learning using case studies and problems. Awareness and intentional examination of cognitive and group processes are an integral component of problem-based learning (Vroman, 1997; Young, 1998) . Therefore, the problem-based learning format in the computer-mediated course experientially developed knowledge and skills in interdisciplinary team collaboration. In addition, the course facilitated rural health care professionals' development of skills in CMC and telehealth, potentially reducing
doi:10.1080/13561820220124175 pmid:12028896 fatcat:7rzvumq6z5dgfemaxb52gogh2m