Students work in virtual teams

How does a team work together if its members are spread around the world and are separated by a ten-hour time difference?

Aalto students will experience this very common situation in business life in the Global Online Collaboration and Team Management course run by the School of Business this coming spring.

The structure of the course is unique! It is run in collaboration with several universities around the world. Students from these educational institutions are put into mixed groups to work as project teams.

Preparation for working life

The international teams are given a project to work on and they have to design and implement it, with supervision, during the course. The students apply what they have learned on their course by working in collaboration using a virtual IBM Connections -business social network platform.

‘The course prepares students for working life where people work together across time and organisational boundaries using a virtual, collaborative platform’, explains Professor of Practise Minna Logemann, who is responsible for the course at Aalto.

As well as Aalto University and the University of Southern California who originally launched the course module, there are three other universities from the United States involved as well as two universities from India, and one each from Canada, France and Spain.

The course is suitable for students from all majors

‘The course gives students a practical understanding of what it means to work in a global team. The course provides the knowledge and competence that are needed in many different kinds of roles in today’s organisations. That is why this course is suitable for anyone who is interested, no matter what their major is’, says Minna Logemann.

The students also look at the research related to the subject such as cross-cultural working and communications. The course also has lectures, which the Aalto students attend partly in class and partly through virtual teaching.  

‘The course is a unique combination of face-to-face teaching and working in virtual teams, the theoretical background and the immediate practical application based on the theory. It will be useful and fun!’, promises Minna Logemann.

The bachelor level Global Online Collaboration and Team Management - course is held during the fourth period of 2017. Students from all of Aalto’s schools can sign-up for the course between 23 January and 13 February.

Further information:
The syllabus can be found on the mycourses service. Course code: 71C09000.