Working Together in the Digital Age

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Explore and compare ways of collaborating to complete a business task.
  
• Collaborate to produce a poster, slide-show presentation, or other document about a useful employee structure for a new business.

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Materials

For each student:

• Pen/pencil
• Notebook or writing paper
• (Optional) Craft materials, including poster board or poster paper, and colored markers
• (Optional) Computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other device with an internet connection

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Preparation

• Read through and familiarize yourself with the entire activity.
• Print the handout and cut it into slips, with 1 job or 1 need on each slip. Put the job slips in 1 container. Put the need slips in the other.

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Activity Steps

1. Ask for a show of hands of students who have at least 1 parent or guardian who works remotely, meaning their work is done from a home office at least a few days a week.
2. Have students discuss the job of their parent or guardian, and the general concept of working at home. Lead students to recognize that computers and the internet allow workers to communicate closely with one another, making work at home more feasible.
3. Lead students in brainstorming examples of jobs that could be completed at home for at least part of the time. You may wish to consider these examples:
   
   • Writers and editors
   • Accountants and financial planners
   • Travel agents
   • Telephone customer-service agents
   • Graphic designers
   • Computer programmers
4. Tell students that today, they will act as managers of a large company. The company is deciding whether to allow employees to work at home. Students will argue for or against this idea.
5. Have students work in teams of 4 to 6. Assign each team a position either for or against employees working at home. Each team should discuss and agree on reasons for their position and then argue their case, either with a speech, a slide show, a poster, or other presentation of their choice.
6. Next, explain an additional, important rule. Teams in favor of working at home must collaborate on computers, mobile phones, or similar devices. Explain that the members of these teams are modeling working at home in locations across the country, so they may not communicate face-to-face. By contrast, the teams against the proposal are modeling working together at an office. So, they may collaborate however they like.
7. Invite the teams arguing against working at home to meet together at tables or other stations around the room.
8. Have members of the teams in favor of working at home exchange email addresses or instant-chat identifications. If an internet or telephone conferencing service is available (see Preparation), then introduce students to this service. Remind them that they may communicate only over the telephone or internet.
9. Have each group begin by brainstorming arguments that support their position. Encourage students to consider these ideas:
   
   • In favor of working at home:  
     
     • Would eliminate the wasted time and expense of commuting to an office
     • Would eliminate or reduce the expense of office space
     • Would allow for a wider pool of employees from places all over the world
   • Against working at home:
     
     • Teams are more effective when they can meet in person.
     • Employees may be more focused and dedicated in an office.
     • Managers and their staff members can establish a strong relationship.
10. Next, have teams decide on a format for their presentation and role in preparing the presentation for each team member. Remind students that they may prepare posters or other visual aids for their presentation. However, the teams in favor of working at home cannot collaborate on the same poster.
11. When teams are ready, reconvene the whole group. Invite each team to deliver their presentation.
12. Discuss the activity with these questions.
    
    • Which team do you think presented the strongest argument?  
    • How does collaborating over the telephone or computer compare to collaborating face-to-face? 
    • Many companies have offices all over the world. How well do you think employees in different countries can work together, even with the internet and telephones?

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