Summary
Virtual teams are rapidly becoming more prevalent in both the business world and academia. In this paper, undergraduate student usage, comfort levels, and gender differentiation toward technologies related to virtual teams were investigated. Students in virtual teams between two Massachusetts state university campuses were surveyed at the beginning of the semester and again at the end of the semester. Results showed student comfort level and usage of these technologies for schoolwork was low, overall - with the exception of email. However, by the end of the semester project using virtual teams and its supporting technologies, student's comfort level improved significantly. Likewise, significant gender differences at the beginning of the semester in comfort with videoconferencing, PowerPoint presentations, and oral presentations were not present at the end of the semester, again after virtual team project. Both results support the need for providing structured learning experiences that require usage of supportive technologies - especially for business school students.
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Extract
The Effect of Virtual Team Membership On Attitudes Towards Technology Usage: A Study of Student Attitudes in the United States
Background
The importance and effective use of virtual teams has been identified as one of the "five imperatives" emerging from information technology that will force organizations to "change ... structures, process and in human behavior" (Herman, 2001). Over the past few years, it has become commonplace for large companies to create teams that are geographically dispersed and supported by the Internet and a variety of support software and hardware such as NetMeeting, QuickTime, Notes, smart boards, and videoconferencing. As such, undergraduate and graduate programs in Management must begin to incorporate means for providing their students with both a theoretical understanding of virtual teams and practical strategies for utilizing them effectively -both in a learning environment while they are in school and as preparation for their future jobs.To date, r...See the full content of this document
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