Teaching and Learning with Virtual Teams

The growth of e-learning and distance education today creates an increasingly pressing need for research and writing on the pedagogy of e-learning. Teams are, or should be, an integral component of e-learning. Teaching and Learning with Virtual Teams develops this concept by investigating many issues around teams in the virtual and hybrid classroom, bringing a variety of current research and practice on the subject of virtual and collaborative teams in teaching and learning together in a single accessible source. The issues covered by this book include, but are not limited to, theoretical models, pedagogy of e-learning, virtual team design and management, collaborative learning, and strategies for effectiveness in teaching and learning. These issues are considered in virtual or online classes as well as an added pedagogical element in “traditional” classes.

Sharmila Pixy Ferris (PhD, the Pennsylvania State University, 1995) is professor and graduate program director in the department of communication at William Paterson University, USA. Her research brings an interdisciplinary focus to the study of computer-mediated communication. She is coeditor, with Dr. Susan Godar, of Virtual and Collaborative Teams (2004, Idea Group) and coauthor of Beyond Survival in the Academy (2003, Hampton Press). She has published in a variety of paper and electronic journals including Qualitative Research Reports, The New Jersey Journal of Communication, The Electronic Journal of Communication, Interpersonal Computing and Technology, and The Journal of Electronic Publishing. She is an experienced consultant, working in the areas of diversity, team-building, leadership and decision making as well as soft-skills training. Susan H. Godar is Professor and chairperson in the department of marketing and management sciences at the Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, William Paterson University, USA. Her research, primarily on virtual teams, business ethics, and marketing pedagogy, has appeared in such journals as Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and Services Marketing Quarterly. With Dr. Sharmila Pixy Ferris, she edited the book Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process Technologies, and Practice (Idea Group, 2004). Dr. Godar served as a consultant to numerous companies and organizations in the aviation industry, and has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board. Prior to joining academe, she marketed light airplanes and helicopters. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Creighton University, an MBA from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in International Business from Temple University.