¶ … teamwork in a business context is based upon communication and cooperation. These principles also apply to an educational environment. It is critical that all members of the team make a consistent and determined effort to participate. Consistency is very important. Students in an online environment must communicate regularly, in both a synchronous and asynchronous format. Email, chat rooms, and message boards all enable team members to keep in constant contact. Communication also facilitates adhering to deadlines for long and short-term goals, another critical component of teamwork. All teams must have a sense of mission and purpose. Communication enables the team to generate rules for interactions that must be obeyed, to ensure that members are treated with respect, that members 'pull their weight' and do not have their areas of authority trampled on, and basic rules of civic discourse are obeyed.

Email and message boards enable team members to respond to one another, directly, even if they do not speak in 'real time.' The use of other forms of technology, such as links, online videos (which can be collectively discussed), audio clips, and PowerPoint presentation inject a more exciting visual and audio component to the learning experience, while still enabling all team members to respond when it is convenient for them.
The online environment also has many resources to improve the group's sense of self-consciousness about its processes and ways of interacting. Group members can take online personality tests to determine what 'type' they may be, and how that may affect their ability to interact with other team members of different 'types.'…