I'm sitting in on a class at Syracuse University that is about Second Life and design. Yesterday we dd a team problem-solving exercise and we did it in two forms.
First, four of us sat in a room together and were given a "survival" scenario where we had to rank items on list in the order of importance for our survival. Since we were in the same room together (and in real life), we were about talk and easily share information. We could also notice body language and gestures. We took the full amount of time that we were given and felt comfortable with our results.
Then we went into Second Life and were given a similar scenario. Again we had to rank items, but we could not just talk to each other in real life. Instead we had to communicate through SL and use whatever tools we had to help with our communication and decision-making. Since we had done a similar scenario face-to-face, we were already comfortable with each other. We were able to make some easy decisions based on what we had done before. However, some of the decisions were more difficult because we didn't have a way in SL to quickly convey what some of the items were. For example, one of the items on the list was "steel wool". At least one person in the group didn't know what that was and thought it could be worn. Comparing it to a Brillo pad didn't work be cause she didn't know what that was. And none of us had the skill to create one quickly in SL for her to look at. If we had been able to communicate in RL, we could have used hand gestures and drawings to get our point across.
Perhaps the one lesson was that in SL it was a bit more important that someone take charge and organize the team. In RL, it was easier for the team to manage itself, but in SL we needed someone to keep track of decisions and ensure that we moved forward with the task. This is likely similar to working in teams using other online tools. And it may be a good way of figuring out people's "team personality".
If you are interested in trying some team exercises in SL, there are several on Education Island. These are exercises developed by a consultant to demonstrate how SL Can be used for team building. With several of these exercises, the team members don't talk to each other at all (not in RL or SL) which puts a greater emphasis on your actions.
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