Online Contract

Description

Teams decide how they would like to communicate and work together moving forward.

Why we like it

Great for short term engagements or long term working relationships. Clear roles and shared expectations for group collaborations help discussions run smoothly as well as prevent and handle conflict. Groups that establish their own online contract are more likely to commit to it (vs. it being handed down to them).

Process

1. Set up breakout rooms for larger groups, or with smaller groups, let participants run the activity in the main room.

2. Participants suggest group guidelines for communication they would like to use when working together.

3. Facilitator may want to give an example code of communication or cover the following possible roles:
a) Rules that may help group efficiency (emails should be sent by end of business the day before meetings, only one person can be off mute at a time in group discussions, how voting works, etc.)
b) How conflicts should be handled
c) Absentee policy
d) Group leader or how to choose meeting leader
e) Scribe or note-taker
f) Reporter or group spokesperson

4. Have groups save and refer to their contract when needed.

Daisy chain options

a) Have participants fill out a survey to submit their contract ideas before entering discussions. This is helpful to prevent groups from being dominated by a few outspoken people.
b) If using breakout rooms, have spokesperson share their contract with the main room.
b) Have groups post their online contract on a shared whiteboard or other shared platform.
c) For long-term projects, ask participants sign the contract either virtually through annotation tools or physically on paper if in-person meetings will occur. Give everyone a final signed copy.

Variations

The facilitator may want to let groups come up with their own online contract without any prompting or examples. On the other hand, giving a list of recommendations will help speed up the process.

External links

3rd party whiteboards
Miro: https://miro.com/
Mural:  https://mural.co/

Form submission tools
Typeform:  https://www.typeform.com/
Google forms: https://www.google.com/forms

Attribution

Adapted from Engaging the Online Learner, ebook location 1301, activity author Mary Dereshiwsky

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