Learning Collaboration: Advice to Students


As part of my work as project manager of the Piedmont Triad Partnership’s Serious Game Group, I spoke to design, art and game development students at Forsyth Community College, Piedmont Community College, and Winston-Salem State University. A tremendous problem this region is facing is where will the talent youngsters I met work? With so few available jobs in the field I felt as if I were again teaching in Guilford College’s art department back in the 80s. Then, as now, it troubled me that higher ed was busy churning out graduates without clear job prospects or career plans. (In the case of Guilford, students graduated with BFAs. I was credited with boosting enrollment in the program by 25%, so I had some reason to worry.) Today, Piedmont higher ed is piling on the game design bandwagon. But without live projects and a local industry that could lend support and employment, maybe students also need to learn broader interactive media skills, gain collaborative experience before they graduate and work up a strategy for either staying here and perhaps creating their own job or moving to greener pastures. For the past years, graduates and young professionals have voted with their feet — the region is losing young people.



Fall, 2009

Are you a student, future employee, or collaborator?
Do you think of yourself as a student when you enter a classroom? In the best case scenario, a student dutifully takes notes, studies the material, and looks for the instructor to answer all his questions. In a broken system, a student is periodically bored, studies or pays momentary attention if the material is interesting, and doesn’t develop a strong enough relationship with the instructor to ask questions or share his concerns. There are many variants on the broken system that highlight why the instructor-student formula more often flounders than succeeds. As a student, you don’t need to be told this. Everyday you experience the unevenness of the education system. What you want to know is, Will thinking of yourself as a student now help you become a trained, competent professional in the near future?

Do you imagine yourself as a future employee learning about professional practices when you’re in class? This is a more proactive stance that can prepare you for the shock of the working world. If you can get live projects, get a coop job or internship or can take on freelance jobs as your skills improve, these are good transitional steps into fulltime professional employment.

Or, do you see yourself as collaborator, a sharer of knowledge and opportunities? Unfortunately, the local labor market is poor and the national economy is not expected to improve for a number of years. What can you do in the meanwhile? Fortunately, the economic crisis has driven home the need for freelancers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, start-ups and collaborators. The region needs nimble enterprises that can react quickly to client and business needs. Instead of staying wholly focused on a narrow specialization, learn the basics of several related skills. If it’s clear the economy is not going to improve soon after you graduate, make sure you take some basic business, communications, etc. courses. Collaboration, innovation, and employment is now your business, not somebody else’s.

Git ’er done
So let’s talk a little more about collaboration. If you’re responsible for getting your own work, everything changes. As a professional you take on a lot of risk and responsibility that you otherwise don’t have to worry about when you’re employed by someone else. For many creative people who prefer to follow their instincts, make their own hours or have strong notions about quality and standards, self-employment comes naturally. So where does collaboration come in? In any project, it's unlikely you’ll be doing everything. You’ll need people with specialized skills who can support your contribution. Even if you could do most of the project’s requirements yourself, you’ll quickly discover that most projects won’t afford you all the time in the world to do so. Efficiency and your client’s needs will mean you’ll need collaborators.

Here’s the scary prospect for many students who’ve worked hard in class to become good students or future employees: At graduation they discover the few hiring employers are looking for experienced professionals, not good students. Or they discover the practices they thought would be in demand are no longer valid, because the field is evolving at a staggering pace.

Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. If you’ve never paid much attention to economic and business news, now’s the time to broaden your horizons. Start reading national newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Washington Post. Your future depends on it.

Useful tools
Collaboration (“team work”) requires a set of skills that are not always formally taught or encouraged, yet these are the tools you’ll need to be successful. Previously, it was thought that learners learned “core” skills (like Max, Maya, Photoshop, keyboarding, design, etc) and “soft” skills like communication, getting along, respecting diversity, creative problem-solving, etc. But in the creative professions such distinctions are absurd. They are all important. They are all core.

This is what you need to know: You need to know how to make jokes, small talk, and other exchanges that lighten and humanize conversations that may be taking place between yourself and clients or collaborators whose faces you many never see. A lot of essential communication may take place through IM or email. It's easy to say the wrong thing or to be taken wrong. Learn to write good IM notes and email. You will need to learn how to argue, to explain concisely why your approach, method, idea, or technique is the way to go. You will need to be open-minded and persuadable. You will need to know how to ask questions. It is OK to appear to be stupid or ignorant. Tech is moving so fast, nobody can possibly know it all. You will need to manage your time effectively. You will need to know what your skill set is and what skills you need from others in order to complete the project.

Once you start recalibrating your goals, moving from “good student” or “future employee” to collaborator, you’ll recognize additional good habits you’ll wish to develop. I think the biggest one is your attitude towards learning. If you’re seriously driven to be a successful creative professional in the Triad, you’ll accept a life of broadened horizons and learning that continues after you walk out the classroom door.