ICS Colloquium: Megan Caruso, Thomas Breideband, Robert Moulder, & Sidney D'Mello

Title: Intelligent Facilitation for Teams of the Future via Longitudinal Sensing in Context

Presenter(s): Megan Caruso, Thomas Breideband, Robert Moulder, & Sidney DMello

iSat, ICS

Abstract:

Longitudinal precision tracking of teams in situ enables researchers to gain a deep and holistic understanding of the factors that can help (or hamper) teamwork in the field of information work. Albeit easier to conduct, cross-sectional study designs make it difficult to account for the ways teams respond to changing contexts, how they form and integrate new members, and how they develop rhythms of teamwork over time.

In this talk, we present findings from a collection of papers that came out of a large-scale, 10-week study of 31 teams of information workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilized continuous bio-behavioral sensing (e.g., sleep), daily surveys on perceptions of team states and processes (e.g., cohesion, coordination, mood/affect), and semi-structured interviews. Despite the broad suite of procedures, the active component of the participation only amounted to a total of three to four hours per participant over the entire 10-week study period. Our findings show how teams navigated the diverse backgrounds and home-life situations of team members; how sleep alignment can play a role in teamwork; how different work locations relate to perceptions of teamwork; and how mood travels within a team. Taken together, our talk illustrates how aspects of remote work in general, and WFH in particular, are related to the success and/or failure of teams, and we further make the case for the practical advantages of collecting rich longitudinal data in situ. 

Bios:
Thomas Breideband: Dr. Thomas Breideband is an institute-wide research scientist working under Dr. Sidney D’Mello at the NSF National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (iSAT). His work focuses on studying small group dynamics in real-world settings and to explore how AI technologies can augment and support classroom collaborations. He holds PhDs in Rhetoric and Cultural Studies from Georgia State University and Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany).   

Robert Moulder: Dr. Robert (Bobby) Moulder is a research scientist working under Dr. Sidney D'Mello. His research focuses on nonlinear dynamical systems analysis, structural equation modeling, and longitudinal data analysis. Bobby also is an alumni of The International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course and has worked with the World Health Organization on modeling healthy human aging.

Megan Caruso: Megan Caruso is a graduate student in Dr. Sidney D'Mello's Emotive Computing lab. She is currently working on combining eye tracking, behavior, and non-invasive brain measures to better understand complex learning. She is especially interested in learning new techniques to apply to multi-modal data, and in understanding the link between eye, mind, and behavior both in individuals and in groups.

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