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Working on Team Projects and Activities

About Team Projects

In some courses, you are assigned activities or projects that require working in small groups. Course staff will create topics for you to choose from. You choose a topic that interests you, and then join or create a team with other learners who also want to work on that topic together.

If your course uses teams, there is a Teams page where you can see the list of topics created by the course team, with topic descriptions.

To browse topics and find a team to join

  1. In the course, select the Teams page.
  2. Select the Browse tab.
  3. On the Browse page, view the list of available topics. You can sort the topics alphabetically by name, or by the team count in each topic.
  4. When you have found a topic you are interested in, select the arrow button to see the teams that exist in that topic. You can sort by teams that showed the most recent activity, or by teams with the most open slots. You can also use keywords to search for teams within a topic. Each team’s name and description are shown, as well as the number of team members, letting you know whether there is space for you to join.
  5. To get a better sense of a team’s members, discussion, and communications, select View for a team. On the Team Details page, you can browse the team’s discussion posts, but you cannot participate unless you are a member of the team.

Note: You can navigate from the Team Details page back to the list of teams in a topic or back to the list of all topics using the breadcrumb links at the top of the page.

Learn how to join or leave a team.

Search for a Team

When you search for a team to join for a team project, you can use keywords within topics that match your interests. 

Note: You can only use whole words as keywords for searching teams.

To search for a team

  1. In the course, select the Teams tab.
  2. On the Teams page, select Browse to view the available topics, then select a topic that interests you.
  3. In the search field, enter one or more keywords, then press Enter or select the search icon.
    Teams within the topic that match your search are displayed.
    To clear the existing search term, select the X in the search field.
Select Join Team to join the team.

Join or Leave a Team

In courses that require working on a team project, you choose a topic that interests you, then find or create a team to work with.

Note: You can only belong to one team at a time. If you belong to a team, but find another team that you want to join, you must leave the first team before you can join a new one.

If you must leave a team, make sure you communicate with your fellow team members and let them know why and when you are leaving. This is especially important if you are part of the way through your course, and you and your team have already started working together on a project or activity.

To join a team

  1. Browse topics or search for a team you want to join.
  2. When you have found a team you want to join, select Join Team.
    Note: If a team is full, or if you already belong to a team, the Join Team button is not available. You must leave your current team before you can join a new one.
  3. You are added as a member. Your profile is added to the list of team member profiles, and you can participate in the team’s discussions. The team that you joined appears on your My Team page.

To leave a team

Note: UC San Diego Online recommends that you do not change teams after work in a course has started without carefully considering the impacts to your work and that of your fellow learners.

  1. On the Team Details page, select Leave Team.
  2. In the confirmation dialog, select Leave Team.
After you leave a team, you are no longer visible in the team membership profiles list, or in the membership count. Although you can still view the team’s discussions, you can no longer participate in them.

Create a Team

If you do not want to join any of the existing teams in a topic, you can create a new team. When you create a new team in a topic, you are automatically added as a member.

Note: You cannot create a team if you already belong to a team.

To Create a Team

    1. On the Teams page in the course, find a topic that you are interested in.
    2. Select the topic’s arrow button to see the teams that exist in that topic.
    3. At the bottom of the list of teams within the topic, select the create a new team in this topic link.
    4. On the Create New Team page, add a name and description for the team.
      In the description, include details about your proposed project or activity to help other learners to decide whether they want to join your team and work with you.
    5. (Optional) Include some optional details for your team. You can specify a language that members would primarily use to communicate with each other, and a country that members would primarily identify with. Keep in mind that if your team details make the team membership seem too selective, other learners might be discouraged from joining.
      Note: Be careful in entering your team details. After you save the details for your new team, you cannot change them, and you cannot delete your team. 

When you have finished adding your team details, click CreateYour new team appears in the list of team under your selected topic. You are automatically added as a team member.

Participate in Team Discussions

When you join a team to work on a team project, you can participate in discussions on your team page with other members.

Although you can view discussions in any team, you can only add new posts and responses if you belong to that team.

Team discussions work in the same way as your course discussions. Learn about course discussions.

If you leave a team, you can view posts that are made, but you can no longer participate in that team’s discussions.