Evaluation of Students' Skills in Remote Collaboration for Creative Problem Solving in Computer Graphics

Abstract

Use of distributed teams of artists and engineers is becoming more prevalent in computer graphics oriented industries. Developing the skills required to work as a team through the complex sequential development and production process of animated films, visual effects, and commercial productions is a part of many academic programs that focus on computer graphics. However, the development of the skills required to communicate and coordinate this kind of work across a distributed team is currently a rare curriculum feature, and may not even be recognized as a separate set of issues from localized collaboration. This paper reports on an effort to assess this problem through pilot projects that focus on discovering how adept students are at working as members of distributed teams. We tightly controlled the tools of communication -email, chat, and video-conferencing- to determine the impact of each modality on creative problem solving while teams of students from four locations attempted to coordinate their work to produce short 30-second computer animations. Assessment by industry professionals of the originality found in the aesthetic and technical results of the student projects suggests that the students, overall, are deficient in two areas that are essential to successful creative collaboration: communication that contributes to awareness among distant partners, and communicating in ways that build consensus and solves problems. Though these issues also exist for co-located teams, their significance is likely heightened in distance collaboration projects. These issues might also impact the manner in which companies that use distributed teams incorporate various modalities of communication technology into their production pipelines.