I feel you know your "group" is a team when all participants are OPEN and willing to change and take risks together . Secondly, I feel that when you are just a group everyone is working independently to accomplish the same or similar goal, where as in a team you are feeding off of each other's thoughts and are willing to compromise and try new educational approaches.
You will know your team is working as a team when there is a give and take: when all members bring something to share and respond to or provoke thought in others.
All members of effective teams want to be there, want to get things done, and are willing to figure out how to work effectively with the other team members. A team knows all of the members well enough to know each others' strengths and weaknesses. Teams leverage the strengths effectively and support weaknesses, and use team dynamics to build enthusiasm and generate ideas. People working in a "group" are often not all committed to being in the group and may have conflicting ideas about the purpose of the group. Groups dole out tasks to "share the work equally", but end up being ineffective because of poor matching of skills to tasks and conflicting ideas about the group's purpose.
I believe that a group becomes a team when there is mutual respect and support among members who are working collaboratively. When working with others, we may not have all of the same backgrounds, beliefs, or opinions, but when we become a team, all are able to contribute freely.
Thanks so much to all of our UDL Institute participants for taking the time to share ideas, take risks, and learn more about how we all can be more successful practitioners of Universal Design for Learning. 2 days down, 2 more to go!