Beta Testing A Web Based Interactive Coaching System For Team Skill Development

The practice of engineering occurs in teams. Therefore, engineering educators must continue to construct and evaluate methods for helping engineering students learn how to work in teams. The development of TeamCoach occurred over a one-year period and was partially funded by NSF CCLI DUE -0088580. Beta testing was conducted during the Fall 2001 semester. Four different universities participated in the beta test for a total of approximately 140 users. The purpose of the project was to examine the potential of using a web-based system to teach team process skills to engineering students who were working on freshman and senior-level, semester long engineering design projects. TeamCoach provided structured team process skills training and presented it to individual engineering students on design teams: 1) when needed based on the stage of team development and 2) customized for individuals based on individual styles. A database was used to store information on individual team members and capture reported team symptoms as the team developed over time. Evaluation surveys were sent to all the students and faculty who used the TeamCoach system during the semester. This paper explains the basic TeamCoach design, describes the student and faculty evaluations of the TeamCoach system, and presents lessons learned and future development plans of TeamCoach.