Multi-institutional Teaming Exercises in a Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory

A teaching methodology was developed incorporating teaming exercises that involved students from two universities. Students were assigned to groups containing members from both universities to complete laboratory assignments. Activities were established for meaningful and entertaining introductions between the individual team members prior to technical interactions. Assignments were developed to require sharing of data and collaborations amongst all team members, with special focus on inter-university collaborations and communications. Detailed electronic communications of the teams were evaluated for assessment of project success. In addition, surveys were conducted and focus group discussions (facilitated by an external assessment coordinator) were undertaken after the experiences to provide depth to the assessment program. This paper provides an overview of the activities, assessment of activities, suggestions for implementation, and overall challenges and opportunities with this method. In addition, the teaching and learning activities are placed in context of a larger project incorporating unconventional learning styles in the same course. Introduction and Background A project is underway to investigate the development of teaching and learning materials that incorporate unconventional learning styles and new electronic technologies for communication in an undergraduate introductory geotechnical engineering laboratory course. The project represents a collaboration between two U.S. universities for this collaboration: California Polytechnic State University termed Cal Poly (predominantly undergraduate institution) and Auburn University termed Auburn (Tier 1 research institution). This paper provides progress on this extensive investigation including a description of new activities that have been conducted between the university partners, specifically in relation to multi-institutional teaming exercises. The paper includes a description of the exercises, assessment of the methodology, and suggestions for successful adoption of similar efforts. Other efforts in inter-university teaming have been reported (e.g., 1, 2, ), including limited experiences in engineering. Such teaming exercises have high potential for training students at functioning in an increasingly distance-based workplace. Multi-Institutional Teaming Exercises Two laboratory sessions were developed for student teams that included members from both universities. The activities were conducted in both Spring 2011 and Fall 2011. The activities included a grain size distribution laboratory and a shear strength laboratory. Teams were assigned by the instructors to include 2 or 3 students from each university. The instructors were sensitive to (and avoided) providing communication details (e.g., phone numbers) publicly to the entire class. Students were required to submit a joint report to instructors at both universities at the end of the exercise. Instructors at both universities graded the laboratory reports. Students were aware that evaluation from an external instructor could affect their grade. Activities were established (i.e., icebreaker activities) for meaningful and entertaining introductions between the individual team members prior to technical interactions. The intent of the icebreaker activities was to introduce a level of familiarity between team members that did not have the ability to meet in person. The icebreaker exercises included some geotechnical engineering content and the performance on these exercises was included in the scope of materials being graded for the assignment. An elaborate information-based treasure hunt (in equation format) was used to promote sharing of technical and entertaining informational content between the universities. The facts and figures used for the exercise included some technical content and some related to local flavor at each university campus and region. An example of the equations and variables used is presented in Figure 1. The equation format of the exercise simplified grading. A second icebreaker activity that was conducted required students to take a photograph of a geologic or geotechnical engineering feature and share the photograph and brief description with their team members at the partner university. This permitted students to share personal experiences and hobbies in their selection of featured sites and associated descriptions. For the grain size distribution laboratory, students at each university determined the grain size distribution of a sandy soil. Different soils were tested at each university. The assignment involved calculating the mixture ratios for the two soils (one from each university) to prepare a mixture that would function as an earthen filter for a related hydraulic application. The problem statement was established to require that both soils be incorporated into the filter material to provide an effective solution. This problem format demanded that students from each university contact their team members from the partner university for sharing of data and discussing their approach to designing a filter. For the shear strength laboratory, a bearing capacity analysis was required for the assignment. Soil conditions were evaluated at each university and analysis of foundation capacity was conducted. For one term, the same soil was tested at each laboratory using different test methods and for the second term, different soils were tested at the partner universities. A problem statement was developed that required comparisons between the reported soil strengths and foundation capacities.