Open AccessSTUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND USE OF AN INVENTORY TO FACILITATE LEARNING OF INDIVIDUAL TEAM-EFFECTIVENESS
Author(s) -
Patricia Sheridan,
D. W. Reeve,
Greg J. Evans
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
proceedings of the ... ceea conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2371-5243
DOI - 10.24908/pceea.v0i0.4924
Subject(s) - perception , work (physics) , engineering education , psychology , medical education , computer science , engineering , engineering management , mechanical engineering , medicine , neuroscience
Team-based projects have become a common method of modeling real-world experience and meeting required graduate attributes in engineering. In these projects, much of a student’s grade is attributed to work produced by an entire team, creating a need for instruction on how to work effectively as team members in addition to course-content instruction. A web-based tool is in development to create a virtual environment in which students can learn about and improve their individual team-effectiveness competencies through self- and peer-assessments. Framed as a guided reflection, these assessments are facilitated using an inventory which identifies 18 competencies along three aspects of team-effectiveness: Organisational, Relational and Communication competencies [1]. The inventory assesses observable behaviours that translate to specific levels of competency so as to provide a foundation for normalized self- and peer-assessments, as well as provide examples of how to improve. A study to assess student perceptions and use of the inventory was conducted in the Fall 2012 term in two upper year courses. The first course was a third-year course on energy systems that is required of all students in the Energy Option of Engineering Science and the second a fourth-year engineering leadership course which any engineering student can select as an elective. The objective of this study was to determine if students in a required engineering course perceived and used the inventory differently than those who self-selected into an engineering leadership course.