Project Investigator(s): Susan Hollingshead, Instructor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Project Description
The purpose of this project is to research ways to improve student learning outcomes related to teamwork skills in a six-credit, group-project-based, capstone course for fourth-year undergraduate geological engineering students. This research will use pre-post self-assessments of teamwork skills as well as peer evaluations and other evaluation tools (e.g., coursework) to evaluate the impact of particular interventions on student learning.
Research Questions
How can a group project experience help students improve teamwork skills and increase their confidence in their ability to contribute effectively to a team? What additional in-class learning activities are helpful and supportive of the group project experience?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
Interventions designed for this effort could be useful for similar courses within our department (e.g., ENVR 400, another team-focused capstone course) as well as potentially shared with other engineering programs at UBC. The assessments are in electronic format, so they can easily be “scaled up” to courses with larger enrollments. The interventions will be shared with interested colleagues through both presentations and informal discussions. It may also be useful to extend the project to include EOSC 240, a core course for second-year geological engineering students, allowing measurement of changes over time within a student cohort.
Outcome Achieved
“Based on preliminary review of the data, I think the vast majority of the student’s learning comes through practice, and that there is little I as an instructor can do to help them build their skills.”