Exploring Predictors of Student Team Project Performance

Bacon, Donald R.; Stewart, Kim A.; Stewart-Belle, Sue

doi:10.1177/027347539802000108

Cited by 83 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Future research needs to investigate how student-centered activities should be structured so as to emphasise student technical skills development and content learning rather than the promotion of task accomplishment (Bacon, Stewart, & Stewart-Belle, 1998). In particular, although students were encouraged to read widely, search for relationships and integrate theoretical concepts into their own experiences, no noticeable increase in their intrinsic interest towards the course was observed which is consistent with previous research (Heikkila & Lonka, 2006).…”

Section: Results and Reflectionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Action research and reflection on student approaches to learning in large first year university classes

Herington

Weaven

2008

Aust. Educ. Res.

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This paper presents an action research approach to exploring methods of improving the learning styles and outcomes of first year university students within large class environments. The genesis of this project stemmed from an observation that entire tutorial groups were often lethargic in their approach to learning. Following a survey of learning styles, students were exposed to more student-centric teaching styles within tutorial groups, with a view to encouraging deeper student learning and self-regulated learning behaviours. Although the project was successful in motivating students' participation in class activities, no noticeable change to a sustained deeper learning style became evident. The findings suggest that simply motivating students to participate in class does not necessarily alter overall learning styles, at least in the short term. This suggests that the process of "unlearning" previous learning styles may pose a significant problem for instructors and it appears likely that the process of changing from surface to deep learning may require more than a single course intervention. However, there is some evidence that student-centred and self-regulated learning results in a more positive learning experience for both students and teachers. The article concludes with a model of proposed relationships uncovered by the research which deserve further exploration in the quest to provide greater levels of student satisfaction with their higher education experiences.

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Section: Results and Reflectionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Action research and reflection on student approaches to learning in large first year university classes

Herington

Weaven

2008

Aust. Educ. Res.

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“…Also, it may encourage students to take more ownership of group problems, motivating students to manage interpersonal conflict more successfully. Self-selected teams tend to be overly homogeneous, and thus not offer the advantages that some diversity of abilities may provide [15]. Self-selected teams may also possess an inadequate skill set, unless measures are taken to constrain self-selection [16].…”

Section: Previous Work On Student Groupwork Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of Two Automated Workgroup Composition Strategies

Calafate¹,

Mart́ınez²,

Arlandis³

2016

INTED2016 Proceedings

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Nowadays, the professional environment of leading companies requires multidisciplinary teams to be created, including both internal and external experts, to adequately face the challenges of a fast-evolving and complex market. For newcomers, this situation can be difficult to handle if no previous experiences allowed preparing them for those situations. This is where college education finds its place, and in fact the curricula of different university careers are being updated to include more transversal competences like leadership and cooperation skills within groups. However, such efforts still remain at an amateur level in most cases due to lack of specific expertise by the majority of instructors, due to limitations in terms of creating actual multidisciplinary groups, and due to the little resources available to maximize the benefits of such experiences. Students also show little involvement in this issue, typically opting for approaches that minimize their efforts. Thus, simple and yet effective strategies that can be helpful for instructors to make a meaningful change to the current status quo are necessary. To address this need, in this paper we present the results of a 2-year study where students were forced to team up with other partners based on the results of a computer networking skills-ranking exam. In the first experiment, groups where formed by students achieving a similar performance (homogeneous), while in the second experiment groups were formed so that the average score of group members was the same (mostly heterogeneous). Through detailed survey results taken by students at the end of both courses, we find that, compared to the alternative strategy promoting group heterogeneity, having partners with similar skills does not help at improving the coordination between group members, nor students' perception about the usefulness of the experience towards future jobs. In fact, their rating of the overall experience was mostly the same, and, to our surprise, the partner expertise on the course topics was not a motivating factor, being that students' complaints in both cases were about not being able to pick their partners. Thus, we consider that a simple strategy to define groups (e.g. randomly) suffices, but it should be adopted on all courses since the first year of the degree.

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“…Student team effectiveness is also affected by team cohesion (DeeterSchmelz, Kennedy, & Ramsey, 2002), which depends on common goals and personality differences. Such cohesion is undermined by both free riders and the "lone wolf" who prefer to work on their own in the belief that they can be more successful without the team (Bacon, Stewart, & Stewart-Belle, 1998;Feldman Barr, Dixon, & Gassenheimer, 2005). Some students respond to free riders by making an extra effort while others find their motivation and interest decreases (Huff & Jones, 2002).…”

Section: Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university

Carr

Morrison

Cox

et al. 2007

Computers and Composition

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Wikis represent flexible tools functioning as open-ended environments for collaboration while also offering process and group writing support. Here we focus on a project to innovate the use of wikis for collaborative writing within student groups in a final-year undergraduate political science course. The primary questions guiding our research were in what ways could wikis assist collaborative learning in an undergraduate course in political science and how we could support educators' in the effective use of wikis? Curiously, wikis may serve as a mediating artifact for collaborative writing even among students who are reluctant to post online drafts. The paper raises questions concerning the nature and limits of lecturer and tutor power to deliver transformative educational innovations in relation to the capacity of students to embrace, comply with, or resist such innovation. In analysing the negotiation of the use of wikis in the course by and among the lecturer, tutors, and students, we draw on two principles in activity theory, which Yrjo Engestrom argued are central to his model of expansive learning: multi-voicedness and contradictions [Engestrom, Yrjo . (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit; Engestrom, Yrjo . (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work 14(1), 133-156.]. We add a third principle, transparency, to more fully capture what we observed.

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Exploring Predictors of Student Team Project Performance

Cited by 83 publications

References 25 publications

Action research and reflection on student approaches to learning in large first year university classes

Action research and reflection on student approaches to learning in large first year university classes

A Comparative Study of Two Automated Workgroup Composition Strategies

Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university

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