Moving from chance and ``chemistry'' to skills: Improving online student learning outcomes in small group collaboration

Bernier, Anthony; Stenström, Cheryl

doi:10.3233/efi-150960

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Structures such as a designated team leader, scheduled meetings, and clear and regular communication positively affect the team experience while perceived laziness of members does not (McKinney & Cook, 2018). Interventions such as a video on how to work successfully in small teams and explicit guidelines to enhance teamwork do not substantially lessen the negative attitudes students held about teamwork (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016). How to teach teamwork in a way that students both learn from and enjoy it remains an area in need of further investigation.…”

Section: Collaborative Learning In Lis Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students report that they like teamwork because they can learn from peers and develop ongoing relationships (Roy & Williams, 2014) and that teamwork was effective at generating ideas (McKinney & Cook, 2018). Yet, they often see teamwork as a negative aspect of courses that utilize it (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016). Students do not enjoy having to depend on their peers who may have different objectives and levels of commitment from them (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016;Capdeferro & Romero, 2012), they perceive there is an unfair system of reward and punishment for teamwork and that students get away with doing little or nothing (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016;Capdeferro & Romero, 2012;McKinney & Cook, 2018;Roy & Williams, 2014), they identify problems with logistics (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016;Capdeferro & Romero, 2012), and they fear being stuck with all the work due to unbalanced workload among a team (Capdeferro & Romero, 2012;McKinney & Cook, 2018;Roy & Williams, 2014).…”

Section: Student Perceptions Of Teamworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since collaboration is an "essential skill for students to acquire and practise, as many realworld problems require us to work together" (Shah & Leeder, 2016, p. 609), then it is important for LIS schools to teach students how to collaborate (Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016;Roy & Williams, 2014;Shah & Leeder, 2016). Although students' knowledge can increase during the teamwork process, so might their stress level (Kim & Lee, 2014).…”

Section: Collaborative Learning In Lis Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teaming up to Teach Teamwork in an LIS Master’s Degree Program

Mandel¹,

Moen²,

Karno³

2020

EBLIP

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Abstract Objective – Collaboration and working in teams are key aspects of all types of librarianship, but library and information studies (LIS) students often perceive teamwork and group work negatively. LIS schools have a responsibility to prepare graduates with the skills and experiences to be successful working in teams in the field. Through a grant from the university office of assessment, the assessment committee at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies explored their department’s programmatic approach to teaching teamwork in the MLIS curriculum. Methods – This research followed a multi-method design including content analysis of syllabi, secondary analysis of student evaluation of teaching (SET) data, and interviews with alumni. Syllabi were analyzed for all semesters from fall 2010 to spring 2016 (n = 210), with 81 syllabi further analyzed for details about their team assignments. Some data was missing from the dataset of SETs purchased from the vendor, resulting in a dataset of 39 courses with SET data available. Interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of alumni about their experiences with teamwork in the LIS program and their view of how well the LIS curriculum prepared them for teamwork in their careers (n = 22). Results – Findings indicate that, although alumni remembered teamwork happening too often, it was required in just over one-third of courses in the sample period (fall 2010 to spring 2016), and teamwork accounted for about one-fifth of assignments in each of these courses. Alumni reported mostly positive experiences with teamwork, reflecting that teamwork assignments are necessary for the MLIS program because teamwork is a critical skill for librarianship. Three themes emerged from the findings: alumni perceived teamwork to be important for librarians and therefore for the MLIS program, despite this perception there is also a perception that the program has teamwork in too many courses, and questions remain about whether faculty perceive teaching teamwork as important and how to teach teamwork skills in the MLIS curriculum. Conclusions – Librarians need to be able to collaborate internally and externally, but assigning team projects does not guarantee students will develop the teamwork skills they need. An LIS program should be proactive in teaching skills in scheduling, time management, personal accountability, and peer evaluation to prepare students to be effective collaborators in their careers.

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Section: Collaborative Learning In Lis Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Student Perceptions Of Teamworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Collaborative Learning In Lis Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teaming up to Teach Teamwork in an LIS Master’s Degree Program

Mandel¹,

Moen²,

Karno³

2020

EBLIP

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“…This was especially significant during the COVID-19 pandemic, as students became physically isolated and required a community to enable effective learning. Enhancing this was the use of group work tasks, which often result in challenges due to individual differences, but many benefits have been exposed from students' responses in a number of studies (Adams & Wilson, 2020;Bernier & Stenstrom, 2016;Willis et al, 2002). Of value in group work is the spirit of teamwork, which prepares students for employment, enabling them to navigate challenges in the workplace.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Voices: A Critical Reflective Exploration of an Online Groupwork Video Analysis Task During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pillay¹,

Govender

2023

SACI

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The shift to online learning in universities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic impacted field learning, an important component in nature conservation qualifications. Academics used video resources as an alternative approach to mitigate related challenges. This case study critically reflects on students’ experiences and views on the use of an internet video and WhatsApp text messaging to complete a groupwork task in a conservation module offered at a university in South Africa. The video content focused on threats to rare indigenous plant species in South Africa. Data were collected using an online electronic questionnaire (n=26) and through the analysis of five group-discussion text-messaging transcripts. Mixed-method analysis was used to analyse the data. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the closed questions in the questionnaire, and qualitative analysis was used for the open questions and transcripts. Ethical protocols were followed, with anonymity and confidentiality maintained. The findings, amongst others, indicate that overall, students agreed that the video promoted their understanding of threats to rare indigenous plants (76.9%); most students watched the video more than three times (84.6%); students had a positive response to the use of text messaging for group discussions (91.6%); and evident in the transcripts was active group engagement. Overall, WhatsApp text messaging facilitated student discussions in the asynchronous group work video analysis task. This reinforces underlying social constructivist pedagogy, which facilitates the integration of course content with group interaction and promotes critical thinking and problem-solving in a post-COVID-19 society.

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“…This form of work is effective; teachers of higher education specifically stress the role and effectiveness of small groups in improving collaboration skills. However, in spite of the experience of well-endowed group work, some students do not change attitudes regarding group work and continue to prefer individual work instead (Bernier, Stenstrom, 2016). Collaboration skills are best developed by long-term projects with far more opportunities to develop these skills, particularly projects that are fully structured by students (Moore, 2016).…”

Section: Collaboration Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Non-technical Skills in a Multicultural Environment: Case study in Latvia

Andersone¹,

Slišāne²,

Raiska³

2019

Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Research in Education

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The world today is characterized by globalization, rapid development of information technologies, a multicultural environment and a diversity of values resulting from active human migration and cultural exchanges. Today's pupils will have to create an unprecedented, new economic, political, social and cultural environment in the future. The World Economic Forum foresees that 65% of young people who are starting school at the moment will be employed in a profession that does not exist today. Therefore, in today's multi-cultural workplace, it is becoming increasingly important for an individual not only to have concrete skills to carry out his or her direct work duties, but also to his or her non-technical or transversal skills, i.e. to communicate and interact with other people in all areas of human activity, to make decisions independently, etc. Non-technical or transversal skills, largely determine the competitiveness of each member of the society and the development of society as a whole. The aim of the article is to analyze the assessment of non-technical skills in a multicultural society at different stages of education (for pupils and students) and in the workplace (for teachers and other professionals). A survey of 257 respondents was conducted for this purpose. The survey results show that non-technical skills ratings for teachers and other professionals are generally higher than for pupils and students. Respondents say they are actively pursuing the development of their communication and collaboration skills, and less the decision-making skills. The respondents say to achieve this by taking part in day-to-day training and the working environment in the multicultural community, in group or team work, in social projects, and by reading literature, attending further training courses, etc.

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Moving from chance and ``chemistry'' to skills: Improving online student learning outcomes in small group collaboration

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

Teaming up to Teach Teamwork in an LIS Master’s Degree Program

Teaming up to Teach Teamwork in an LIS Master’s Degree Program

Student Voices: A Critical Reflective Exploration of an Online Groupwork Video Analysis Task During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Development of Non-technical Skills in a Multicultural Environment: Case study in Latvia

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