A Conceptual Framework For Designing Team Training In Engineering Classrooms

Abstract

Changes in customers' perceptions about service and products and technological advances have compelled companies to change the way they do business. The use of teams in organizations has become an effective way for organizations to satisfy new customers' needs. Research has shown that teams promote creativity and enhance performance in the form of speedy processes and quality products and services. However, the team approach is not successful in every situation. Organizations recognize that new employees need to bring team work skills to the workplace. Although employers may be willing to provide on the job training, they expect that their new employees, at least, possess the understanding of why this skill is important in the organization 1. As result, the corporate environment has created pressure on institutions of higher education to prepare students to be effective team players 1,2,3. For this reason accreditation boards at the collegiate level such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC), and the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), among others, are requiring higher education institutions to introduce teamwork activities into their curriculums 4,5,6. In response, institutions of higher education are developing a variety of methodologies for introducing teamwork in their classrooms. Collaborative learning, cooperative learning and other forms of active learning are being used in classrooms as ways to promote teamwork among students and enhance their learning 7,8. Studies on cooperative and collaborative learning, as well as on the use of groups in classroom prove that trying to incorporate teams into the classroom is a highly complex task 9. Difficulties with implementing teams have led researchers and practitioners to look for characteristics that make the difference between an effective and an ineffective team. Team performance and teaming process have been the focus of research within industry as well as in the educational field. It has been found that multiple variables related to individual differences, team task structure, context or environment and group characteristics have an effect on the teaming process and team performance. From these results, group dynamics techniques, guidelines, and checklists have been developed as supporting tools for helping teams to become more effective. Nevertheless, it seems that more is required to achieve that goal. Today, the focus has turned to better structured team training programs addressing required individual and team competencies. They have to be designed under instructional strategies allowing individuals the opportunity of experiencing real team situations and have time for reflecting on their learning process.

Strategies For Creating And Sustaining A Departmental Culture

“…Silverstein 55 uses the national AIChE conference as a forum for students to complete a team-based fact-finding project. Additional integration of soft skills throughout the curriculum includes international programs 56 , the use of undergraduate research 57 , team training [58][59][60] , and cultural diversity 61 .…”