Building Student Capacity for High Performance Teamwork

Abstract

is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University. For two decades he taught capstone design courses with multidisciplinary teams and developed instructional materials and assessments that enhance student team success. He is a Fellow of ASEE and an active consultant on engineering design education. Mr. Ronald R Ulseth P. E., Iron Range Engineering Ron Ulseth directs and instructs in the Iron Range Engineering program in Virginia, Minnesota and he teaches in the Itasca Community College engineering program in Grand Rapids, MN. He was instrumental in growing the Itasca program from 10 students in 1992 to 160 students in 2010. In 2009, he worked with a national development team of engineering educators to develop the 100% PBL curriculum used in the Iron Range model. He has successfully acquired and managed over $10 million in educational grants including as PI on 7 grants from NSF. He has been in the classroom, teaching more than 20 credits per year to engineering students for more than 20 years. His specific areas of expertise are in active learning, faculty development, and learning community development. He has been awarded the 2012 Progress Minnesota award, 2012 Labovitz Entrepreneurialism award, and 2012 Innovator of the Year award from the Rural Community College Alliance all for his work in developing the Iron Range Engineering program. His degrees are in civil engineering (B.S., University of North Dakota), and mechanical engineering (M.S., University of Central Florida). He is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of Minnesota

Student Perceptions of the Place, Mode, and Teacher Contribution to Teamwork within Undergraduate Chemical Engineering

“…The more complex the project, the more functions the team performs, resulting in overlapping roles and responsibilities [25]. A key factor here is allowing sufficient time between assessments for feedback to be implemented, allowing members the chance to revise their strategies [16]. Some of these challenges can be addressed through the use of templates, such as IDEALS [26], that provides a comprehensive assessment schema for team activities.…”

“…Thematic analysis of subjective question data revolving around how teachers can better facilitate teamwork, highlighted respondents' desire for a level of structure, as most respondents mentioned needing templates for organizing meetings, setting expectations for progress, and clearly outlining the task and its deliverables. Prior research has mentioned that setting clear expectations for teams and team members, leads to better assessment of a team's capabilities and progress [16]. Thus, the teacher shoulders the responsibility by making sure preliminary measures are in place for students to prepare themselves for teamwork, without heading straight into teamwork.…”

“…By emphasising skill and process rather than technical and academic progress [15], teachers can illustrate the characteristics of successful leaders and teams. Teachers can also use their experience to shape student expectations of how teams will work and improving their confidence to encounter challenges [16]. For example, encouraging a proactive approach to conflict, rather than a fearful or anxious avoidance of conflict [17].…”

Critical Review and Refinement of a Professional Development Survey for Engineering Undergraduates, Toward an Integrated Tool for Reflection Across the Curriculum

“…The way student engages with reflection through the PDS survey, therefore, needs to account for the social dimensions of students' experience. It is established that inputs to teamwork include both individual contributions and ones made collectively by the team [27]. Productive teams, therefore, exhibit professional skills that are not confined to individuals but run at a group level.…”

Using Case Study Research as an Active Learning Tool for Demonstrating the Ability to Function on Multidisciplinary Teams

“…Since the ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 accreditation, efforts to satisfy Criterion 3(d) an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams have resulted in a large literature on the topics of team-based learning, 1 collaborative learning, 2 learning organization, 3 effective teams, 4,5 intrateam communication, 6 team skills, 7,8,9 implementing design projects, 10 assessing learning level, 11 and improving students' ability to function in teams. 12 To make sure students can satisfy this requirement, engineering programs try to provide team-oriented design projects through a student's college education starting from freshman year and culminating with a capstone design project in the senior year.…”