Grant recipients: Kathryn Plaisance, Georgia Lamarre, Akanksha Madan, and Shane Morganstein, Department of Knowledge Integration
(Project timeline: October 2014 - April 2018)
Description
There is a well-recognized need for interdisciplinary collaboration to solve complex problems such as climate change and global poverty. However, our educational institutions offer little explicit instruction regarding the theory of interdisciplinarity or the skills needed to collaborate effectively. We sought to address this knowledge gap at UW by holding a student-centered workshop to teach the theory and skills needed for successfully cross-disciplinary collaboration. We also sought to stimulate conversation among the UW community as to how we might facilitate more cross-disciplinary interaction on campus and cultivate long-term learning opportunities around interdisciplinary collaboration. This project included a research component to identify the perceived barriers to cross-disciplinary exchange at UW and how we might overcome them. We are disseminating the project’s materials and research results through a public website, and used those results to design a university-wide course on interdisciplinary collaboration, open to all UW students.
Questions investigated
The main purpose of this project was to better understand and address what we call the “collaborative skills gap” at the University of Waterloo – a gap that persists at many universities. The project began with a survey of both students and faculty at UW regarding their experiences with and attitudes towards collaboration and group work. This enabled us to better understand the gaps around teaching students how to collaborate (rather than just giving them the opportunities to do so). In addition to collecting some local data, the project had three main aims: (1) to provide an opportunity for all students at UW to learn the theory and practice behind collaboration, in an interdisciplinary setting; (2) to share resources and best practices related to collaboration with faculty and staff at UW, especially with those wish to teach their students how to collaborate more effectively; and (3) to disseminate our findings and resources more broadly.
Findings/insights
We have discussed our research and findings in a paper entitled, “Addressing the Collaborative Skills Gap: A Joint Faculty-Student Pilot Project at the University of Waterloo”.
We received responses from 56 students, representing a variety of programs on campus. Our findings suggest that many students recognize the value of teamwork, but feel unprepared to engage in it effectively. Students tended to disagree with positive statements about group work, confirming our hypothesis that students were often uncomfortable with or even dreaded collaboration in the classroom. The most common reasons cited as to why students’ collaborations were not effective were: ‘lack of communication’, ‘lack of motivation and effort from some group members’, ‘unfair distribution of work’, and ‘poor use of time and decision making processes.’ However, students recognized the value of group work and wished to learn more about how to collaborate well: 81% of students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I wish I had been taught more about good collaboration or teamwork in the classroom,” and 84.6% of students agreed or strongly agreed to the statement, “In job interviews, I expect to be asked about my ability to work in a team, or lead a team.”
For the instructor survey, we received 29 responses from instructors across campus. Many instructors indicated that they valued group work, but faced challenges implementing it in the classroom. While instructors were interested in teaching collaborative skills, they were often unsure how to do so. 81% of instructors responded that they include group work as part of their students’ course grade, and 91% of these instructors indicated they did so because they find it important for students to have the opportunity to practice and improve collaborative skills. Yet, only 32% of instructors said they devoted class time to teach formal theories or best practices for collaboration.
Given the survey results, it was clear that the influence of instructors was integral to the persistence of the gap between students’ knowledge of collaboration and expectations of them to collaborate well. If we wanted long-term impact, we needed to increase awareness of the problem and provide learning opportunities for instructors as well. Thus, we extended our pilot project to include a half-day instructor workshop aimed at sharing key information and resources, and helping instructors design effective plans for group projects in their courses.
We assessed our full-day set of workshops for students through a survey at the end of the day. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether students’ attitudes and perspectives on collaboration changed after being taught best practices for collaborative groups. 16 of the 20 students responded to the post-workshop survey (an 80% response rate). Most notably, of those who did fill out the survey, 100% said that they would recommend this workshop to other students. All students ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ to the statement ‘After having taken this set of workshops, I feel more comfortable with the idea of working in groups.’ Almost all students (93.7%) responded ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ to the statement ‘I have more knowledge and tools to be a successful group member than I did before attending this workshop.’
We analyzed the success of the instructor workshop through a survey (our response rate was 83.3%). We also received verbal feedback and feedback via email. The response was overwhelmingly positive -- 100% of respondents said that they would recommend this workshop to others. We were also asked to hold additional offerings of the workshop, as noted above, to serve as panel discussants on teaching workshops, and to be guest lectures in an engineering capstone course. One participant said it was the “most useful workshop they had ever attended.” Another instructor told us it was “wonderful workshop” and that they “really enjoyed it”.
Dissemination and impact
- At the individual level: As an instructor, this project taught me a lot about the collaborative skills gap at the university and what topics and materials I can use to better teach students how to collaborate effectively. For the undergraduate collaborators, they conducted in-depth research on the theory behind collaboration, taught a workshop module to other students and to faculty members at UW, presented their findings at a conference on the Science of Team Science, and helped to design a new course at UW, thus honing their skills of course design.
- At the institutional (Waterloo) level: The project included a full-day university-wide workshop called “UW Collaborates”, which several students from all six faculties attended. The project also included two offerings of a half-day workshop for staff and faculty at UW to learn about how they can better teach and assess group work (these were offered as CTE workshops).
- At the international level: Two of the students and I presented this project, including the survey results, the nature of the collaborative skills gap, and the format and outcome of our workshop, at an international conference called “The Science of Team Science”. I have also hired a student to help me build a website to better disseminate the materials we created from our project, and we expect it to be live by Fall 2018.
Impact of the project
- Teaching: I have designed (with input from the co-applicants) a new course called “Making Collaboration Work” that is now on the UW undergraduate calendar, which I will offer for the first time in Fall 2018. The course will be open to all students at UW outside Knowledge Integration.
- Involvement in other activities or projects: I met with the Engineering Ideas Clinic a few times in 2017 to discuss the possibility of working together to create a workshop on collaboration for engineering students.
- Connections with people from different departments, faculties, and/or disciplines about teaching and learning: I made connections with staff and faculty from several departments on campus – specifically, those who came to one of the two half-day workshops. I have shared several resources with them that they can use in their own research and teaching.
References
Project Reference List (PDF)