Grant recipients: John Michela, Vivian Wing-Sheung Chan*, Kevin Leung*, Jayna Mitchell*, Department of Psychology
*Graduate Student Co-Applicants
(Completed. Project Timeframe: August 2012 - July 2013)
Project description
We seek to demonstrate that when students receive prescriptive training concerning how best to organize and carry out work in teams connected with their coursework, the quality of teamwork processes and team products will be enhanced along with teamwork satisfaction, attitudes and motivations. An outcome within the scope of the LITE Grant is the production of a teamwork training program designed to be widely-applicable across different courses. The training materials include a lecture podcast, a demonstration video, and illustrative course-specific supplements designed to develop students’ teamwork skills through engagement in multi-media and team development activities.
Findings and insights
We found that students who received the prescriptive teamwork preparation training achieved higher scores on the final exam compared with students in teams that received alternative training. Students with the prescriptive training thus were seen to have learned more over the term. Students' responses to teamwork surveys taken on the two occasions illuminated this finding. In the middle of the term, students with the prescriptive training reported significantly greater use of a systematic problem-solving process, marginally more respectful and energetic interactions, and marginally greater task interdependence (working together, as opposed to merely dividing up the team's assignment). Using a statistical method called mediation analysis, we also found that whether students who received prescriptive training then had higher scores on the final exams depended partly on whether they applied a systematic problem-solving process in their teams. In addition to exam grades, assignment grades were significantly higher for teams that received the prescriptive training in the middle of the term. Corresponding to this finding were analyses showing that greater use of a systematic problem-solving process and more respectful and energetic interactions were mediators of better team performance on the early assignment grades. However, by the end of the term, the differences in assignment grades largely dissipated. Over time, teams appeared to have developed distinctive ways of working together regardless of teamwork preparation. Nevertheless, prescriptive training, especially on systematic problem-solving, provided superior teamwork preparation that enhanced students’ performance in teams and learning.
Dissemination and impact
Graduate students involved in this project benefited in developing their research skills from completing a project from the proposal-writing to dissemination stage. Our prescriptive training intervention made an impact on learning outcomes (final exam and assignment grades) of the Psychology of Training undergraduate course (PSYCH340). We expect for this training to be provided to students in all future offerings of this course. Research was disseminated at the fifth annual Opportunities and New Directions (OND) Conference and at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science conference. We are currently writing a manuscript on this project.