Ideas Clinic Teamwork Module Series: Targeted experiential modules to develop student teamwork skills

The Ideas Clinic Teamwork Working Group is a team of faculty and staff representatives from various engineering departments, the Student Success Office, and the Centre for Teaching Excellence [1]. With the support of a LITE Grant, the working group has developed a set of six stand-alone modules that provide experiential learning opportunities to support undergraduate engineering students in developing their teamwork skills. The experiential modules have been integrated into courses from first through fourth year, and consist of three Introductory modules (Team Membership and Coordination, Team Communication, and Understanding Conflict), two Reinforcement modules (Giving and Receiving Feedback, Conflict Resolution), and one Mastery module (Team Health Assessment)[2,3]. Each module also includes assessment activities that serve to evaluate student learning and module effectiveness.

Each module has the flexibility to run in either 50 or 80 minutes, with delivery occurring during lecture or lab time. Modules typically consist of a short presentation along with hands-on activities that allow students to apply and practice their new skills. Each module provides opportunities for students to engage in authentic team dialogue and team building experiences as well as enables the instructor to integrate the modules with minimal time and effort. These modules are most impactful when integrated into courses that have students working in teams on lengthy, course-specific projects.

All modules developed to date have been piloted in first to fourth year courses in various engineering programs. Our next step is to expand these modules into more courses in all engineering programs. While the modules were intended for and targeted at engineering students, they can be seamlessly adapted to courses and students from other disciplines.

Our presentation will provide a brief description and assessment of each module. In addition, some of the instructors that have incorporated these modules into their classrooms will share their insights and experiences.