Overview
Throughout their first three years, Engineering students participate in a series of modules developed by the Teamwork Clinic. These modules provide students with experiential learning opportunities to support their development of teamwork skills. By the time they reach their fourth year capstone course, they will have been exposed to a number of teamwork skills, including team membership, communication, and conflict management.
The Capstone Teamwork Lab, is positioned to support forth year students in continually practicing their teamwork skills. Each capstone module is designed to run in a 50-minutes class time, and consists of a review of concepts along with hands-on activities that allow students to apply their skills to their capstone project. Students are also provided opportunities to engage in authentic team dialogue and team building experiences.
Descriptions of the Capstone Teamwork Series Modules
The capstone teamwork series consists of the following modules:
Team Membership and Coordination (ideally delivered in the first few weeks of the course):
Students learn to coordinate and structure their capstone project by developing Gantt Charts and Team Contracts. These tools help team members to monitor their own performance and the performance of the team in order to anticipate and predict the needs or desires of team members.
Giving and Receiving Feedback (delivered at any point in the course where feedback can benefit project development):
Students learn feedback strategies as well as the value of positive and constructive feedback regarding their own and the team’s performance. Students learn to actively listen to other team members’ contributions, acknowledge and verify information to ensure understanding, and openly express their opinions and ideas to define and clarify individual contributions. The activities in this module can be customized to the capstone project at a course level, and provides opportunities for students to appraise alternative solutions and provide insights for improvement, in order to reach an optimal solution.
Team Health Assessment (ideally delivered midway through the project):
Team members individually complete an anonymous survey which, during the session, enables them to reflect on the effectiveness of their team. Students partake in an internal group discussion as well as a class-wide activity to determine concrete actions to strengthen areas of weakness.