An Investigation of Psychological Safety in Student-Led Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects through Student Interviews

Tara Esfahani; Isra Malabeh; Mark E. Walter; David A. Copp

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) - Empathy, Psychological Safety, and Leadership in Engineering Design
Tagged Division: Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46565

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Dr. Walter received his PhD in Applied Mechanics from Caltech. He spent a year as a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow doing materials science research at the Universitaet Karlsruhe. He joined the Ohio State University in January of 1997 and spent 17 years the

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biography

David A. Copp University of California, Irvine orcid.org/0000-0002-5206-5223

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David A. Copp received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Teaching at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Prior to joining UCI, he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and an adjunct faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. His broad research interests include engineering education, as well as control and optimization of nonlinear and hybrid systems with applications to power and energy systems, multi-agent systems, robotics, and biomedicine. He is a recipient of UCSB's Center for Control, Dynamical Systems, and Computation Best PhD Thesis award and a UCI Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship.

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Abstract

To supplement classroom learning and prepare students to transition from school to industry, many undergraduate engineering students participate in team-based design projects, both in design-focused courses and as extracurricular activities. These projects can be largely organized and run by students, and there is a wide range of projects with different team sizes, objectives, and organization. Then, it is not surprising that student expectations and experiences vary significantly across the different projects. In this work, to inform best practices for student-organized design project teams, we investigate students’ perspectives on how their team is organized, the relationships among team members, conflict resolution methods, and psychological safety.

We interviewed five students at a four-year, research-intensive, public university about their involvement in undergraduate engineering team projects that are student-organized outside of their regular coursework. We asked each student four background questions regarding their major, years involved in projects, and how their role on the team was chosen or assigned. We asked another fifteen questions related to their team’s organization, relationship with other students, conflicts and resolutions, and psychological safety within the team. The students interviewed played different roles within their projects (e.g., project manager, technical lead, general team member, etc.) and participated on teams with different goals; some aimed to participate in international design competitions while others set internal goals, perhaps with a faculty advisor.

From thematic analysis of interview responses, despite no two projects being organized the same way, some patterns surfaced. Students tended to enjoy working in smaller groups compared to bigger ones because they were more efficient at problem-solving. Additionally, to address both technical and personal disagreements, interviewees said they were comfortable speaking openly in meetings and after incidents occurred, indicating good psychological safety with teammates. We hope to use the results of this work to develop recommendations and best practices for student-organized engineering design project teams to provide a welcoming and effective learning environment for all students involved.

Citation
Format

Esfahani, T., & Malabeh, I., & Walter, M. E., & Copp, D. A. (2024, June), An Investigation of Psychological Safety in Student-Led Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects through Student Interviews Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46565

TY - CPAPER
AB - To supplement classroom learning and prepare students to transition from school to industry, many undergraduate engineering students participate in team-based design projects, both in design-focused courses and as extracurricular activities. These projects can be largely organized and run by students, and there is a wide range of projects with different team sizes, objectives, and organization. Then, it is not surprising that student expectations and experiences vary significantly across the different projects. In this work, to inform best practices for student-organized design project teams, we investigate students’ perspectives on how their team is organized, the relationships among team members, conflict resolution methods, and psychological safety.

We interviewed five students at a four-year, research-intensive, public university about their involvement in undergraduate engineering team projects that are student-organized outside of their regular coursework. We asked each student four background questions regarding their major, years involved in projects, and how their role on the team was chosen or assigned. We asked another fifteen questions related to their team’s organization, relationship with other students, conflicts and resolutions, and psychological safety within the team. The students interviewed played different roles within their projects (e.g., project manager, technical lead, general team member, etc.) and participated on teams with different goals; some aimed to participate in international design competitions while others set internal goals, perhaps with a faculty advisor.

From thematic analysis of interview responses, despite no two projects being organized the same way, some patterns surfaced. Students tended to enjoy working in smaller groups compared to bigger ones because they were more efficient at problem-solving. Additionally, to address both technical and personal disagreements, interviewees said they were comfortable speaking openly in meetings and after incidents occurred, indicating good psychological safety with teammates. We hope to use the results of this work to develop recommendations and best practices for student-organized engineering design project teams to provide a welcoming and effective learning environment for all students involved.

AU - Tara Esfahani
AU - Isra Malabeh
AU - Mark E. Walter
AU - David A. Copp
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - An Investigation of Psychological Safety in Student-Led Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects through Student Interviews
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46565
ER -