Building Engineering Professional and Teamwork Skills: A Workshop on Giving and Receiving Feedback

Dr. Al-Hammoud is a Faculty lecturer (Graduate Attributes) in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Al-Hammoud has a passion for teaching where she continuously seeks new technologies to involve students in their learning process. She is actively involved in the Ideas Clinic, a major experiential learning initiative at the University of Waterloo. She is also responsible for developing a process and assessing graduate attributes at the department to target areas for improvement in the curriculum. This resulted in several publications in this educational research areas.
Dr. Al-Hammoud won the "Ameet and Meena Chakma award for exceptional teaching by a student” in 2014 and the "Engineering Society Teaching Award" in 2016 from University of Waterloo. Her students regard her as an innovative teacher who continuously introduces new ideas to the classroom that increases their engagement.

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Mehrnaz Mostafapour University of Waterloo

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Christopher Rennick University of Waterloo orcid.org/0000-0003-1682-3311

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Mr. Christopher Rennick received his B.A.Sc., Honours Electrical Engineering in 2007 and his M.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 2009, both from the University of Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Chris is currently a PhD student in Management Sciences at the University of Waterloo.
Since 2010, he has been employed with the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada as teaching staff.

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Ada Hurst University of Waterloo orcid.org/0000-0002-2481-8566

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Ada Hurst is a continuing lecturer in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Ada's research falls in the areas of decision‐making under uncertainty, design thinking and processes, and gender issues in STEM disciplines. She is interested in innovations in engineering design pedagogy, experiential and virtual learning, and effective teamwork in student teams. She received a BASc in electrical engineering, followed by MASc and PhD degrees in management sciences, all from the University of Waterloo.

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Jason Grove P.E. University of Waterloo

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Jason Grove is the Graduate Attributes Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is responsible for leading the continuous program assessment improvement process for the chemical and nanotechnology engineering programs. He is also heavily involved in the development of Waterloo Engineering’s IDEAS Clinic initiative.

Dr. Grove obtained his PhD from the University of Waterloo investigating the microbial community ecology in biofilters used for air pollution control. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford.

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Abstract

Proficiency in teamwork is one of the most essential skills employers seek in their new hires. As such, academic institutions are continually increasing their focus on teamwork education and assessment. This paper describes one module out of a series of six teamwork modules targeted at undergraduate engineering students. The series of modules have been designed to provide teamwork theory and skills in the context of an existing team project within a course, allowing the new knowledge and skills to be applied authentically and at the time of learning. Additionally, a number of assessment strategies have been developed in order to assess student learning and the overall success of the modules. The fourth module developed as part of this series on teamwork focuses on giving and receiving feedback. At the end of this module, students should be able to: 1. Understand the value of seeking, giving, and receiving feedback for themselves, their team, and as a professional; 2. Apply communication skills that keep feedback from becoming personal, both as a giver and as a receiver of feedback; and, 3. Give feedback that integrates various types of functions, including to understand, assess, and provide recommendations.

Taking the format of a workshop, the module was piloted in five courses across different engineering disciplines, undergraduate levels, and courses. In an implementation in a first-year civil, environmental and geological engineering course, student teams exchanged feedback on preliminary designs completed prior to the start of the workshop. In addition, two classes of fourth-year management engineering students completed the module in their capstone design course, practicing giving and receiving feedback to their peers on conceptual designs as well as on design verification and validation plans. Finally, the workshop was also run in a second-year systems design engineering class as a standalone unit (not connected to a course project). In that offering, students developed different design concepts to address a design need suggested by the instructor and subsequently exchanged feedback on the designs with their peers. In all cases, students were able to reflect on their learning experience by answering survey questions and/or reflecting on the value of this module in their design reports. In general, students responded very positively to this learning experience, with each round of student feedback providing greater insight into how the workshop could be modified to ensure that students recognize the value of the feedback process as a professional skill and that they become comfortable giving and receiving feedback to each other. We describe the contents of the workshop in detail and summarize student feedback on each implementation. Further, we reflect on how the workshop can be further developed to better meet its intended learning outcomes and suggest ways in which instructors can alter it to suit different student disciplines, academic levels and course objectives.

Citation
Format

Jobidon, E., & Barichello, M., & Al-Hammoud, R., & Mostafapour, M., & Rennick, C., & Hurst, A., & Grove, J. (2018, June), Building Engineering Professional and Teamwork Skills: A Workshop on Giving and Receiving Feedback Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30163

TY - CPAPER
AB - Proficiency in teamwork is one of the most essential skills employers seek in their new hires. As such, academic institutions are continually increasing their focus on teamwork education and assessment. This paper describes one module out of a series of six teamwork modules targeted at undergraduate engineering students. The series of modules have been designed to provide teamwork theory and skills in the context of an existing team project within a course, allowing the new knowledge and skills to be applied authentically and at the time of learning. Additionally, a number of assessment strategies have been developed in order to assess student learning and the overall success of the modules.
The fourth module developed as part of this series on teamwork focuses on giving and receiving feedback. At the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Understand the value of seeking, giving, and receiving feedback for themselves, their team, and as a professional;
2. Apply communication skills that keep feedback from becoming personal, both as a giver and as a receiver of feedback; and,
3. Give feedback that integrates various types of functions, including to understand, assess, and provide recommendations.

Taking the format of a workshop, the module was piloted in five courses across different engineering disciplines, undergraduate levels, and courses. In an implementation in a first-year civil, environmental and geological engineering course, student teams exchanged feedback on preliminary designs completed prior to the start of the workshop. In addition, two classes of fourth-year management engineering students completed the module in their capstone design course, practicing giving and receiving feedback to their peers on conceptual designs as well as on design verification and validation plans. Finally, the workshop was also run in a second-year systems design engineering class as a standalone unit (not connected to a course project). In that offering, students developed different design concepts to address a design need suggested by the instructor and subsequently exchanged feedback on the designs with their peers.
In all cases, students were able to reflect on their learning experience by answering survey questions and/or reflecting on the value of this module in their design reports. In general, students responded very positively to this learning experience, with each round of student feedback providing greater insight into how the workshop could be modified to ensure that students recognize the value of the feedback process as a professional skill and that they become comfortable giving and receiving feedback to each other.
We describe the contents of the workshop in detail and summarize student feedback on each implementation. Further, we reflect on how the workshop can be further developed to better meet its intended learning outcomes and suggest ways in which instructors can alter it to suit different student disciplines, academic levels and course objectives.

AU - Erin Jobidon
AU - Maria Barichello
AU - Rania Al-Hammoud P.Eng.
AU - Mehrnaz Mostafapour
AU - Christopher Rennick
AU - Ada Hurst
AU - Jason Grove P.E.
CY - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA - 2018/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Building Engineering Professional and Teamwork Skills: A Workshop on Giving and Receiving Feedback
UR - https://peer.asee.org/30163
DO - 10.18260/1-2--30163
ER -