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Developing Critical Collaboration Skills in Engineering Students: Results from an Empirical Study

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teamwork

Tagged Division

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/p.26750

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/26750

Download Count

761

Paper Authors

biography

Pilar Pazos Old Dominion University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-7798

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Pilar Pazos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA. Her main areas of research interest are collaborative work-structures, virtual teams and team decision-making and performance.

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biography

Nina Magpili Engineering Management & Systems Engineering (EMSE), Old Dominion University

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Nina Magpili is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate research and teaching assistant at Engineering Management and Systems Engineering (EMSE) department at Old Dominion University. Her dissertation explores deep-level diversity (MBTI, decision-making styles and communication styles) in virtual team decision making. Her other research interests include online collaboration technologies, team building, self-managing teams, and sociotechnical systems.

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biography

Zikai Zhou Old Dominion University

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Zikai Zhou is a PhD student in Old Dominion University and his research interests are about team collaboration and cognition analysis.

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biography

Luis Jose Rodriguez Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division

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Luis J. (LJ) Rodriguez, D.Eng., is a manager at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). He is also an adjunct professor within the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He holds a Doctor of Engineering degree and a Masters of Engineering Management (M.E.M.) from Old Dominion University, as well as a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.

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Abstract

In highly technical organizations, work is becoming increasingly distributed; requiring practicing engineers to master virtual collaboration skills while acquiring expertise in a range of collaboration technologies. Although there has been great emphasis on developing collaboration competencies in the engineering curriculum, empirical evidence of successful strategies for distributed team settings is scarce. As an attempt to fill this gap this study investigates the impact of a scalable intervention in developing virtual collaboration skills. The intervention, based on instructional scaffolds embedded with collaboration technologies, is aimed at supporting specific processes including planning, goal setting, clarifying goals and expectations, communication, coordination and progress monitoring. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of the intervention on student teamwork skills. Data from 278 graduate and undergraduate engineering students participating in virtual team projects was used in the analysis. Results from the analysis are presented suggesting a statistically significant impact of the intervention on self-management skills when comparing randomly assigned teams with and without the intervention. The intervention is designed to be scalable so that it can be embedded into existing project-based courses. Our findings have important implications for the development of teamwork skills in engineering courses and provide evidence of a successful strategy that can be integrated into the existing engineering curriculum.

Pazos, P., & Magpili, N., & Zhou, Z., & Rodriguez, L. J. (2016, June), Developing Critical Collaboration Skills in Engineering Students: Results from an Empirical Study Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26750

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