Asee peer logo

Using a scenario-based learning approach with instructional technology to teach conflict management to engineering students

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Virtual Training, Online and Open Education; Instructional Technology

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44561

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44561

Download Count

373

Paper Authors

biography

Olivia Ryan Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Education

visit author page

Olivia Ryan is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She holds a B.S. in engineering with a specialization in electrical engineering from Roger Williams University. Her research interests include developing professional skills for engineering students and understanding mathematics barriers that exist within engineering.

visit author page

biography

Marin Jayne Fisher Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech

visit author page

Marin is a doctoral student from Aurora, IL. She holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University. Her current research interests include teamwork in student teams and religious identity within engineering. When not working on research, she enjoys hikes, road biking, and coaching high school color guard.

visit author page

biography

Lisa Schibelius Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Education Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2678-7780

visit author page

Lisa Schibelius (rhymes with rebellious) is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech (VT). She holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering with an aerospace concentration from the University of South Alabama. Prior to beginning her studies at VT, she worked as an engineer for 4 years at Airbus in the retrofit of aircraft cabins with experience in project management, automation, airworthiness, and additive manufacturing. Her research interests leverage her experiences from industry and are centered on culture, team dynamics, and conflict management, as well as global engineering and art & creativity in engineering.

visit author page

biography

Mark Vincent Huerta Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2962-0724

visit author page

Mark Huerta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. He earned his PhD in Engineering Education Systems and Design at Arizona State University and has a BS/MS in Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Huerta's research interests include exploring approaches to cultivating positive, inclusive learning environments and the development of professional skills (e..g, teamwork, leadership) in engineering education contexts.

visit author page

biography

Susan Sajadi Virginia Tech

visit author page

Susan Sajadi is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in the department of engineering education. She has a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education Systems and Design from Arizona State University. Prior, she worked as an engineer in the medical device industry.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

This evidence-based practice paper shares the methodology and findings of a workshop on conflict management that was piloted in three interdisciplinary engineering design courses that include first through fourth-year students. The workshop was designed to collect real-time student reflection data through Mentimeter, an instructional technology designed to promote class engagement.

Background: Emerging literature from Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology has highlighted the importance of effective conflict management on team performance. Teaching students how to effectively manage conflict and establish inclusive, psychologically safe team environments are essential skills for effectively working on teams in preparation for the workplace, as emphasized by ABET and professional engineering organizations. Despite this, literature suggests that many engineering instructors have limited training and confidence in facilitating learning experiences that help students develop teamwork skills, including conflict management skills. While conflict management is a large field of research, there has been minimal research on instructional strategies for teaching conflict management skills to engineering students. The purpose of this paper is to share the methodology and findings of a conflict management workshop that was delivered to engineering students in three different project-based learning courses involving year-long design projects: a first-year foundations of engineering course, an interdisciplinary design course for first through four-year students from multiple majors, and a senior interdisciplinary engineering capstone course. Students’ primary conflict management strategies are understood using the Dual Concern Model, which aligns conflict along two dimensions of concern for self (assertiveness) and concern for others (cooperativeness) with five conflict management strategies: Forcing, Problem-Solving, Compromising, Avoiding, and Yielding.

Methods: The workshop leveraged scenario-based learning and Mentimeter to foster engagement and collect real-time reflection data. Before each class, students took the Dutch Test for Conflict Handling, which identified the extent to which students use the five different conflict management approaches. At the beginning of the workshop, students were introduced to conflict management approaches and encouraged to reflect on how they typically handle conflict. Next, students were introduced to two scenarios involving task, relationship, and process conflict. The scenarios were developed and specifically related to an engineering context with real-world situations students may encounter as a design team. During each scenario, students assumed a randomly assigned role and then role-played the scenario in groups of four to five. Mentimeter was used to collect student reactions to each scenario, reflections about their experience in their assigned role, solutions their team came up with, and key takeaways from the workshop, all in real-time.

Findings: This paper shares the methodology for creating a scenario-based workshop and collecting data using Mentimeter. The quantitative results indicated that students aim to use a Problem Solving approach as their primary conflict management strategy. The qualitative responses from student reflections about the workshop showed that many students expressed a desire to move along the cooperative and assertive spectrum of the Dual Concern Model. Students discussed the importance of communication, indicating movement along the cooperation dimension. Additionally, students discussed movement along the assertive spectrum and were surprised that Forcing can be used as an effective conflict management strategy. Students also recognized the trade-offs involved when using different conflict management approaches and the importance of empathy when managing conflict. The implications of these findings are discussed in the paper along with directions for future research.

Ryan, O., & Fisher, M. J., & Schibelius, L., & Huerta, M. V., & Sajadi, S. (2023, June), Using a scenario-based learning approach with instructional technology to teach conflict management to engineering students Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44561

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015