Within-team Task Choices: Comparison of Team-based Design Project Engagement in Online and Face-to-face Instruction

Marcia Gail Headley; Jenni Buckley; Haritha Malladi

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: ERM: Lessons Learned from COVID (COVID Part 1)
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40990
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40990
Download Count: 221

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Paper Authors

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Marcia Gail Headley University of Delaware

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Dr. Headley is a Data Scientist at the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) at the University of Delaware. She specializes in the development of mixed methods research designs and strategies for integrating quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Her work has been published in the Journal of Mixed Method Research. In her current role, she uses her methodological expertise to support a variety of CRESP projects. Dr. Headley is devoted to designing effective research studies with the potential to generate well-justified answers to complex questions about how students learn given variations in their health, homes, classrooms, and schools.

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Jenni Buckley University of Delaware

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Jenni M. Buckley is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Delaware (UD). She has over 10 years of engineering experience in medical device design and biomechanical evaluation and has research interests in human factors design, medical device development, and equity and inclusion issues in engineering education. She teaches a range of courses across the mechanical engineering curriculum, including CAD, mechanics, and capstone design; and she is the Co-Director of the UD Mechanical Engineering MakerSpace, The Design Studio. She is the Co-Founder and President of The Perry Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to diversifying the pipeline in engineering and medicine through hands-on learning.

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Haritha Malladi University of Delaware

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Haritha Malladi is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Director of First-Year Engineering at the University of Delaware. She received her Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India, and her MS and PhD in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University. She is a teacher-scholar working in the intersection of undergraduate engineering education, sustainable infrastructure, and community engagement. She teaches the introductory engineering course for all first-year undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at UD. Her undergraduate teaching experience includes foundational engineering mechanics courses like statics and strength of materials as well as courses related to sustainability and infrastructure. Her research interests are in foundational engineering education, sustainability in engineering curriculum, and green technologies in infrastructure.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress paper presents a comparison of online (OL) and face-to-face (F2F) team-based design project experiences among first year engineering students. Team-based design projects are commonly used as a pedagogical tool in foundational undergraduate engineering courses. Traditionally, these learning activities have been designed for use in F2F settings to foster extended interactions among team members and engagement in a variety of hands-on engineering activities. An important goal of team-based learning is to give students experience making collaborative decisions about how to work together and independently in the service of engineering a high-quality product within technical specifications. The advent of COVID and the shift to remote instruction changed the nature of engineering education in profound ways. First-year engineering students enrolled in OL courses completed team-based design projects under conditions that differed from their F2F counterparts in two important ways. First, OL teams were unable to collaborate in the same physical space. Second, OL teams did not have access to similar materials and tools.

The purpose of this study is to explore whether and, if so, how students enrolled in OL and F2F introductory engineering courses differed in the way they engaged with a team-based design project. More specifically, the aim of this work-in-progress is to understand differences in how much time students contribute to total man-hours, what kinds of work students contribute, and how students describe their identity within the team under different learning conditions.

The study is in progress at University of Delaware (UD), a mid-sized institution with ABET-accredited engineering programs. At UD, OL instruction was mandated during Spring2020 and remained in effect for the next full academic year. F2F instruction resumed in Fall2021. Given the uncertainty of COVID, faculty developed the UDGears curriculum for adaptation to and implementation in OL and F2F instructional modes. Students who took Introduction to Engineering in the Fall2020 and Fall2021 received the same instruction and completed the same team-based design project with minimal differences (as needed to adapt UDGears to the respective instructional format). The two cohorts, therefore, offer a unique opportunity for contrasting the use of team-based design projects in OL and F2F instructional modes. The cohorts will be compared in terms of their responses to the Within-team Task Choice Survey (WTCS). The WTCS, which elicits quantitative and qualitative descriptions of individual’s experiences during a long-term team-based design project, has been used to generate important insights into the nature of individual engagement within a design team. WTCS data allows for cohort comparison in relationship to multiple dimensions of participation in teamwork: extent of time investment, nature of task contributions, and team membership identity. Currently, data has been collected for the OL Fall2020 cohort. Data will be collected from the F2F Fall2021 cohort in December. Quantitative data will be analyzed using SAS to generate descriptive statistics and test group differences. Qualitative data will be analyzed using a priori and emergent coding strategies. The integrated findings will contrast the affordances and constraints of using team-based design projects in OL and F2F instructional modes.

Citation
Format

Headley, M. G., & Buckley, J., & Malladi, H. (2022, August), Within-team Task Choices: Comparison of Team-based Design Project Engagement in Online and Face-to-face Instruction Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40990

TY - CPAPER
AB - This work-in-progress paper presents a comparison of online (OL) and face-to-face (F2F) team-based design project experiences among first year engineering students. Team-based design projects are commonly used as a pedagogical tool in foundational undergraduate engineering courses. Traditionally, these learning activities have been designed for use in F2F settings to foster extended interactions among team members and engagement in a variety of hands-on engineering activities. An important goal of team-based learning is to give students experience making collaborative decisions about how to work together and independently in the service of engineering a high-quality product within technical specifications. The advent of COVID and the shift to remote instruction changed the nature of engineering education in profound ways. First-year engineering students enrolled in OL courses completed team-based design projects under conditions that differed from their F2F counterparts in two important ways. First, OL teams were unable to collaborate in the same physical space. Second, OL teams did not have access to similar materials and tools.

The purpose of this study is to explore whether and, if so, how students enrolled in OL and F2F introductory engineering courses differed in the way they engaged with a team-based design project. More specifically, the aim of this work-in-progress is to understand differences in how much time students contribute to total man-hours, what kinds of work students contribute, and how students describe their identity within the team under different learning conditions.

The study is in progress at University of Delaware (UD), a mid-sized institution with ABET-accredited engineering programs. At UD, OL instruction was mandated during Spring2020 and remained in effect for the next full academic year. F2F instruction resumed in Fall2021. Given the uncertainty of COVID, faculty developed the UDGears curriculum for adaptation to and implementation in OL and F2F instructional modes. Students who took Introduction to Engineering in the Fall2020 and Fall2021 received the same instruction and completed the same team-based design project with minimal differences (as needed to adapt UDGears to the respective instructional format). The two cohorts, therefore, offer a unique opportunity for contrasting the use of team-based design projects in OL and F2F instructional modes. The cohorts will be compared in terms of their responses to the Within-team Task Choice Survey (WTCS). The WTCS, which elicits quantitative and qualitative descriptions of individual’s experiences during a long-term team-based design project, has been used to generate important insights into the nature of individual engagement within a design team. WTCS data allows for cohort comparison in relationship to multiple dimensions of participation in teamwork: extent of time investment, nature of task contributions, and team membership identity. Currently, data has been collected for the OL Fall2020 cohort. Data will be collected from the F2F Fall2021 cohort in December. Quantitative data will be analyzed using SAS to generate descriptive statistics and test group differences. Qualitative data will be analyzed using a priori and emergent coding strategies. The integrated findings will contrast the affordances and constraints of using team-based design projects in OL and F2F instructional modes.

AU - Marcia Gail Headley
AU - Jenni Buckley
AU - Haritha Malladi
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Within-team Task Choices: Comparison of Team-based Design Project Engagement in Online and Face-to-face Instruction
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40990
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40990
ER -