Abstract:

This session reports the results of student perceptions about the individual contributions of group members that participated in a team assignment as part of a tertiary education course. The practice of designing coursework with group projects need to adhere to Johnson, Johnson and Smith’s (1991) [1] strategies for [cooperative] learning in college classrooms who emphasize creating interdependence, devoting time for developing teamwork skills, and cultivating an atmosphere of individual accountability. The significance is the importance of students having the opportunity to express their perceptions about ways that other members affect their own score for a class assignment.

Problem:
While college instructors realize the value of group projects as a way to augment individual assignments during academic study, teamwork poses a unique set of issues. The problem is that students unaccustomed to working with others on projects with genuine consequences often fail to equally contribute to the group. A common consequence of inequitable participation among individual team members is poor performance of the entire group.

Context:
The premise is based on the course instructor’s desire to emulate the reality outside their classroom within the learning space. Thus, this study adopts the conceptual framework of intentional learning space (Branch & Chae, 2016 [2]). Miles, Hubert and Saldana (2014) [3] point out the role of a conceptual framework as depicting the visual explanation of the main variables and presumed relationships in a study. Further, effort is treated differently from actual contribution because an amount of effort for the contribution of one individual can vary significantly than another individual with the same degree of contribution with a substantially different amount of effort. Therefore, the study focuses on patterns of agreement among group members while completing a team academic assignment. The idea is to measure the perceived degree of contributions of other team members by each single team member. The research question for the study is “What is the perceived degree of agreement among group members regarding individual contributions to a team project?”

Methodology:
The participants are students in a tertiary education course. Data are collected using a customized confidential questionnaire called the Individual Contributions Form, available in a variety of digital formats. The Form is administered after all other assignments have been completed. The Form considers each team member’s contributions to all aspects of the team’s work, including, meetings, documents, and presentations, beginning with the formation of the team, ending with the adjournment of the team. A summary of the results is expressed diagrammatically as patterns of agreement among team members completing the same group assignment. The discussion of the session is devoted to identifying ways to ensure equal contributions among individuals working on a group project.

References:
[1] D.W. Johnson, R. Johnson, & K. Smith, K. “Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom’” Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company, 1998.
[2] R. Branch, & B. Chae’ “Genuine student-centered learning,” Open Education Research, Special Issue: Innovative applications of educational technology: Reflections and prospects, 22(1), 15-17, 2016.
[3] M.B. Miles, A.M. Huberman, & J. Saldana’ “Qualitative data analysis: A method sourcebook’” CA, US: Sage Publications, 2014.

Keywords:

Teamwork, Group Work, Projects, Learning, Design.