Abstract:

The ability to work well in a team is a key employability skill employers seek in graduates. However, two issues typically fundamentally undermine the effectiveness of team learning in Higher Education:

Firstly, typically little or no consideration is paid to who works together in a team. As a result, teamwork at university often suffers from an uneven, unfair distribution of teams (very strong teams, very weak teams); highly homogenous teams (cultural background, gender); as well as limited inter-group networking (poor development of interpersonal skills, a frustrating experience for less integrated students).

Secondly, teamwork is often assumed to automatically occur if students are given a group task. However without structured guidance, students often have a
minimal understanding of what constitutes effective team-work; minimal understanding of how to be a constructive team member, and little understanding of the needs of teams and how to work well across functions.

The paper firstly provides a critical overview of current practices teaching teamwork in Higher Education. It then reports and reflects on an experimental classroom intervention at the University of Hertfordshire to improve teamwork using an innovative online tool. It describes a new method of putting students into effective teams using matchmaking technology, and demonstrates the positive effect on results by increasing team-work knowledge through team reports. The paper discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the suggested team formation method, and outlines areas for future research.

Keywords:

Teams, teamwork, groupwork, team work, employability, interpersonal skills, matchmaking, online education, distant learning.