The effect of electronic platform on student engineering design team success
Academic Year:
2012 - 2013 (June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013)
Funding Requested:
$3,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
Overview of the Project:
The proposed quasi-experimental study explores the effect of a TTI innovation, an online platform for team decision making, which I first implemented in my classroom Fall 2011. My Fall 2012 students (anticipated: ~60 students) working in ~12 teams of 4-5 students will be assigned to the online (Google docs, with chat feature) or the control (face-to-face) condition for a design negotiation that takes place at the beginning of a collaborative learning cycle in a first-year undergraduate engineering course. Transcripts of the resulting team design negotiations will be coded for member participation, level of critique, and application of engineering principles. Surveys of students after the project as well as evaluation of innovation evidenced in team decisions will also be evaluated. The results of this study may suggest pedagogical strategies for increasing minority participation in student groups and for increasing students' application of theoretical knowledge in a collaborative learning context. It is hoped that the project results will inform team-based active learning projects across the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.