Assessing the Impact of Transition from Face-to-Face to Online Instruction on Team Cooperation

Aparajita Jaiswal; Paul J. Thomas; Tugba Karabiyik; Viranga Perera; Alejandra J. Magana

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Engineering Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--36718
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/36718
Download Count: 642

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Paper Authors

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Aparajita Jaiswal Purdue University, West Lafayette

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Aparajita Jaiswal is a Ph.D. student at Purdue Polytechnic at Purdue University, West Lafayette. Her research interests are in data science education, computational thinking, student engagement and motivation in active learning environments.

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Paul J. Thomas Purdue University, West Lafayette orcid.org/0000-0003-3960-4242

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Paul Thomas is a graduate of the PhD in Technology program at Purdue University. His research interests are in software modeling, gamification, and active learning.

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Tugba Karabiyik Purdue University, West Lafayette

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Dr. Tugba Karabiyik is an interdisciplinary postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University. She holds an MS and Ph.D. degrees both from Florida State University. Before her appointment at Purdue University, she worked as a lecturer and Visiting Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University for three years. Her research interests include data-driven decision making through data visualizations, economic decision making in engineering design, and applications of game-theoretic and agent-based modeling in computational science, finance, information technology, and engineering fields. Dr. Karabiyik is an expert in conflict, competition, strategic decision-making. She has been working on developing and applying mathematical and statistical models in various domains, including educational settings.

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Viranga Perera Purdue University, West Lafayette orcid.org/0000-0002-6061-4915

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Viranga Perera is a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 2017. His research interests are in STEM education and planetary physics.

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Alejandra J. Magana Purdue University, West Lafayette orcid.org/0000-0001-6117-7502

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Alejandra Magana is The W.C. Furnas Professor in Enterprise Excellence in the Department of Computer and Information Technology and an affiliated faculty at the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She holds a B.E. in Information Systems, a M.S. in Technology, both from Tec de Monterrey; and a M.S. in Educational Technology and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research is focused on identifying how model-based cognition in STEM can be better supported by means of expert technological and computing tools such as cyber-physical systems, visualizations, and modeling and simulation tools.

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Abstract

Teamwork is an important skill valued by corporate employers across the globe. As such, it is crucial for students to learn teamwork for the purpose of securing a job and performing well in corporate environments. In addition to certain technical skills, essential 21st-century skills include communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. A well-known learning theory that helps students learn these skills is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning posits that when students collaborate within teams to solve complex problems, their creativity and critical thinking skills are improved as a result. Implementing cooperative learning in the past several months has been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden shift from face-to-face to online instruction has left a void for newer pedagogical approaches to teach teamwork. In this full paper, we investigate the impact of cooperative learning during the Spring 2020 semester by studying team retrospectives written by students enrolled in system analysis and design course. The pedagogical foundation for the system analysis and design course was cooperative learning. The course required students to work in teams to develop a software prototype. The project was divided into four milestones and each team was required to submit a team retrospective detailing overall planning, task allocation, group processes, and strategies for improvement. The first two milestones were completed during face-to-face instruction, while teams met online for the last two milestones due to the shift to online instruction. To investigate team effectiveness, a rubric based on the Goals, Roles, Interpersonal relations, and Processes (GRPI) model of team effectiveness was created and team retrospectives were scored using that rubric. We used a mixed-method approach to explore the following research questions: 1) What was the impact on team effectiveness when instruction changed from face-to-face to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic? 2)What strategies were adopted by teams to navigate the sudden change in instruction? To address the first research question, we performed inferential statistics to compare the impact of team effectiveness between face-to-face and online instruction. To address the second research question, we conducted a thematic analysis to understand the qualitative differences of team effectiveness for face-to-face and online instruction. Our results demonstrate a significant increase in teamwork effectiveness for online instruction. In addition, our thematic analysis shows particular strategies adopted by teams that led to improved team effectiveness in the online instruction environment.

Citation
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Jaiswal, A., & J. Thomas, P., & Karabiyik, T., & Perera, V., & Magana, A. J. (2021, July), Assessing the Impact of Transition from Face-to-Face to Online Instruction on Team Cooperation Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36718

TY - CPAPER
AB - Teamwork is an important skill valued by corporate employers across the globe. As such, it is crucial for students to learn teamwork for the purpose of securing a job and performing well in corporate environments. In addition to certain technical skills, essential 21st-century skills include communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. A well-known learning theory that helps students learn these skills is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning posits that when students collaborate within teams to solve complex problems, their creativity and critical thinking skills are improved as a result. Implementing cooperative learning in the past several months has been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden shift from face-to-face to online instruction has left a void for newer pedagogical approaches to teach teamwork. In this full paper, we investigate the impact of cooperative learning during the Spring 2020 semester by studying team retrospectives written by students enrolled in system analysis and design course.

The pedagogical foundation for the system analysis and design course was cooperative learning. The course required students to work in teams to develop a software prototype. The project was divided into four milestones and each team was required to submit a team retrospective detailing overall planning, task allocation, group processes, and strategies for improvement. The first two milestones were completed during face-to-face instruction, while teams met online for the last two milestones due to the shift to online instruction. To investigate team effectiveness, a rubric based on the Goals, Roles, Interpersonal relations, and Processes (GRPI) model of team effectiveness was created and team retrospectives were scored using that rubric. We used a mixed-method approach to explore the following research questions: 1) What was the impact on team effectiveness when instruction changed from face-to-face to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic? 2)What strategies were adopted by teams to navigate the sudden change in instruction? To address the first research question, we performed inferential statistics to compare the impact of team effectiveness between face-to-face and online instruction. To address the second research question, we conducted a thematic analysis to understand the qualitative differences of team effectiveness for face-to-face and online instruction. Our results demonstrate a significant increase in teamwork effectiveness for online instruction. In addition, our thematic analysis shows particular strategies adopted by teams that led to improved team effectiveness in the online instruction environment.

AU - Aparajita Jaiswal
AU - Paul J. Thomas
AU - Tugba Karabiyik
AU - Viranga Perera
AU - Alejandra J. Magana
CY - Virtual Conference
DA - 2021/07/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Assessing the Impact of Transition from Face-to-Face to Online Instruction on Team Cooperation
UR - https://peer.asee.org/36718
DO - 10.18260/1-2--36718
ER -