A Pilot Investigation of Functional Roles on Engineering Student Teams

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The project team is fast becoming a primary learning environment for engineering students. From the perspective of education, positive team project experiences can motivate students to perform at higher levels. The definition of what factors specifically contribute to a successful team experience in engineering education requires further definition and empirical study. One of the most consistent aspects of the literature on teams is the importance of team roles to successful team functioning. The notion behind the importance of team roles is that certain predictable processes and behaviors must occur if a team is to thrive. Increasing the awareness and training of team members to these roles improves the chances that the appropriate behaviors will occur and the team will meet its goals. This project is an exploratory study seeking to better understand and empirically demonstrate the significance of functional roles on engineering project teams. This study uses a focus group based investigation of a variety of engineering team classes from freshman to seniors. In addition, focus groups of major engineering disciplines, women, minorities, professional engineers, and students who do not persist in an engineering program are being conducted to become aware of individual differences in the team experience and role taking by these diverse constituencies. Additionally, the instructors of the capstone courses are being individually interviewed by the Principle Investigators. If the presence and importance to team functioning and student learning of functional roles is empirically supported, then the pilot study will be followed by a larger scale proposal to create a psychometrically appropriate assessment measure for evaluating student performance in functional roles.