From group work to team work: comparative analysis in three european institutions

Résumé 0

Addressing the complex challenges of sustainability demands for good teamworkabilities for future technicians and engineers. In our three institutions we adoptedproject-based learning to facilitate the development of these skills – but is thisenough? Since group project-based learning involves dealing with complex technicaltasks and at the same time learning to work as a team, we wondered how studentshandle this double challenge. By analysing their perceptions, we attempt to identifywhat teaching practices could be helpful to shift their experience from groupwork toeffective teamwork.In this paper, we present the differences and similarities in the way we implementgroup projects in our respective institutions. A common questionnaire was proposedto our students capturing their perception 1) of the value of group project learning, 2)of their ability to carry out such projects in the future, 3) of the group perception of ashared goal and 4) of the quality of interpersonal relations within their group. Finally,we present the results of this first iteration of data collection showing different groupprofiles. We discuss the teaching practices that may contribute to sustain students'motivation for group-work and their confidence in their ability to achieve complexteam projects, first in their academic context and then when facing challenges intheir future employment within a changing world.