COLLEGE HOUSE ENTERPRISES, LLC

BESTEAMS

BUILDING ENGINEERING STUDENT TEAM EFFECTIVENESS AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

A curriculum guide for faculty

Linda C. Schmidt

Janet A. Schmidt

Paige E. Smith

David I. Bigio

Jeanne Bayer Contardo

University of Maryland, College Park

Every engineering instructor who has uttered the following sentence had seen students grimace, roll their eyes, begin gesturing to each other or shrink deep into their seats in horror.

 “This course will include a team project worth a significant portion of your grade.”

This seems like an odd reaction to the announcement of a team activity. After all, engineering is a team sport. Our engineering programs are ABET accredited only after demonstrating a curriculum that includes teaching our students the ability to function in multidisciplinary teams.  The truth is that working in teams is a skill that instructors must teach along with all the other professional abilities we require from our graduates.  This book is designed to give engineering instructors the means, methods, and motivation to add team training modules to courses that include team projects. 

Our work on developing formal materials for team training grew from the synergy of engineering education initiatives already underway at the University of Maryland, College Park.  The Introduction to Engineering Design (ENES 100) course was initiated under the auspices of the NSF-sponsored ECSEL coalition in 1990, and its centerpiece was participation in a team-based engineering project.  Students actively worked to design, build, and test human items such as powered water pumps, solar desalinators, and postal weighing scales. The deliberate teaching of teamwork  was included in the course.  The inclusion of team training in ENES 100 was facilitated in part by the enthusiasm of the faculty members involved in ground breaking curriculum development and the fact that the faculty members themselves were taught team training skills as a part of their ESCEL involvement.

We present to you an introductory team training book, supported in part by a Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (DUE-CCLI-0089079) grant from the National Science Foundation  (Title: Implementing the BESTEAMS model of team development across the curriculum).   Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This text incorporates characteristics designed specifically to enable use by engineering faculty.  First, the curriculum is composed of three distinct tracks based on key domains of team functioning (personal knowledge, interpersonal effectiveness, and project management skills). Second, the material is designed in discrete “modules” or individual building blocks that can be combined by engineering faculty in ways that make the most sense for their particular students and team project.  Third, each module includes background material for instructors, presentation outlines, interactive student activities, and suggestions for customizing the material for different class sizes and lengths. Finally, the modules presented here include complete sets of Microsoft PowerPoint® slides that can be downloaded and used “as-is” or customized by instructors.  

CONTENTS

Chapter 1     INTRODUCTION

1.1       Overview

1.2       The Evolution of BESTEAMS

1.3       Answering Changing Needs in Engineering Education

1.4       Book Layout 

1.5       The Three Domains at the Introductory Level

1.6       Summary

1.7       Sources Cited for Introduction

 Chapter 2     TEAMWORK 101

2.1       Overview of Preparation

 2.2       Assigning students to project teams

 2.3       Considerations for Team Grading

 2.4       Managing “slackers” or non-contributing team members

 2.5       Dealing with dysfunctional teams

 2.6       Maximizing the team experience for women and other underrepresented groups

 2.7       Sources Cited

 Chapter 3     BESTEAMS MODULE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE

3.1       Introduction to Module

 3.2       David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model: Theoretical Foundations

 3.3       Sources Cited

 3.4       50-Minute Class Overview: Understanding Your Learning Style I

 3.5       BESTEAMS Module Implementation Plan (MIP)

 3.6       Personal Awareness for Students: References

Chapter 4     BESTEAMS MODULE INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

4.1       Introduction to Module

4.2       Team Functioning: Theoretical Foundations

4.3       Sources Cited

4.4       50-Minute Class Overview: Working Effectively Within Teams

4.5       BESTEAMS Module Implementation Plan (MIP)

4.6       Interpersonal Effectiveness for Students: References

 Chapter 5     BESTEAMS MODULE PROJECT MANAGEMENT. 71

5.1      Introduction to Module

 5.2       Theoretical Foundations

 5.3       Sources Cited

 5.4       50-Minute Class Overview: Introductory Project Management

 5.5       BESTEAMS Module Implementation Plan (MIP)

 5.6       Project Management for Students: References

 Chapter 6     CONCLUSION

6.1      BESTEAMS Material

 6.2       Best Practices—Using the Modules

 6.3       BESTEAMS Success

 6.4       The Future of BESTEAMS

 6.5       Resources

 APPENDIX

 INDEX

About the Authors

Dr. Linda C. Schmidt: Dr. Schmidt is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland, College Park.  She completed her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Iowa State University for work in Industrial Engineering, specializing in queuing theory and organization research.  At UMCP, she has been active in teaching the junior-level product development course and has co-authored two editions of the course textbook.  Dr. Schmidt’s interest in research on training for engineering project teams has resulted in the founding of BESTEAMS, a research group for the improvement of training materials for engineering project teams, and presentation of research through ASEE conferences and publications. 

Dr. Janet A. Schmidt: Dr. Schmidt is the Assistant Dean for Research and Assessment in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Counseling and Personnel Services.  A licensed psychologist, Dr. Schmidt is an assessment  specialist with expertise in engineering student learning outcome evaluation.  She is a co-PI of the BESTEAMS grant as well as three additional NSF grants related to teamwork in the context of learning and gender.  She has served as the Director of Student Research in The Clark School of Engineering, Director of Institutional Studies, and Coordinator of the Maryland Longitudinal Study.  Finally, Dr. Schmidt is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Counseling and Personnel Services department of the University’s College of Education.   

Dr. Paige E. Smith : Dr. Smith is the Director of the Women in Engineering program at the University of Maryland, College Park.  She earned her doctorate in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) with a focus in Management System Engineering from Virginia Tech.  She received her M.S. in ISE and B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech.  Her research interests involve socio-technical systems, with an emphasis on project management and teams, and gender diversity.  In her position as Director of the Women in Engineering program, she is responsible for providing leadership to the college for recruiting and retaining women in the field.  She is currently the Secretary for the Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network (WEPAN).

Dr. David I. Bigio: Dr. Bigio is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.  He completed his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has spearheaded the redesign of a number of core engineering courses at the University of Maryland, including the Engineering Project, Fluid Dynamics and capstone Engineering Design courses.  He was a CTE-Lilly Teaching Fellow for 1996-1997 and received the Kent Poole Senior Faculty Teaching Award for 2002-2003.  Further, he has been an active BESTEAMS participant and is a co-PI on the grant, presenting at workshops, developing material, and providing on-going assessment.

Ms. Jeanne Bayer Contardo:  Ms. Contardo is the BESTEAMS graduate assistant and is a doctoral student in higher education policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.  She earned her M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her B.A. from the University of Washington.  At both locations she taught seminars on learning styles and working together in teams.  Her current research interests include systemic change occurring in higher education and higher education finance.

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