The impacts of scaffolding socially shared regulation on teamwork in an online project-based course

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2022.100877Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Scaffolding socially shared regulation encourages a positive teamwork environment.

  • Scaffolding socially shared regulation leads to more balanced contributions among team members.

  • Scaffolding socially shared regulation allows for collaboration and cooperation, thus enhancing team performance.

Abstract

Employers now consider teamwork one of the essential skills for students to acquire during their academic life. However, COVID-19 has accelerated the transition towards online learning, affecting how we work in teams. This study looked at how scaffolding socially shared regulation of learning can influence teamwork in an online, project-based course. Intra-group peer assessment was used to analyze three variables during a first-year engineering course. By following the proposed scaffolding, students found an optimum balance in their contribution to team meetings. They also managed to establish a positive working environment earlier in the semester. This study contributes to the field by showing that scaffolding socially shared regulation in an online, project-based course allows for an interplay between collaboration during class and cooperation outside of it. This interplay ultimately leads teams to achieve better results on their final project.

Introduction

One of the most sought-after skills for employers over the last ten years has been teamwork (Planas-Lladó et al., 2021). Employers consider that learning how to work as part of a team and developing teamwork skills should be an essential part of academic life (Fathi, Ghobakhloo, & Syberfeldt, 2019).

Teamwork can be defined as working collectively to accomplish a shared goal while having individual responsibilities within the team (Fathi et al., 2019). Higher Education considers teamwork an essential component (Murzi, Chowdhury, Karlovšek, & Ruiz Ulloa, 2020; Passow & Passow, 2017). Most accreditation agencies expect this skill to be acquired during a university education (Planas-Lladó et al., 2021).

Working in teams is essential for solving today's challenges (Järvelä, Järvenoja, & Malmberg, 2019). Students must be exposed to and practice teamwork reiteratively as part of their studies to develop teamwork skills (Earnest, Williams, & Aagaard, 2017). Effective teamwork requires individual and team regulation (Järvelä et al., 2019). Socially shared regulation is, therefore, hugely important (Järvelä et al., 2019). In this sense, socially shared regulation refers to individuals regulating their mutual working process (Hadwin & Oshige, 2011), negotiating, and co-constructing to collaborate (Järvelä & Hadwin, 2013).

Different teaching methods can be used to develop different skills. Project-based learning, for example, is a methodology that encourages teamwork (Jalinus, Syahril, Nabawi, & Arbi, 2020). Project-based learning is considered a student-centered learning approach, where the role of the teacher is to assist the students while they work independently in teams (Sakulviriyakitkul, Sintanakul, & Srisomphan, 2020). Following this methodology, students solve a real-world, open-ended problem while enhancing their communication, reflection, and teamwork skills (McManus & Costello, 2019).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most educational institutions have regarded online learning as the most viable form of learning since early 2020 (Dhawan, 2020). Indeed, shifting from a face-to-face curriculum to an online environment was considered compulsory. Even though the pandemic has accelerated the transformation of online teaching (Cortázar et al., 2021), teamwork remains a significant concern (Guilford & Schmedlen, 2021). Project-based courses must be transformed for online learning, as must the required teamwork skills, to help address this concern (Kuladinithi et al., 2020).

This study proposes scaffolding socially shared regulation as part of an online, project-based course. Both the experimental and control groups work in an online, project-based environment. However, socially shared regulation is only scaffolded for the experimental group. The performance of both groups is then compared. This study, therefore, looks to answer the following research question: How does scaffolding socially shared regulation impact teamwork in an online, project-based course?

Section snippets

Teamwork

Teamwork can be defined as integrating individuals' efforts to pursue a shared goal through interaction (Driskell, Salas, & Driskell, 2018). Although terms such as cooperation and collaboration are often used interchangeably (Hammond, 2017), both reflect distinct modes of working in teams (Blau, Shamir-Inbal, & Avdiel, 2020). Collaboration is often considered working jointly towards a shared goal through co-work and co-planning, while cooperation is more about dividing tasks among team members (

Hypothesis

This study builds on the previous evidence presented in Section 2. In particular, considering the importance of individual contributions to teamwork (Wilson et al., 2018), the working environment (Bravo et al., 2019), and the relationship between teamwork and team performance (Schmutz et al., 2019). In this sense, adequate scaffolding is needed to support team learning (Lam et al., 2020). Furthermore, socially shared regulation can encourage collaboration and team cohesion and improve team

Research context

This study was conducted during a cornerstone course delivered at an Engineering School in Chile, with 834 students enrolled during the first semester of 2020. During the semester, students worked in ten-course sections of around 83 students each. Cornerstone courses in engineering usually last a semester (Guerra et al., 2017), with students working in teams to solve ill-structured problems (Dringenberg & Purzer, 2018). Teams usually consist of either small groups of 3–5 students or large

Results

The results obtained in this study are presented in three subsections, each relating to one of the three hypotheses.

Discussion

This study looked to understand how socially shared regulation of learning can influence teamwork in an online, project-based course. An intra-group peer assessment tool was used to understand the dynamics of the teamwork within each group. The assessment of the final product by external stakeholders was also used to understand each group's performance.

Project-based learning has been studied as a methodology that encourages teamwork (Jalinus et al., 2020). The control group made significant

Conclusions, limitations & future research

This study aimed to understand how socially shared regulation can influence teamwork in an online, project-based course.

The first contribution of this study stems from the first hypothesis, H1: Scaffolding socially shared regulation in online learning leads to earlier contributions in team meetings (Section 3). In this sense, students in the control group made more balanced contributions to team meetings as the semester went on (Table 7). This contrasts with the students in the experimental

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the team of professors who taught the course, the Office of Undergraduate Studies, and the Office of Engineering Education. This study was partially funded by FONDECYT 1180024, by grant PID2020-112584RB-C31, funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033, and by the Madrid Regional Government through the e-Madrid-CM Project under Grant S2018/TCS-4307

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