Student learning teams: viewpoints of team members, teachers and an observer

This paper presents results from a research project focused on group learning as experienced by students enrolled in a new Integrated Engineering programme (IGEN). Data from student survey responses,ethnographic observations of class meetings, and faculty commentary were collected continuously over one semester.Supporting group function and minimising dysfunction emerged as challenges for teachers, thus one research focus was the variance in teamwork function that student teams exhibited. The extent to which functional team-based processes were implicitly and explicitly modelled by teachers and student teams was also assessed. Results demonstrated that students perceived value in team projects, especially when instructors provided adequate support and appropriate rolemodelling.