Presenter Information

Brian Lee, University of Kentucky

Location

Cheatham 317

Event Website

http://www.cpe.vt.edu/cuenr/index.html

Start Date

3-27-2010 11:30 AM

End Date

3-27-2010 12:00 PM

Description

Many students who enter a university setting have not necessarily been formally educated in how to engage learning as a functional team member. One of the skills employers continually say they highly value is the ability of an individual to contribute productively to teams. A requirement for an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture is completing a six‐credit hour capstone service‐ learning course. The course involves individual work that contributes to a team effort resulting in several products for a community sponsor. Typically, team members have attended classes and worked on class projects together prior to this course and are not working together for the first time. This semester‐long course at the end of a five‐year professional degree uses multiple team building interventions, including student participation in an off‐campus challenge course. Team members evaluate themselves and the team using an assessment of perceived individual effectiveness, team effectiveness, and team cohesion. The repeated assessment was a 35 item Likert‐scaled questionnaire. A baseline assessment was performed on the first day of class and students are subsequently administered the questionnaire periodically throughout the semester as well as at the end of the semester to document student perceptions. This study has involved 75 students in five cohorts over four years. The results have implications for how, when, and what the expected benefits are of incorporating team‐based productivity/learning at the end of a course of study.

Comments

Citation: Lee, B. 2010. Student reported individual and team effectiveness in a service learning capstone course : lessons from five cohorts. UENR Biennial Conference, Session Making it Real - Service, Learning, and Internships, Paper Number 1. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/Sessions/Service/1/.

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Mar 27th, 11:30 AM Mar 27th, 12:00 PM

Student Reported Individual and Team Effectiveness in a Service­ Learning Capstone Course: Lessons from Five Cohorts

Cheatham 317

Many students who enter a university setting have not necessarily been formally educated in how to engage learning as a functional team member. One of the skills employers continually say they highly value is the ability of an individual to contribute productively to teams. A requirement for an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture is completing a six‐credit hour capstone service‐ learning course. The course involves individual work that contributes to a team effort resulting in several products for a community sponsor. Typically, team members have attended classes and worked on class projects together prior to this course and are not working together for the first time. This semester‐long course at the end of a five‐year professional degree uses multiple team building interventions, including student participation in an off‐campus challenge course. Team members evaluate themselves and the team using an assessment of perceived individual effectiveness, team effectiveness, and team cohesion. The repeated assessment was a 35 item Likert‐scaled questionnaire. A baseline assessment was performed on the first day of class and students are subsequently administered the questionnaire periodically throughout the semester as well as at the end of the semester to document student perceptions. This study has involved 75 students in five cohorts over four years. The results have implications for how, when, and what the expected benefits are of incorporating team‐based productivity/learning at the end of a course of study.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/Sessions/Service/1