Abstract
Development of teamwork skills is a stated goal of many group assignments in university settings. However, the challenges associated with the effective design of assignments to achieve this goal have been well-documented. Students regularly circumvent the process by dividing the work and completing it separately. The difficulties inherent in a normal academic environment have been compounded by the restrictions and difficulties placed on lecturers and students during a global pandemic. This paper discusses the use of an authentic learning approach in ‘normal’ times and an authentic learning approach adapted to a virtual environment during Covid-19 and whether they impact on the development of teamwork skills in a post-graduate user experience design (UXD) module. Using the Groupwork Skills Questionnaire (GSQ), analysis shows the ‘live’ version of the learning experience resulted in improved task-based teamwork skills while the virtual event had no impact.
Paper Type
Full Paper
Authentic Learning for Groupwork Skills: A Comparison Between a Physical and a Virtual Experience
Development of teamwork skills is a stated goal of many group assignments in university settings. However, the challenges associated with the effective design of assignments to achieve this goal have been well-documented. Students regularly circumvent the process by dividing the work and completing it separately. The difficulties inherent in a normal academic environment have been compounded by the restrictions and difficulties placed on lecturers and students during a global pandemic. This paper discusses the use of an authentic learning approach in ‘normal’ times and an authentic learning approach adapted to a virtual environment during Covid-19 and whether they impact on the development of teamwork skills in a post-graduate user experience design (UXD) module. Using the Groupwork Skills Questionnaire (GSQ), analysis shows the ‘live’ version of the learning experience resulted in improved task-based teamwork skills while the virtual event had no impact.
Recommended Citation
Hogan, M. (2021). Authentic Learning for Groupwork Skills: A Comparison Between a Physical and a Virtual Experience. In E. Insfran, F. González, S. Abrahão, M. Fernández, C. Barry, H. Linger, M. Lang, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Information Systems Development: Crossing Boundaries between Development and Operations (DevOps) in Information Systems (ISD2021 Proceedings). Valencia, Spain: Universitat Politècnica de València.