Task choice, group dynamics and learning goals: Understanding student activities in teams

In this work-in-progress research paper, we explore the task choice of students in first-year, team-based engineering design project courses, with the goal of gaining insight on how to best structure and scaffold team projects so that all students have a positive, effective experience. What factors affect student task choice? Do students select tasks that they feel the most confident about completing, or do they challenge themselves to learn new skills? Do gender or team dynamics or self-imposed roles affect how students participate? If students are asked to develop individual learning goals for the project, does that influence the activities that they engage in, and does articulating learning goals lead to a more beneficial project experience? We are using a mixed-methods approach to investigate the experiences of a small cohort of students engaged in a first-year design project, in order to better understand how students choose to undertake different tasks in team projects.