When asked to identify one action that peers in their lab groups could take to best support their learning in both traditional classroom settings and emergency remote teaching (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic-based instruction). Student responses were coded in the context of a cooperative learning framework:
- Promotive interaction refers to student efforts to support, encourage, and praise one another's efforts to learn. Activities that promote such behavior include teaching a classmate, discussing the nature and purpose of concepts presented in class, and connecting with past learning. Promotive interaction facilitates the formation of personal connections between peers whether face-to-face or remotely via effective use of communication mechanisms.
- Individual accountability evolves when each individual in a group or team is assessed for their contribution and to recognize who needs more assistance, support, or encouragement to complete a task. Individual accountability reduces the risk of freeloading or social loafing among group members.
- Interpersonal/Social skills refers to those behaviors and communication strategies that enable a student to successfully collaborate and cooperate within a group or team. Examples of such skills and strategies include decision-making, leadership, trust-building, and conflict management.
- Positive Interdependence refers to the level at which team members feel connected to one another for the purposes of succeeding together as an effective team rather than the sum of individuals working alone. Strong positive interdependence occurs when students share resources, offer mutual support, and celebrate success — leading to a sense that everyone sinks or swims together.
- Group processing occurs when students in engage in identifying how they can improve team processes and behaviors to improve both individual and collective learning. Among thousands of responses from students in a wide range of courses no student placed group processing as a top priority in their learning!
What do Students most want from Peers in Lab Teams?
In traditional learning settings, students most frequently (28.3% of responses) recognized the need for individual accountability while in the emergency remote teaching setting, promotive interaction (34.2% of student responses) rose to the top of what students wanted from their peers in lab groups.
Promotive Interaction (34.2% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 27.3% in traditional learning)
"Simply by participating and being open to collaboration by answering questions and working together to figure things out." (computer aided design course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"By asking questions. The best way that I study with people in a group is one that is engaged in discussion of topics. I can listen, I can ask questions to clarify my own understanding, and I can teach other topics that I feel more familiar with. Learning all the while." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in traditional learning)
"My lab teams this quarter have been good, one reason that is the case is that they keep on top of communication which is especially important in the absence of a traditional classroom setting." (microelectronic circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Try to be engaged, even if you are unsure of what to do. Voice your opinions even when you're not sure, just so your partner knows that you are there on the other side." (circuits course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Individual Accountability (16.6% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 28.3% in traditional learning)
"Familiarizing themselves with necessary information before meeting to do the lab. Everyone wants to finish the lab as quick as possible, so when someone just doesn't understand the material needed to complete the lab, it takes SO much longer” (computer aided design course, Asian male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Come to lab having read the lab and be familiar with the tools and concepts we will be using to complete the lab." (circuits course, Asian male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Everyone performing the lab themselves so that we can discuss if we have problems or questions would be the biggest help. Sometimes I feel like only 1 or two of us actually do the lab." (circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Actively respond to group chats and keep group updated about what they are doing." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Interpersonal/Social skills (12.4% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 10.9% in traditional learning)
"The best thing other student can do is to be supportive of students that don't understand and to meet that with non-critical help and patience." (dynamics course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
Positive Interdependence (14.7% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 8% in traditional learning)
"Delegation of responsibilities is probably the most important factor for working in a design/lab team in order to be the most efficient." (dynamics course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
We all come up together through Zoom to construct the circuit. One person shares the screen and everyone can keep track to what we're doing. It's nice." (power systems course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Our lab group has a discord server that allows us to easily communicate, share pictures and hop onto voice calls with multiple people. We also meet (on discord) the evening before the labs are due to work on the lab together and help each other if we have any questions." (circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Promotive Interaction (34.2% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 27.3% in traditional learning)
"Simply by participating and being open to collaboration by answering questions and working together to figure things out." (computer aided design course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"By asking questions. The best way that I study with people in a group is one that is engaged in discussion of topics. I can listen, I can ask questions to clarify my own understanding, and I can teach other topics that I feel more familiar with. Learning all the while." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in traditional learning)
"My lab teams this quarter have been good, one reason that is the case is that they keep on top of communication which is especially important in the absence of a traditional classroom setting." (microelectronic circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Try to be engaged, even if you are unsure of what to do. Voice your opinions even when you're not sure, just so your partner knows that you are there on the other side." (circuits course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Individual Accountability (16.6% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 28.3% in traditional learning)
"Familiarizing themselves with necessary information before meeting to do the lab. Everyone wants to finish the lab as quick as possible, so when someone just doesn't understand the material needed to complete the lab, it takes SO much longer” (computer aided design course, Asian male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Come to lab having read the lab and be familiar with the tools and concepts we will be using to complete the lab." (circuits course, Asian male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Everyone performing the lab themselves so that we can discuss if we have problems or questions would be the biggest help. Sometimes I feel like only 1 or two of us actually do the lab." (circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Actively respond to group chats and keep group updated about what they are doing." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Interpersonal/Social skills (12.4% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 10.9% in traditional learning)
"The best thing other student can do is to be supportive of students that don't understand and to meet that with non-critical help and patience." (dynamics course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
Positive Interdependence (14.7% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 8% in traditional learning)
"Delegation of responsibilities is probably the most important factor for working in a design/lab team in order to be the most efficient." (dynamics course, White male undergraduate in traditional learning)
We all come up together through Zoom to construct the circuit. One person shares the screen and everyone can keep track to what we're doing. It's nice." (power systems course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Our lab group has a discord server that allows us to easily communicate, share pictures and hop onto voice calls with multiple people. We also meet (on discord) the evening before the labs are due to work on the lab together and help each other if we have any questions." (circuits course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
What do Students most want from Study Group Peers?
In traditional (29.9%) and emergency remote teaching (29.3%) settings, students most frequently recognized the need for promotive interaction among peers in their study groups.
Promotive Interaction (29.3% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 29.9% in traditional learning)
coming soon
Individual Accountability (14.1% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 21.3% in traditional learning)
"Respond to messages when you see them. If you don't have time to answer a question, let the person know so they're not worrying about whether the message got through to you." (circuits course, Asian male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"The one action students in study groups can take to improve the educational experience is to come to the study group prepared so that we don't have to waste valuable help time on things that would be known if prepared." (signal processing course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Interpersonal/Social skills (22.7% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 10.7% in traditional learning)
"Students can be friendly and not judge others for being incorrect on a statement or problem. I feel that explaining why something is incorrect is helpful for both parties. (computer aided design course, white male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"No one in break out rooms talk or put on videos. SUPER HARD to work together. don’t see that improving with stricter participatory guidelines because it is difficult." (dynamics course, White female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Students in study groups should create a communication channel outside of what their TA or professor may set up to create a more informal and collaborative environment." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Turn on their video. I feel like I'm talking to a wall. Face-to-face interaction would help me stay engaged." (digital circuits course, mixed Asian/White female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Positive Interdependence (3.3% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 11.7% in traditional learning)
"Working collaboratively to solidify class material. Explaining concepts to each other in order to solidify individual understanding." (computer aided design course, Latino male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Working as a team online is hard but regular zoom meetings and screen sharing feature of zoom make it a lot easier to work together. Having regular online meetings and willingness to work together while screen sharing will be more than enough." (microelectronic circuits course, female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Promotive Interaction (29.3% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 29.9% in traditional learning)
coming soon
Individual Accountability (14.1% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 21.3% in traditional learning)
"Respond to messages when you see them. If you don't have time to answer a question, let the person know so they're not worrying about whether the message got through to you." (circuits course, Asian male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"The one action students in study groups can take to improve the educational experience is to come to the study group prepared so that we don't have to waste valuable help time on things that would be known if prepared." (signal processing course, White male undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Interpersonal/Social skills (22.7% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 10.7% in traditional learning)
"Students can be friendly and not judge others for being incorrect on a statement or problem. I feel that explaining why something is incorrect is helpful for both parties. (computer aided design course, white male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"No one in break out rooms talk or put on videos. SUPER HARD to work together. don’t see that improving with stricter participatory guidelines because it is difficult." (dynamics course, White female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Students in study groups should create a communication channel outside of what their TA or professor may set up to create a more informal and collaborative environment." (computer aided design course, Asian female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
"Turn on their video. I feel like I'm talking to a wall. Face-to-face interaction would help me stay engaged." (digital circuits course, mixed Asian/White female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)
Positive Interdependence (3.3% of responses in emergency remote teaching; 11.7% in traditional learning)
"Working collaboratively to solidify class material. Explaining concepts to each other in order to solidify individual understanding." (computer aided design course, Latino male undergraduate in traditional learning)
"Working as a team online is hard but regular zoom meetings and screen sharing feature of zoom make it a lot easier to work together. Having regular online meetings and willingness to work together while screen sharing will be more than enough." (microelectronic circuits course, female undergraduate in emergency remote teaching)