Despite the vast body of research surrounding collaborative group work (CGW) and its potential to enhance learning and engagement, questions persist in relation to the effectiveness of CGW initiatives in the development of teamwork skills amongst students in higher education. Prior studies have tended to measure the effectiveness of teamwork and…

The demand for intensive educational experiences is increasing, necessitating a focus on ensuring quality and providing adequate student support. Increasing opportunities for student collaboration, including teacher/student co-creation of learning materials, has strong potential to increase engagement and support. Given increased interest in…

Studies have reported that employers, graduates, and other stakeholders do not believe that higher education curricula facilitate the development of teamwork competencies adequately. In response to calls from Kennedy and Dull [(2008) Transferable team skills for accounting students. "Accounting Education," 17(2), 213-224] and Levant et…

The ability to collaborate effectively face-to-face and online represents a critical skill for university graduates. However, there are still challenges regarding how to accurately assess this skill through traditional student learning measures. To better understand the nature of effective collaboration of university students in blended courses,…

Purpose: The study sought to determine whether there are gender differences in self-perceived employability of students enrolled in Australian higher education science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Design/methodology/approach: Using an online measure comprised of Likert style and open text items, STEM students…

Most students acknowledge shared responsibility, with the university, for their employability development. Many academics use assessments as the main driver for motivating students to learn. At the intersection between employability, assessment and learning, the emergent research question is -- what are the mechanisms by which course-based…

Effective teamwork is integral to the functioning of many professions. Employers desire work-ready graduates who have developed the so-called 'soft skills' involved in teamwork. One way for students to practise and gain feedback on their team skills is through team-based assessment tasks. The TeamUP Rubric was developed to teach and assess five…

A classroom-based simulation activity is conducted in a third-year finance subject, involving teams of students negotiating a business sale or purchase. A case study approach provides a basis for interpretation. Interviews with students, along with statistical information and relevant policy documents, were analyzed and interpreted to generate the…

Interprofessional education (IPE) is championed as an innovative approach to prepare the future health workforce to address the complex needs of consumers and tackle a range of contemporary healthcare challenges worldwide. An interprofessional work-integrated learning experience (WIL), whereby students were immersed in international and rural…

At a basic level, it makes sense to involve pre-service teachers in school-based experiences (SBE) as a way of preparing them for the teaching profession. Little is known, however, about how SBEs might prepare pre-service teachers as future teachers of particular learning areas. The purpose of this study was to explore the impacts and highlight…

Co-design is fundamental to humanitarian engineering and increasingly recognised as such in engineering curricula. However, it is challenging to teach, learn, and assess. In this paper, we describe the development and validation of a scenario-based instrument to distinguish novice and expert approaches to co-design in the context of humanitarian…

Using a team-based course development approach, the University of British Columbia collaborated with the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) and universities from Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Canada to design and develop six transnational, online, distance-education courses…

This study examines street performing arts students' responses to using improvisation for teamwork during a first year, non-placement, work-integrated learning (WIL) experience. The aim of the study was to investigate: (1) students' perceptions of improvisation and (2) ways in which to design teamwork assessments that utilise improvisation. Data…

In Australia, a significant number of students enrol in first-year university biology without the benefit of high school biology. In order to help students support each other, the authors of this paper (a central unit academic developer and a biology coordinator of first-year biology) created a classroom activity that facilitated the distribution…

This paper introduced how a mechanical engineering course was redesigned by applying experiential learning theory to improve student engagement and learning experience. Design of machine elements has been considered by students to be a difficult course. Traditional teaching methods tend not to be effective in engaging students. Experiential…