5 ways a team strategy helps boost student engagement

Student teams must collaborate, research public information and conduct interviews with current employees, and present their slideshow during week 14 in front of a panel of guest judges. This team process phase, which includes the 20-30 minute slideshow presentation, is designed to help students apply and practice human relations skills while also learning about how some top-rated organizations take care of their employees. In my experience, career-focused students are intrinsically interested in this type of learning activity.

Principle 2: Allow students opportunities to exercise choices. Just like happy employees, happy students often feel more involved, in control, and interested in any learning activity when they get to make as many choices related to the project’s content and process. For this project, I have experimented with various student choice points, including how and when teams are assigned, which organizations are selected, how often student teams meet, how the presentation will be formatted, and how the grading rubric will be determined for the final project. Providing input from all members and making decisions collectively is one of the key responsibilities for cohesive teams. Likewise, faculty should always empower students to co-define the learning activity. Students with higher involvement in the design of the project also report higher student satisfaction, show more sustained interest and motivation, and perform better.

Principle 3: Provide structured collaboration and practice time. One of the challenges of any team project is having enough collaboration time, space, or practice time. A lesson I learned from failed team projects was the need to carve out at least 30 minutes each week of in-class time. You may have to sacrifice or shorten that awesome lecture you worked on so much. Students need this time to make decisions and to collaborate. During “team-time,” I am actively observing the team’s problem solving and live group dynamics. I also help structure the team’s use of collaboration apps and CANVAS tools. Allowing plenty of structured time helps the teams to build cohesion and trust and allow for proper planning. Another lesson I learned was to structure required presentation practice times. I require each team to practice privately in front of me at least once in the classroom, and I recommend another practice for each team outside of the classroom. The team performances improved dramatically and it was worth using the valuable class time during the weeks.

Principle 4: Establish mechanisms for peer feedback and accountability. In order to avoid the dreaded problem of “social loafing” among some team members, all students are informed that they can “fire” any student who fails to meet his or her responsibilities, consistently participate, or demonstrates disruptive human relations skills. Over a two-month period, each member of the team is required to submit a bi-weekly peer feedback form using the Microsoft FORMS link owned and managed by the professor. I ask students to share their private thoughts about the team’s research, the team processes, team strengths and challenges, and any at-risk students.

My students consistently have appreciated the fact that I empower their ability to hold their peers accountable. I notify the at-risk students in advance and give them the chance to respond to the team feedback. If the at-risk student takes no corrective action, two weeks prior to the final team presentation, all at-risk student members may be fired, based on a team vote with professor permission. I have witnessed this “firing” option in several sections of my Human Relations courses over the years. The result of this student accountability option has led to higher team morale, greater participation, and more transparency among members.

Provide 5: Reward student performance with creative incentives. I often look to television for inspiration to improve my classroom work. As seen in many of today’s popular reality TV shows like “The Voice,” “Shark Tank,” or “America’s Got Talent,” people seem to be highly engaged, entertained and interested in competitions in front of expert panels and audience members. Likewise, what happens when we make our classrooms like these game shows?

I started incorporating the use of guest judges to evaluate the final team projects. My guest judges have included fellow faculty members, staff members, former students, employers and alumni. I did not anticipate how much the guest judges were honored to be asked to come to my class or how much they loved the opportunity to engage with my students. I have also invited other students as audience members, and we have had departments donate food and beverages during the final team presentations. My job prior to the presentation is to get the student teams ready, and on presentation day, act as the host and timekeeper.

Whether it is from the social facilitation effect or the need for competition or just the chance of winning, the mere presence of new guest judges (and an audience) creates greater student motivation, interest, and a higher level of team performance relative to the mere presence of the professor alone. Finally, I sweeten the deal when I inform the students that the winning team as voted by the judges will be exempt from taking the final exam one week later. I wish there was a way to express the excitement in my students when they learn about the “No Final Exam” incentive for the winning team. Ironically, this project is really more like the “final exam,” based on the learning objectives of the human relations course. However, students seem so excited to avoid taking a final exam no matter how big or small it really is. Perception is the reality.

In conclusion, I have learned that student-centered, engaging team projects can work effectively, despite the risks of failure. Students will rise to challenge and respond well to challenging team tasks when they have some sense of control and choices, adequate planning and practice time, some accountability assurances, and amazing social and personal incentives to perform. I believe my willingness to open up my classroom to guests has led to greater rewards for my students, my colleagues, and my institution. I believe that other educators in a variety of disciplines can also design similar learning activities using these five key principles or elements.