Exploring Virtual Methods for Teaching Engineering Teamwork

Teamwork plays a key role in engineering due to the complexity and skill requirements of modern engineering projects. For this reason, emphasis is placed on the development of teamwork skills in most engineering education programs across Canada. In most cases, teamwork scaffolding and training occurs in person using team-based projects or experiential activities. Unfortunately, virtual teaching environments make a good deal of traditional teamwork training activities difficult to implement. This paper explores methods that have been shown to be successful in teaching teamwork skills to engineering students, taking into account the particular challenges faced in technical environments. Unique implementations of these methods for virtual learning environments are discussed, and additional challenges created by virtual teamwork are also examined in relation to these methods. Finally, a strategy for proving experiential learning activities based on “paper challenges” is described and a new virtual learning environment that allows students, working in teams, to learn teamwork skills and simulate real-world team-based challenges synchronously over the web is presented.