A Multi-level Approach to Project Team-based Learning: Effect of Charter Use on Engineering Students' Project Team Performance

Abstract

Background: Exposure to teamwork and collaborative projects in engineering education is crucial for preparing students for engineering jobs. Several universities are adopting Project-Team Based Learning (PBL) to deliver work-ready graduates required in technically complex inter-organizational project environments. However, the use and levels of adoption of project management techniques and tools (e.g., charters) and the multi-level nature of team science for engineering education and workforce development are not well-investigated in the literature. 

Purpose: This study investigates whether the level of compliance with using a project charter at individual and team levels throughout project delivery enhances team performance (i.e., group potency, team viability, and team cohesion) in engineering education settings, such as classroom and extracurricular projects. 

Design/Method: We examined relationships using multilevel modeling (MLM), which means examining teams at both student (individuals) and team levels (groups). We utilized qualitative insights to guide model specification and interpretation. 

Results: The findings revealed that consistent use of project charters, assessed through perceived compliance, was linked to significant improvements in group potency, team viability, and team cohesion. Compliance effects were observed at both individual and team levels, with generally comparable contributions to group potency, team viability, and team cohesion. Furthermore, the link between individual compliance and performance tended to be weaker in teams with high performance. Our MLM analyses also revealed that classroom teams scored lower at baseline on group potency, team viability, and team cohesion compared to extracurricular project teams. Future studies should delve deeper into these differences by examining factors such as work environment, modality of education (e.g., classroom versus extracurricular, for pay versus for grade or experience), team composition (e.g., level of education, experience, and skill heterogeneity), project nature, and prior relationships among team members.

Keywords: Engineering eduation, Multilevel analysis, Project team-based learning, Project Charter, Team compliance