An automated software team formation based Belbin team role using fuzzy technique

In software engineering (SE), team plays an important role in determining the project success. To ensure the optimal outcome of the project the team is working on, it is essential to ensure that the team comprises of the members with right characteristics. In a team assigning the right role to each team member in order to make certain that the most appropriate individuals are chosen for specific tasks and their efforts contribute maximum to the overall team performance. One of the prevalent team roles is Belbin team role. Belbin developed this theory for formation a successful team. This theory is centered on the team roles and how they should be matched in order to avoid conflicts and build sound teams that are optimally managed. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to develop an automated software team formation method based on Belbin Team Role by using a Fuzzy technique. Fuzzy technique was chosen because it allows analyzing of imprecise data and classifying selected criteria. In this study, two roles in Belbin Team role, which are Shaper (Sh) and Plant (Pl) were chosen to assign the specific role in software team – team leader and programmer, respectively. These roles were chosen because the combination of these roles is able to determine effective team members in SE team. The proposed automated software team formation was then evaluated using an expert review. The participants consist of 12 software developers from Asiacell Telecommunication Company in Kurdistan Region Government of Iraq (KRG). The results demonstrate that the method is useful to be used for forming SE team in industrial setting. The proposed automated software team formation can serve as a useful tool for managers when assigning new team members to a software project. In addition, by using the proposed method, it can help decision makers specifically managers to form effective and equal teams. Effective and equal teams can have an equal chance to experience good team work and thus, to be a successful team

Selecting and forming design teams

This paper explores the use of aptitude tests for selecting students for Design Engineering programmes. The latest ideas and theories are then explored regarding the usefulness of personality type instruments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II (KTS II) as tools for forming balanced Design teams. The popularity of ‘Design’ programmes in the UK and overseas has been matched by the difficulty in recruiting to conventional ‘Engineering’ programmes. This has led to the explosive growth of programmes such as Engineering Design, Product Design and Design Engineering, which seek to exploit this demand. It is concluded that both Engineers and Designers have similar personality types, and a methodology of using personality type indicators to select and form design teams is postulated

A method for supporting heterogeneous-group formation through heuristics and visualization

Group formation is a key issue in e-learning environments that make use of collaborative work to enhance student performance. While there are many ways to arrange students to work in cooperative groups, recent works have shown that learning styles offer good opportunities to organize students. Particularly, it seems the case that regarding learning styles, heterogeneous groups tend to perform better than groups formed by students with similar characteristics. This work addresses the issue of supporting the authors’ task of forming effective learner groups to improve student and group performance. This support is provided through a supervised method which, backed by a visualization tool, is able to produce groups with a good level of heterogeneity. Moreover, this method is not time-consuming for teachers.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (TIN2007-64718) and Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid (S2009/TIC-1650)

The impact of teaching models, group structures and assessment modes on cooperative learning in the student design studio

As a result of ever diminishing teaching resources, an increasing number of architectural educators are setting group design projects, rather then spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects. This allows them to co-ordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignment submissions. However, while the groupmodel may offer an authentic learning model by reflecting design in practice, the approach is not without its obvious shortcomings as a teaching archetype for the assessment of the knowledge and skill competencies of individual students. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects.The following paper describes the background, methodology and findings of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant funded research project carried out in the year 2005 at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University. The project aimed to inform a change of classroom/studio practice governing the assemblage, teaching and assessment of student design teams. The development through these changes of cooperative and student centred learning principles focused on effective design collaboration and fair assessment should, it will be argued, lead to an enhanced group-learning experience in studio, which will subsequently and ultimately enhance professional practice.<br /

Impact of Team Formation Approach on Teamwork Effectiveness and Performance in an Upper-Level Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Laboratory Course

This study focuses on the impact of team formation approach on teamwork effectiveness and performance spanning three years of instruction of the chemical engineering unit operations laboratory, which is an upper-level undergraduate laboratory course. Team formation approaches changed each year, and assessment tools, including peer-assessment, academic performance, and course evaluations, were employed to evaluate team performance. Approaches included three cases: instructor-selected teams based on GPA with the objective of a similar cumulative average GPA for each team, student self-selected teams, and a combination of self-selected teams with instructor-selected teams for a final experiment. For the third case, new teams were assigned based on a common interest to learn about a specific final laboratory experiment or research topic, and the instructor identification of both low- and high-performing students in the prior teams. Team effectiveness and performance were assessed using CATME, a teamwork VALUE rubric developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), and numerical peer-contribution forms. In addition, assigned team leaders for each experiment provided feedback regarding individual team member performance, including contributions to reports and presentations. Results demonstrated that less than five percent of the students presented team conflicts when students self-selected teams for the laboratory course; however, strong or weak teams were formed leading to unbalanced laboratory performance. On the contrary, course evaluation outcomes were improved when students were assigned to teams based on cumulative GPA or reassigned by the instructor for the completion of a final experiment. Overall, this study demonstrates that a combination of student-selected and instructor-selected teams during the same semester led to better course outcomes and enhanced individual experiences, as shown by the students’ evaluations of the laboratory course

Designing instruction for active and reflective learners in the flipped classroom

Purpose – This paper proposes a framework of instructional strategies that would facilitate active and reflective learning processes in the flipped classroom It is aimed at allowing one’s maximum potential to be reached regardless of any individual learning style.As tertiary classrooms increasingly needs to be as active and social as possible, the needs of the more introverted student could have been unintentionally overlooked.Therefore, the objective of this study was to produce an instructional design that could accommodate different learning styles and preferences in the flipped classroom.Method – A design-based research approach was employed in three phases (preliminary research, prototyping phase and assessment phase) in a flipped communication studies course of 24 students.The instructional design, based on a literature review on the flipped classroom and Felder and Silverman’s active-reflective learning style dimensions, was tested and refined over six iterative design cycles to produce a final design framework.Findings – Qualitative findings via observation showed that despite a learning curve, the finalized instructional design was able to facilitate different learning styles satisfactorily.Added benefits included learner empowerment, engagement, motivation and improved communication and thinking skills.Significance – As a design-based research, this study may be significant from the perspectives of both educational research and practice.Besides adding to the existent literature on different implementations of the flipped classroom, the proposed instructional design may serve as a practical guide for instructors who wish to flip their classrooms and spend face-to-face class time with their students on a more meaningful and personalized level

The impact of learning styles on student grouping for collaborative learning: a case study

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11257-006-9012-7Learning style models constitute a valuable tool for improving individual learning by the use of adaptation techniques based on them. In this paper, we present how the benefit of considering learning styles with adaptation purposes, as part of the user model, can be extended to the context of collaborative learning as a key feature for group formation. We explore the effects that the combination of students with different learning styles in specific groups may have in the final results of the tasks accomplished by them collaboratively. With this aim, a case study with 166 students of computer science has been carried out, from which conclusions are drawn. We also describe how an existing web-based system can take advantage of learning style information in order to form more productive groups. Our ongoing work concerning the automatic extraction of grouping rules starting from data about previous interactions within the system is also outlined. Finally, we present our challenges, related to the continuous improvement of collaboration by the use and dynamic modification of automatic grouping rules.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, TIN2004-03140

Team formation model of selecting team leader: An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach

Teamwork is important element to enhance learning experiences.In order to build effective teamwork, team formation is a critical process to ensure that team consists of effective team members. In a team, leadership is the most significant role which contributes to the success of a software project.However, extant literature demonstrated that criteria which suits into team members specifically for leadership role is inconclusive. Therefore, this study aims to construct a software team formation model for selecting team leader by using AHP approach. AHP is chosen because it is able to achieve high accuracy and robustness in dealing with selection process.To evaluate the model, experimental research design was employed and the sample comprised of 24 students enrolled in Information Technology (IT) course from Universiti Utara Malaysia.The initial results showed that the team using AHP to select team leader experienced significantly higher level of satisfaction compared to team with self-selection team leader.The proposed model provides a mechanism for decision maker to form and select team leader in a group work project, and thus can enhance team performance