Students’ perceptions of multicultural group work in international engineering classroom

The rapid internationalization of engineering leads universities to change their education in ways that meet diverse students’ learning needs. The ambition behind the internationalization policy at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is that the multicultural experiences will improve the quality of educational experiences for all students. In a small-scale interview study, we explored how domestic and international students perceived the challenges and gains in their multicultural student group work experiences in master programs at TU/e. In addition, the factors that influence multicultural group work were explored based on students’ experiences. Key challenges that were identified are different communication styles and language issues, whereas key gains are mainly related to complementary knowledge and skills for domestic and international group members. In the group process, factors in which they were similar were found, for example both domestic and international students preferred to work with someone they already know. Difference in students’ perceptions of group work behaviors, such as division of task and disagreement solution were found between domestic and international interviewees. The factor of culture seems to play a role in interpreting the above differences. Based on the results, we concluded that the vision of an international classroom has not yet been achieved. The results suggest that inclusion at the university still needs to be taken a step further, and this paper provides a basis for discussion on how to move the vision forward.</p

The fear of big brother:The potential negative side-effects of proctored exams

Background: Online and blended learning need an appropriate assessment strategy which ensures academic integrity. During the pandemic, many universities have chosen for online proctoring. Although some earlier examples suggest that online proctoring may reduce cheating, the potential side-effects of proctoring are largely unknown. Objectives: Therefore, this study aims to identify the effects of proctoring on students' self-reported temptation to cheat and potentially undesirable side-effects, including test anxiety, perceived exam difficulty, and performance. In addition, we examine which contextual and student characteristics affect test anxiety during online exams. Methods: For this, we collected four waves of survey data throughout a year of teaching during the pandemic at one faculty of a Dutch university, resulting in a total sample of 1760 students within 105 courses. Results and Conclusions: Multi-level analyses showed that while proctoring had no effect on the temptation to cheat, exam difficulty or performance, students reported higher levels of test anxiety. Some learning strategies, internet literacy, access to a reliable technology and a dedicated study space as well as gender and financial stress affect their test anxiety. To conclude, the decision to use online proctoring needs to consider the undesirable side-effect on test anxiety. We discuss practical implications for university administrators, educational designers and teachers to reduce test anxiety.</p

Does nationality composition affect student groups' collaboration and performance?:A cross-case analysis

A Dutch STEM university is aiming to create an inclusive international classroom where diversity is appreciated as an indispensable element of the quality of learning. One aspect of the international classroom is to enable students to acquire international collaboration skills through working in mixed nationality student groups. In a previous interview study, we found that group composition of nationalities has consequences for collaboration, in which having just one ‘token’ international member group seems particularly ineffective. This paper presents a follow-up observation study that compares collaboration and performance in threecompositions of mixed-nationality student groups. We analyzed online meeting recordings, evaluation questionnaires, and self-reflection reports. In the cross-case analysis, we focused on: 1) members’ participation in the meetings (frequency of utterances), 2) disagreement episodes (triggers and solutions), and 3) group performance (teachers’ grading and students’ perceived performance). The results suggest that in the group with one international member, group meeting conversations were skewed towards the domestic Dutch students. This group encountered more process-related disagreements, competitive disagreementsolutions, experienced a low level of trust, more emotional discomfort (such as pressure), and experienced less satisfaction. By comparison, in the other two groups where nationality was more equally distributed, members evenly contributed to meetings. These groups were observed to have more task-related disagreements, more information elaboration and agreement solutions, and higher levels of trust, satisfaction, and group belongingness. This observation study contributes to awareness of student diversity effects that allow teachers to take the next step towards facilitating mixed-nationality student groups in the international classroom

Performance management systems: a global perspective.

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Ontwerp en implementatie van een prestatiesturingssysteem : participatie en productiviteitsverbetering

In het kader van promotie-onderzoek naar het ontwerp van prestatiesturingssystemen is op participatieve wijze een prestatiesturingssysteem ontworpen in eon complexe, weerbarstige situatie. Hierbij werd gebruik gemaakt van de door Pritchard (Texas A&amp;M University) ontwikkelde ProMES methode. Implementatie van het systeem leidde tot aanzienlijke produktiviteitsstijgingen, nadat in een herontwerpslag oplossingen waren ontwikkeld en geïmplementeerd voor een aantal kritieke situatiekenmerken. Na een korte beschrijving van het onderzoek (achtergrond, onderzoeksmodel, onderzoekssetting, vraagstelling en onderzoeksopzet), wordt uitgebreid ingegaan op de beantwoording van de eerste onderzoeksvraag naar het ontwerpen van oplossingen voor een aantal kritieke situatiekenmerken

Achievement Goals and Goal Progress as Drivers of Work Engagement

In two studies, we investigated the role of self-regulatory behavior in terms of achievement goals and goal progress for work engagement. Study 1 (N=205)revealed that trait learning goals were positively related to work engagement and performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals were unrelated to work engagement. In a second study, employees were asked to either set a (state) learning,performance-approach, or performance-avoidance goal for the upcoming work week. Goal progress and work engagement were measured one week later(N=106). Learning goals at the trait and state level were associated with higher work engagement and performance-avoidance goals were unrelated to work engagement. We found a positive relationship of goal progress with work engagement,in particular for employees who pursued learning or performance-approach goals.Our studies contribute to theory building by delineating the (combined) role of goal orientations (trait), state achievement goals, and goal progress for work engagement

Subconscious performance goals: investigating the moderating effect of negative goal-discrepancy feedback

Building on theories of conscious goals and feedback, we investigated the moderating effect of negative feedback on the relation between subconscious goals and performance. In two lab experiments, we manipulated subconscious performance goals and negative feedback about personal performance as well as social comparison information. In Study 1 (n = 80), subconscious goals positively influenced performance in an attention and concentration task when participants had received no feedback and negatively when participants had been confronted with negative performance feedback. In Study 2 (n = 90), additional comparison feedback indicating a higher performance of others led to higher performance of participants with versus without subconscious performance goals. The moderating effect of feedback was visible in self-efficacy, and we found partial support for its mediating role