The Future of Education

Current theories of education which promote collaborative and active learning processes consider teamwork vital in the construction of knowledge in which students work and learn together by sharing and debating their understandings (Davidson & Major, 2014; Glinz, 2005). Although the benefits of teamwork are well known, literature states that its implementation continues to be problematic (Quinn, 2012; Slavin, 2010). This study is part of a large mixed-mode research being held at four state universities in Mexico that investigates teachers’ and students’ thinking about out-of-class teamwork. This paper presents the quantitative part of the study which focused on researching 445 students of the Bachelor of Arts in English Language Teaching programs from the four universities. The method of data collection was a 6-point Likert scale questionnaire that included 44 statements taken from previous interviews. Responses were analyzed using the SPSS (version 20) for Windows. Descriptive statistics were conducted. Among the results are that students are well aware of the theoretical benefits of teamwork, in particular of the development of social and high-order thinking skills, but that group member’s attitudes can regulate their degree of development. Students also think that not all of the group members collaborate as reported by Quinn (2012) and that they are not trained to carry out teamwork efficiently as Prichard, Bizo and Stratford (2011) stated. Moreover, students think that teachers do not intervene, make changes or provide assistance when necessary. Implications will be discussed because students need help in developing team skills for effective learning to take place. Results from the study hopes to spark interest in teachers and teacher educators from different disciplines that follow collaborative and active learning approaches since deep learning is at risk. The study expects to contribute to the body of literature about teamwork and current educational approaches in the area of higher education by providing information of a new context.  

Keywords: Out-of-class, teamwork, student thinking, perceptions.

References:

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