Improving students’ teamwork competences using team reflection

Abstract

Teamwork is an essential aspect of interdisciplinarity, which is needed to find solutions for the complex problems in our society. However, currently students lack teamwork competences (TWCs); the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to work together with others effectively. Students rarely receive the instruction and guidance they need to obtain TWCs. This study aimed to investigate if a team reflection intervention contributes to the development of the teamwork competences of students working in multidisciplinary teams. A combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to answer the research question. A quasi-experiment was conducted to explore the influence of team reflection on the development of TWCs. The development of the TWCs was measured using a pre- and post-test and data was statistically analysed. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with students in the experimental group. The interviews were analysed using template analysis and provided further insights into the effect of the reflection intervention. The findings suggest that team reflection meetings provide a small but beneficial contribution to the development of TWCs especially for students working in multidisciplinary teams. Reflection meetings raised students’ awareness about TWCs, contributed to the development of reflection competence, and contributed to the development of TWCs related to communication.