Eberly Center

Assessing The OLI Course CollabU: On Students Learning And Attitudes Towards
Collaboration

Collaboration and teamwork are critical skills in today’s workplace, but teaching them
effectively remains a challenge. Collaborative U, an online resource that students take at
the start of a major group project was designed to address this issue. During Fall 2016,
MCS students in the first-year seminar Eureka! were randomly assigned (by section) to
complete either Collaborative U or a “control” resource of similar format and duration, but
targeting Visual Design instead of collaboration. Before and after the intervention, all
students completed a survey, measuring their attitudes and perceptions of collaboration,
and answered scenario-based questions. On both survey measures — attitudes towards
collaboration and perceptions of what makes a good team, students in the control
condition showed a significant decline after the intervention, whereas students in
Collaborative U did not show a corresponding decline. Further analyses will examine
student learning and performance on group projects after completing Collaborative U.

Braun, Maggie
MCS, Biological Sciences
Gadgil, Soniya
Eberly Center
Harty, Martha
HNZ
Hovis, Kenneth
MCS, Biological Sciences
Lovett, Marsha
DC, Psychology/Eberly Center