Perception of Biomedical Engineering Students' Contribution to Course Projects During Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Team Dynamics
• Higher Education Pedagogy

Background:

• Assessing individual contributions in team-based projects presents challenges, amplified by remote learning environments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Evaluating soft skills like role, commitment, responsibility, and awareness is crucial for effective team assessment.
• Existing assessment methods may not fully capture individual student input in collaborative academic settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine students' perceptions of their teammates' contributions in a course project.
• To assess the soft skills aspect of student participation within teams.
• To provide insights for enhancing team-based project implementation and student self-confidence.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative approach utilizing an end-semester questionnaire administered to 42 participating students.
• Focus on collecting student self-perceptions and peer perceptions of team contributions and soft skills.
• Analysis of responses to identify patterns in self-assessment versus peer assessment.

Main Results:

• Students generally exhibit leniency when assessing their own contributions compared to their teammates'.
• A tendency for students to adopt a low profile in self-assessment, indicating potential low self-confidence in their team roles.
• Discrepancies observed between self-evaluations and peer evaluations of individual contributions and soft skills.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest a need for pedagogical strategies to bolster students' confidence in their abilities and roles within group projects.
• Course project assessment should incorporate a balanced approach, not solely relying on self-assessment and peer assessment.
• Recommendations for improving the design and facilitation of team-based projects to foster more accurate self-perception and confidence.