Investigating Computer Science Students’ Perceptions of Team Coaching
This research-to-practice full paper explores the effectiveness of coaching interventions aimed at enhancing teamwork and project management skills among students in higher education. The paper reviews related studies on coaching practices designed to foster students' professional skills as part of their higher education and proceeds by investigating computer science students' perspectives on selected team coaching interventions. The paper aims to spark curriculum designers, educators, educational researchers and administrators to consider including team coaching interventions into computing curricula. The team coaching approach introduced in the paper utilizes agile practices targeted at facilitating and accelerating students' becoming professional and productive - a ubiquitous need in industry. Employing a method triangulation approach, the research utilized a pre-survey, focus groups and retrospectives to assess the efficacy of introducing team coaching interventions in an IT project management course of the faculty of computer science at a large mid-European university. The pre-survey assessed students' prior experience with teamwork, perception of project success factors and interest in coaching interventions. Besides conducting a one-hour coaching workshop for all course participants, two out of 8 student-teams expressed particular interest in participating in coaching sessions, which were conducted remotely and in-person throughout the semester. The coaching sessions introduced students to various frameworks and approaches, including the Tuckman stages of team development, and focused on improving communication, organization, and task distribution within teams. Regular retrospectives allowed teams to reflect on their progress, identify areas for improvement and implement action items for the next milestone. At the end of the semester, in-person retrospectives and focus groups provided further insights into students' experiences and preferences regarding coaching and teamwork. Results indicate that students tended to have positive experiences with teamwork and identified communication, organization and motivation as key factors influencing project success. While some students expressed reservations about the time commitment invested into coaching, others welcomed the opportunity for support and skill development. The KALM retrospective method, in particular, facilitated collaborative reflection and generated actionable insights for enhancing teamwork dynamics. In a nutshell, the method triangulation approach showed that optional team coaching interventions have the potential to improve students' team projects, application of agile practices and interpersonal competencies. Further research is going to explore student-centered team coaching interventions with a larger sample and across multiple semesters, diverse team constellation and courses.
Top- Tudor, Vanessa
- Dolezal, Dominik
- Motschnig, Renate
Category |
Paper in Conference Proceedings or in Workshop Proceedings (Paper) |
Event Title |
2024 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) |
Divisions |
Education, Didactics and Entertainment Computing |
Subjects |
Ausbildung, Beruf, Organisationen Angewandte Informatik Informatik in Beziehung zu Mensch und Gesellschaft |
Event Location |
Washington, DC, USA |
Event Type |
Conference |
Event Dates |
13-16 Oct. 2023 |
Date |
15 October 2024 |
Export |