Microsoft Teams Utilization for Group Function in Maritime-Focused Mechanical Design Capstone

Evaluating the ability of students to do group-work or function effectively on a team has always been a challenge. This was especially true with the transition to online learning that occurred during the pandemic in early 2020. This challenged not only the ability of the students to complete their group assignments, but also the ability of the instructors to perform ABET assessments for Outcome 5. To mitigate these issues, Microsoft Teams was implemented as a required collaboration platform and a tool for additional assessments. This paper details the implementation strategy in a capstone design course and the results from Fall 2020. The capstone design course for Mechanical Engineering on campus is a 2-semester sequence where students design, build, and test solutions to maritime problems from a mechanical perspective. At the end of the semester, students are required to fill out a survey regarding their perception of how effectively the team functioned over the semester. The survey is the primary method of assessment for the teamwork outcome for ABET with additional observations made from the instructor. In 2019-2020, the students were tasked with creating a near-shore platform for wave attenuation to prevent erosion that could perform some wave energy harvesting. These designs were to be completed in the late Spring semester with scaled testing to be performed in a modified flow channel. This plan had to be scrapped when classes went remote, with increased emphasis being placed on an accompanying written design report. The inability to meet in-person was a drastic change for our students, as over 75% of them live on campus and are accustomed to being able to meet whenever necessary. Few students effectively met this challenge, exposing a large gap in the program. The task for the 2020-2021 students was to create a device that would increase efficiency at a port by allowing multiple shipping containers to be moved in one action or allow shipping containers to self-stack. Students were required to develop a project timeline, assign tasks, and develop weekly progress reports within Teams. These requirements were slowly introduced in anticipation of a return to online learning in late Fall through early Spring. At the end of each Fall semester, students are required to complete the team function survey along with a preliminary design report including detailed background information. A comparison to see if the Microsoft Teams collaboration increased student performance can be made by looking at these submissions for Fall 2020 relative to Fall 2019. Indicators for success will be if the preliminary reports show no decrease in performance despite the return to remote instruction and if the student survey results indicate increased collaboration. Reviewing the weekly progress reports before and after the return to online learning will indicate any change in team effectiveness despite not being able to meet in-person. ABET Outcome 5 data will be generated from the survey results and from the intermediate weekly progress reports.