Student teams in the engineering classroom and beyond: Setting up students for success

There is wide demand for engineering graduates to be capable of working well in teams. The National Academy of Engineering’s 2004 report The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century notes that “the engineering profession recognizes that engineers need to work in teams ” (p. 43) and that “the challenge of working effectively with multicultural teams will continue to grow ” (p. 35). Engineering employers and graduates also see the value of strong teamwork skills, but both observe that the undergraduate experience does not adequately prepare graduates in this regard. Only 39 % of employers rated graduates as “very well prepared ” for teamwork in a survey conducted on behal