Facilitating better teamwork: Analyzing the challenges and strategies of classroom-based collaboration

To help students develop teamwork skills, teachers should be aware of the strategies students already employ to assert authority and manage conflict. Researchers study-ing engineering students have identified two such approaches: transfer-of-knowledge sequences, in which students emulate teacher and pupil roles; and collaborative sequences, in which students use circular talk to reach consensus. As demonstrated in this article, these strategies are also used by students in professional communi-cation courses. The second half of this article provides specific suggestions for designing team assignments, interacting effectively with student teams, and develop-ing evaluations that value the process of teamwork