The supervisor in the project-organized group work should participate in developing the students' project competencies

Abstract

Most work done by engineers today is organized in projects and very often as teamwork. When educating towards employability, it is therefore important that the students develop competencies in areas such as project management, collaboration and teamwork. In companies using human resource management, we find similar expectations to the engineers' competencies (Bonner et al. 2000, Human Resource Management—Fremtidens Vinderkriterium (Børsens Forlag)). In this article, it is demonstrated how the supervisor can facilitate development of such competencies as an implicit part of supervising study projects. Theoretically, the article is based on Donald Schön's idea of educating the reflective practitioner, especially his theory of reciprocal reflection-in-action. Empirically, it is primarily based on a longitudinal case study carried out as part of a PhD study at Aalborg University (Hansen 2000, ‘Vejledning og evaluering af den refleksive praktiker i det problemorienterede projektarbejde på ingeniørstudiet ved Aalborg Universitet’, Aalborg Universitet, UNI PRINT). From the case study it was found that the reflective dialogue with the supervisor proved itself by focusing on competencies in areas such as understanding group dynamics, communication, organization and project management. Further, it is suggested that the method can be improved by using improvisation techniques, where focus is on spontaneity, creativity, awareness and presence.