A close look into students’ perception of teamwork in a humanities course: integrating Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire and a revised Tuckman’s small group development model

ABSTRACT

This case study combines Stephen Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) and Tuckman’s phases of small group development to study students’ perception of teamwork within a humanities course. As the semester progressed and students’ experiences within the team cycle evolved, their reliance towards direct teaching decreased and their degree of satisfaction with group dynamics and productivity increased. An exit survey, more specifically focused on skills learned through teamwork, revealed that adjourning and transforming are two distinct phases in succession. These findings diverge from existing literature, which often refers to adjourning and transforming either as the same phase, or as alternative directions. Tuckman’s model was slightly modified to take these discoveries into account.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• teamwork
• Brookfield
• Tuckman
• humanities
• COVID 19

Acknowledgements

The co-authors report that they received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article, and that they have no financial interests connected with this research. This research has been approved by Dr. Kevin Sackreiter, Director of the Center for Professional Enrichment and Teaching Excellence at South Dakota State University, through an Agreement to Conduct Standard Pedagogy Experiment covered under IRB Protocol – IRB-1901009-EXM.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5738a0ccd51cd47f81977fe8/t/5750e567f699bbceac6e97f5/1464919400130/CIQ.pdf.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leda Cempellin

Leda Cempellin is a Professor of Art History, the inaugural Associate Director of the School of Design, and Coordinator of the Museum Studies minor at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at South Dakota State University. Her research interests in late modern Art History and in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) are interdisciplinary and focused on how collaborative practices affect the individual or artistic identity.

Elizabeth Tofte

Elizabeth Tofte is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture in the School of Design at South Dakota State University (Associate Professor in fall 2024). She conducts Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) to enhance art and design students’ creative productivity. She combines externally funded placemaking research with undergraduate design studio pedagogy.