Engineering Students' Conceptions of Collaboration, Group-Based Strategy Use, and Perceptions of Assessment in PBL: A Case Study in Qatar

This study has investigated the natures of collaboration, group-based strategy use, and perception of assessment, as well as interactions among these aspects, by examining group performance in engineering students' first experiences of a problem and project-based learning (PBL) method. Empirical evidence was gathered from focus groups and observations of 91 engineering students in Qatar who worked in 17 project teams. Qualitative analysis results identified three patterns of conceptions of collaboration and five categories of group-based strategies in a hierarchical order. Findings of the study extended the current understanding of self-regulated learning by providing evidence from a group form in a collaborative learning setting. Characteristics of Middle Eastern students are highlighted regarding their favoring division of tasks and relying on seniors as major sources of knowledge authority. Quantitative analysis identified a significant relation among conceptions of collaboration, group-based strategy use, and team performance. Students' perceptions of assessment remain diverse, suggesting it may take longer than expected for students to gain a deep understanding of constructively aligned alternative assessment in PBL. The results provide a few implications for instructional design in general and PBL implementation in particular.