Best practices for project-based learning
Practical tools and tips for supporting student teamwork in project courses, without adding extra stress to your teaching.
What should I teach about teamwork?
Teamwork skills don’t develop by accident. Project courses are powerful learning environments, but to support development, teamwork needs to be actively taught. Use teamwork competency frameworks to decide what to focus on, plan suitable activities, and keep an eye on student progress.
General considerations
Gaining strong teamwork competencies during studies is vital for all Aalto graduates regardless of their field, as teamwork is a critical element in all work contexts. As a teacher of a group project course, you have an excellent opportunity to contribute to this development; according to research, such courses are a particularly effective method of developing these competencies (Kolmos et al., 2021). Rather than learning about teamwork in theory, group project courses immerse students in the practice of teamwork during their learning journey. However, to achieve good learning results systematically, the learning process requires constant support.
Just having students working in a team is unlikely to yield particularly strong learning results. While they gain experience from learning in a team, significant personal development is much more likely with well thought-out, interactive learning activities that aim to address specific teamwork-related competencies. In addition, this implies that complementing lecture sessions with specific exercises or assignments can be beneficial for the development of competencies. For example, if you strive to teach feedback skills, incorporate assignments that require students to provide feedback to each other into the course structure.
Teamwork competencies consist of a broad set of different skills, knowledge and attitudes. Planning meaningful learning activities in the context of your course is much easier if you have clearly defined which teamwork-related sub-competencies your students are expected to develop during the course. Teamwork competency frameworks can facilitate this process (for an example of such a framework, see section ‘Methods and Tools’ below).
Assessing the development of students’ teamwork competencies during the course can be quite a challenge. This, in turn, creates challenges for understanding the ‘status quo’ of the teamwork competencies your course teaches to students. However, for development purposes, gaining this information is highly valuable. Therefore, consider adding specific questions related to the development of competencies to your course feedback survey or even interviewing your students about the topic if possible.
Quick recommendations
- All courses: Utilise teamwork competency frameworks to clarify what teamwork skills you wish to teach and incorporate related learning activities into the course structure.
- Courses at the start of the study path: If students participate in your course at the start of their studies, it could be beneficial to focus on basic teamwork skills, such as internal communication, providing and receiving help, goal setting, and basic coordination. Building teamwork competencies does not differ from other subject matters: you need to learn to walk before you can run, so it does not make sense to rush and pressure your students to learn advanced skills before laying sufficient foundations.
- Courses at later stages of the study path: In this case, the likelihood of your students having developed relatively strong basic skills increases. Therefore, you can focus on more advanced topics, such as leadership, performance monitoring, conflict resolution etc. However, it is recommended to observe the curriculum from a broader perspective rather than making blind assumptions. Check which teamwork competencies are addressed in courses prior to yours. By their third year of studies, bachelor students have experienced group and team work but not necessarily participated in any specific teamwork-related learning activities.
Methods & tools
The teamwork competence map outlined in a table below is based on the work of Hebles et al. (2022) and Schutze & Krumm (2017). It divides teamwork related competencies into three main categories: 1) subject matter related; 2) interpersonal, and 3) organizational competencies. To conclude, these are the elements that help our students to perform well in tasks and team projects.
| Subject-matter | Interpersonal | Organizational |
| Domain expertise | Communication | Goal setting |
| Problem solving | Help giving & taking | Planning & Coordination |
| Conflict management | Performance monitoring | |
| Intercultural | Self-management | |
| Collaboration technology |
In essence, subject-matter competencies refer to the field-related knowledge and skills that an individual needs to perform successful. analysis and problem-solving tasks. While it could be argued that these are not teamwork competencies per se, these are critical skills for high-level teamwork performance. Furthermore, in the context of project-based learning, omitting these competencies from the framework altogether would create a dichotomy between teaching-related expertise and teamwork expertise. Instead, it is recommended to take a more holistic approach. For the aforementioned reasons, subject-matter competencies are included in this teamwork competence framework.
| Competence category | Sub-competence | Description |
| Subject-matter | Domain expertise | Specialised theoretical knowledge and practical skills related to one’s field. This is crucial for dissecting the technical or content-specific challenges teams can face. |
| Problem solving | Mastery of domain-specific problem-solving techniques and practices. These allow the teams to provide meaningful solutions to the problems they need to solve. |
Interpersonal competencies, while often considered as soft skills, are indispensable for a team’s ability to function as an effective unit. These skills, which include communication, conflict management, and intercultural competence, are essential for navigating the complex social dynamics within teams. Though sometimes overlooked in favour of more technical or subject-specific skills, interpersonal competencies are integral to maintaining trust, resolving conflicts, and ensuring smooth progression of collaborative efforts. In the context of project-based learning, these skills are a fundamental component of teamwork, and they should be developed alongside domain expertise to create well-rounded, high-functioning teams.
| Competence category | Sub-competence | Description |
| Interpersonal | Communication | Communication involves expressing one’s ideas and thoughts clearly, and active listening of other members. This skill helps to ensure mutual understanding within the team and to prevent misunderstandings. |
| Giving and receiving help | Being able to offer assistance and seek support when needed. This category includes feedback as well. These topics promote a culture of collaboration and trust within the team, ensuring that everyone receives support and tasks are completed more efficiently. | |
| Conflict management | The ability and constructive attitude to handle disagreements and differing opinions constructively. Conflict management is crucial for maintaining team cohesion and ensuring that conflicts are resolved in a way that fosters team dynamics. | |
| Intercultural competence | Understanding and respecting cultural differences within a team and the ability to create shared understanding as well as work practices in a multicultural setting. This skill is becoming increasingly important not only in multinational teams, but also in interdisciplinary teams, as different fields tend to have their own cultural features. | |
| Collaboration technology | The ability to use digital tools and platforms for communication, task management, and collaboration in the best possible way. As remote and hybrid work environments are becoming a commonplace, being able to select the right tools and communication mediums for the right tasks is increasingly critical. |
Organisational competencies are critical for managing the workflow and ensuring that team efforts are effectively channelled toward achieving shared objectives. These competencies –ranging from goal setting and planning to performance monitoring and self-management – are key for maintaining structure, productivity, and momentum in a team. While organisational skills can be considered a separate entity from core teamwork abilities, in practice, these competencies enable teams to coordinate their efforts, track progress, and adapt to challenges efficiently. In project-based learning, fostering these skills ensures that teams not only function well, but can reach their full potential in delivering successful outcomes.
| Competence category | Sub-competence | Description |
| Organisational | Goal setting | The ability to define clear, measurable objectives for the team to work toward. Goal setting provides direction and motivation, ensuring that all team members understand what they are working to achieve and how their contributions fit into the bigger picture. |
| Planning and coordination | Planning and organising responsibilities, tasks and timelines helps to ensure that the team works efficiently and productively. These skills are critical for confirming that each individual is working on the right things at the right time. | |
| Performance monitoring and development | Tracking the progress of the team's work and making necessary adjustments to stay on track. This skill helps ensure that the team meets deadlines and quality standards while identifying improvement areas. | |
| Self-management | Ability of team members to ensure that they contribute the team, stay motivated, and take care of their own well-being. Strong self-management skills reduce the need of hierarchical management. |
How to use the competence map
There is no right or wrong way to use the competence map for crystallising the teamwork competencies you should specifically try to address during your course. If you struggle to perform this based on intuition, see below some approaches you could take:
- Analyse the nature of the project: Analysing the nature of the project and tasks required to complete it can materialise a suitable way for using a competence map. Does the project involve complex problem-solving that requires domain expertise? Are the students working in a multidisciplinary setting where strong communication or conflict management might be key to success? By understanding the project’s requirements, teachers can identify the most relevant competencies. For example, if the project demands extensive research and creative problem-solving, you could focus on Domain Expertise and Problem-Solving. Then again, if the key characteristic of the project relates to collaboration between students from different disciplines or cultures, it might make sense to prioritise Intercultural Competence, Communication and Conflict management.
- Reflect on common team challenges: If you have been running the course for some time, draw from your experiences in teaching previous implementations. What are the most common teamwork-related issues? Are students often struggling with time management, poor coordination, or interpersonal conflicts? Use this reflection to determine which competencies have historically been weak or caused the most friction. For instance, if students frequently miss deadlines or fail to stay organised, you might focus on Planning and Coordination and Performance Monitoring. However, if interpersonal conflicts arise at regular intervals, teaching Conflict Management could be very useful.
- Build on student feedback: Try to collect feedback from your students on which teamwork-related topics they would want to learn, felt were most challenging, or beneficial during the project. This input can provide valuable insights into areas that may require more attention or reinforcement. By understanding the student perspective, teachers can better prioritise competencies that resonate with students’ learning experiences.
Course details
- Name: SCI-C1002 - User-centric product development project
- Level: BSc
- Credits: 5cr
- Mandatory / Elective: Mandatory for most SCI BSc students, including computer science, information networks, mathematics and system sciences, applied physics, and engineering psychology.
- Position in study path: 2nd or 3rd year, depending on the major.
Case description
Competencies in focus: SCI-C1002 focuses on three specific competencies, which are 1) planning and coordination, 2) giving and taking help, and 3) performance monitoring and development.
Competence 1: Planning and coordination
This competence was elected because the teams formed during the course are quite big, usually between 7–9 students. This can make meaningful task allocation and getting organised in general quite a challenge, and therefore, addressing this topic was essential to improve the student experience.
Specific learning activities:
- The course starts with a short lecture introduction where elements such as common coordination issues and different perspective on team roles are provided to the students.
- The teams’ first home assignment is creating a team agreement where they define their meeting times, working practices, and other important practical steps.
- Teams are required assign rotating project leaders for different phases of the project. In practice, this is included in the team agreement as well. As the role rotates, it allows different team members to practice coordination and witness different approaches to it.
Competence 2: Giving and taking help
According to Rekonen (2017), if a team succeeds in sharing feedback among its members, it can considerably improve the possibility of unlocking their internal potential. Despite this, the topic is rarely discussed in university settings. For these reasons, giving and taking help was selected as a specific teamwork competence to be addressed in the course.
Specific learning activities:
- As a part of the introduction lecture to teamwork, the reasons and methods for providing meaningful feedback to others is discussed.
- In the beginning of the last third of the course, facilitated I like, I wish sessions are organised for all teams. These sessions allow and require each team member to provide positive feedback and development suggestions to all the other team members, and vice versa. The I like, I wish method is detailed here.
Competence 3: Performance monitoring and development
Team dynamics issues could be prevented if they were addressed early enough. An easy way to do this is to try to analyse what is working well in the team, and what could be improved. However, this development orientation is, according to research, seldom incorporated in project work because one tends to prioritise tasks related to project deliverables. This was the key reason for deciding that specific learning activities would be necessary to ensure that teams take the issue seriously and learn by doing.
Specific learning activities:
- After the first third of the course, teams must perform a ‘KPT team retrospective’ as a lecture exercise. In this exercise, all team members consider their teams’ performance; what is going well, what could be improved, and ideate improvement suggestions they could try. After the short 30min sessions, all teams should have identified issues they could improve and ways for solving the identified issues. KPT is detailed here.
- The I like, I wish session described above in relation to giving and taking help addresses the development aspect as well, especially from the level of the individual, as it allows team members to present and receive ideas related to one’s own performance.
- After the I like, I wish session, each team member needs to write a short reflective essay about the feedback they received and define the changes they will attempt to make in their behaviour to improve their contribution to their team’s efforts and atmosphere.
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