Investigating teams of neuro-typical and neuro-atypical students learning together using COGLE: a multi case study

This Work in Progress Research paper aims to contribute to theories relevant to trust, self-efficacy and team effectiveness in engineering student teams. Self-efficacy and trust in teammates are both crucial for team effectiveness. Borrego et al. in a review on team effectiveness within engineering education have highlighted the scarcity of research on psychological constructs, such as trust. This work was inspired by their call for more research that connects engineering education research with the industrial and organisational psychology literature to improve engineering education practice and the outcomes relating to team working. Team working depends on social and communication skills of individual teammates. However, collaborative teams can experience socio-communication challenges. These can be even more pronounced in neuro-atypical (NT) students. With an increasing number of students, hidden or diagnosed, who are neurologically atypical (NAT) within engineering courses investigating ways to support development of trust and self-efficacy has become even more important. Using two real-world case studies, the efficacy of the Computer Orchestrated Group Learning Environment (COGLE), a novel software intervention that supports the development of trust and self-efficacy of individuals in teams of neuro-typical and neuro-atypical students, is investigated using qualitative and quantitative methods. In particular to answer the two research questions: 1. How does the use of COGLE affect the self-efficacy of NT and NAT engineering students learning together? 2. How does the use of COGLE affect the development of trust between a team of NT and NAT engineering students learning together? The case studies show how COGLE can be used within two pedagogical approaches: Flipped Classroom and Project Based Learning, which are commonly used in engineering education. The learning gain data and related effect sizes from both cases show that COGLE was successful in enhancing self-efficacy in all students. Furthermore, both cases show three very interesting results relating to trust: firstly, the teammates developed trust in each other in just 4 two-hour sessions; secondly, the students, including the neuro-atypical students, were able to correct their trust due to varied interactions enabled by COGLE; and finally, as trust and self-efficacy was enhanced before students were asked to work together on a collaborative activity, it helped both neuro-typical and neuro-atypical students to be fully involved in team work, thereby improving the team's effectiveness. The implication for practice is that COGLE can be used to effectively prepare all students for as shown by learning gain and increased levels of trust and enhance team effectiveness.