Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Honors Project

University Scholars Director

Dr. Joshua Tom

First Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. Annie Kato

Keywords

group work, professors, surveys, interviews, motivation, pedagogy

Abstract

This project explores the ways and the reasons professors use group work through a qualitative analysis of original survey and interview data and past literature. Current literature is often focused on student perspectives or tools that can be used, but there are gaps surrounding professor perspectives and motivations surrounding their choices. Survey and interview data was collected from college instructors at 4 institutions; SPU, SU, UW, and WWU, with a total of 40 survey respondents and 4 interviews, asking questions about how much they use group projects, their motivations and influences, and aspects of their design process. Group work is common in undergraduate business settings, with 90% of faculty using some amount of group work. Workforce preparation was the primary motivation for using groups, with both teamwork skills and practice with the material highlighted. There is also lots of variety in how the projects are set up, and an acknowledgment that group work has to be used with intention and care for it to meet objectives. Active learning is an effective technique and employers are looking for team competencies, so focusing on them can benefit students. Students may be concerned about group projects, but professors generally feel they achieve learning objectives and students have positive or neutral feedback about them after completion.

Comments

A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Scholars Honors Program 2026.

Copyright Status

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Additional Rights Information

Copyright held by author.

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