Teaching Using Student Teams: Moving From Academic Competition to Collaboration

Background: The nursing profession requires individuals to professional and competently work in interprofessional teams to achieve optimal patient outcomes. Furthermore, team work and collaboration are recognized as scopes and standards of practice for nurses (American Nurses Association, 2015; Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2016). However, not all individuals are inherently skilled at being an effective team member. Students often do not have the opportunity to work in teams in the academic setting; instead, curricula typically utilize didactic courses with exams and clinical course as the bulk of nursing education (Branney & Priego-Hernandez, 2017). Furthermore, admission into many nursing programs is highly competitive, fostering divisions between students. Using teams can improve morale amongst students and can give them a chance to learn team skills: negotiation, conflict resolution, clear and effective communication, shared leadership, and decision making (Branney & Priego-Hernandez, 2017; Fahlberg, Rice, Muehrer, & Brey, 2014; Mendo-Lazaro et al., 2018).

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe how team collaboration activities were integrated across three didactic non-clinical nursing courses and their associated student outcomes.

Methods: Faculty teaching in three concurrent, foundational nursing courses (conceptual foundations, assessment, pathophysiology) employed the use of teams to complete multiple course assignments and activities. Teams, consisting of three to four students, were randomly assigned and collaborated in all three nursing courses. The conceptual foundations course required students to develop a unique and personalized team contract during the first class session. Within the conceptual foundations course, teams collaborated on theoretical poster presentation and active learning assignments. The health assessment course tasked teams to collaborate on develop and validate assessment skills. The pathophysiology course challenged teams to perform two to four simulations and engage in case studies. At the end of the semester, students conducted peer evaluations based upon the team contract as a final grade within the conceptual foundations course. Students also completed a reflection essay in which they explored the impact of teamwork on their learning outcomes and nursing identity. Anecdotal evidence of student comments and faculty observations have been collected and analyzed to guide future revisions of team activities.

Results: Anecdotal feedback revealed several key trends regarding team collaboration and student outcomes. Student reflections revealed that random assignment of teams facilitated students meeting new individuals. Faculty observed that the creation of teams through random assignment prevented the development of cliques/divisions. In addition, small group sizes prevented students relying on others to do their work and gave a voice to the more quiet students. Faculty have found that, through group work, individual student participation increased in class, students found study partners and friends easier, and a more positive morale emanated from the class as a whole which is confirmed by current literature (Cheng et al., 2014). Team contracts facilitated accountability and served to mediate team conflicts.

Conclusion: Integration of teams into non-clinical courses can help develop students’ collaboration and communication skills. Future directions and revisions will be discussed.