(Hem-Developing teamwork skills in a course on ore deposits

Teamwork has dis (cid:415) nct pedagogic advantages and is also an important transferable skill and the dominant mode of work graduates encounter in the workplace. Howev-er, students rarely become pro ﬁ cient in teamwork skills during their educa (cid:415) on. The goal was to test strategies to improve teamwork skills in a course on Ores deposits, MSc Earth Science, Uppsala University. A focus on teamwork was established by presen (cid:415) ng the collabora (cid:415) ve prac (cid:415) cals as a series of linked opportuni (cid:415) es to work together, get feedback on the teamwork process and re ﬂ ect on and evaluate the teamwork. During the collabora (cid:415) ve PBL sessions sociograms were used to provide feedback. Criteria based evalua (cid:415) on was also used to evaluate task oriented and interpersonal skills. Sociograms and criteria based evalua (cid:415) on promoted behavioural changes that im-proved teamwork interac (cid:415) ons.

behaviours is a pivotal step to changing behaviours and requires self-refl ec on and self-regula on (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). The literature on learning in teams highlights several essen al aspects of instruc onal strategies for teamwork. Specifi c training in teamwork skills has been shown to benefi t student achievements and promote collaboraon (Riebe et al. 2016). Op mal training has been found to include both the skills and process of teamwork (Casper 2017;Fathi et al. 2019). Training is not only applicable to the students but also to facilitate the teacher's role in development of teamwork skills (O'Shea et al. 2013;Riebe et al. 2016). Teams commonly follow the Tuckman model as they progress through stages of forma on and development (Riebe et al. 2016;Casper et al. 2017;Holen 2017). Tuckman proposed that teams develop through the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing (Tuckman 1965). Another crucial aspect of teamwork training is associated with giving and receiving feedback (Fathi et al. 2019). Course design is also impera ve to educa on in teamwork skills; appropriate ac vi es that require collabora ve learning are required to be embedded in the programme along with the teamwork process (Riebe et al. 2016;Casper et al. 2017;Fathi et al. 2019). Feedback and assessment go hand in hand, self and peer feedback is considered to be a central input to the assessment and grading process, whereas Holen (2017) consider it part of the teamwork process (O'Shea et al. 2013;Riebe et al. 2016;Bri on et al. 2017;Fathi et al. 2019). I set out to inves gate whether training in teamwork skills, eff ec ve course design, reciprocal feedback and criteria based evalua on can be combined into a successful strategy for teaching teamwork skills. Here, I present a systema c approach that encompasses these four aspects, and use social cogni ve theory as a lens for explaining the social and behavioural outcomes.

Characteris cs of teamwork
Eff ec ve teamwork is characterised by posi ve interdependence between individuals, equal responsibility and commitment amongst group members, co-management, group interac on and interpersonal skills (O'Shea et al. 2013). There is a sense of sharing knowledge, responsibility and leadership which results in shared learning (O'Shea et al. 2013). However, subop mal teamwork o en develops when elements of fi xed roles, delega on, compe on, social loafi ng, domina ng and diligent isola on occur (Pieterse and Thompson, 2010;O'Shea et al. 2013;Hsiung et al. 2014). Addi onally, interpersonal problems can lead to unequal collabora on, whereas confl icts within eff ec ve teamwork can promote growth and learning (O'Shea et al. 2013).
Students concerns, such as group composi ons, confl ict resolu on and challenges of mul cultural se ngs, mostly stem from percep ons of unfair contribu ons to the task (Riebe et al. 2016;Fathi et al. 2019). These can be mi gated by co-crea on and agreement to a team contract. Addi onally, students perceive involvement in peer feedback as a suitable way to contribute to assessment (Riebe et al. 2016).

Approach and implementa on
This case study focuses on a course in Ore and surficial deposits at Uppsala University, Sweden in September-October 2017. The scope of the course is 115 contact hours, ten students were par cipa ng in the course and the class was divided into two teams. The course is setup to focus on a separate ore deposit type each week. In 2017 the weeks were themed to cover VMS and SE-DEX, MVT, Porphyry, Magma c Ni-Cu-PGE and Iron oxide deposits (Table 1). For each ore deposit there were two prac cals one on concepts and processes and a second case study. All prac cals use real data and minimal instruc ons are given to foster problem-based learning (PBL) and teamwork. The teams were established to work on the 10 PBL sessions and the team seminar presenta on amoun ng to 33 contact hours (Table 1). The PBL sessions and seminar presenta ons were then emphasised as connected opportuni es to work together, give and receive feedback on the teamwork process and evaluate the teamwork. The groups went through a 'forming' stage, where they chose team names, which led to a sense of iden ty and belonging to the team (Tuckman, 1965). Simultaneously the teams played an educa onal game to discover the global distribu on of natural resources and economics of mining and wrote collabora on agreements (Riebe et al. 2016;Casper 2017). All team members were involved in construc ng the collabora on agreement and everyone signed their respec ve agreements. The collabora on agreements aimed for self-management and addressed communica on, plans for dealing with disagreements, expecta ons for contribu ons such as listening, providing their opinions, a endance, punctuality etc. (Bacon 2005;Maiden and Perry 2011). A facilitator was present in all PBL sessions and was either the course director or a teaching assistant with a background in geology. The facilitators had both supervised the PBL prac cal sessions at least twice previously therefore they had in mate knowledge of the topic and data as well as experience of the previous sub-op mal teamwork. The facilitator provided feedback on the teamwork using three diff erent techniques: sociograms, spontaneous feedback and appointed mes for feedback (Holen 2017;  Holen and Sortland 2017;O'Shea et al. 2013). Sociograms are illustra ons of a specifi c aspect of team communica on and interac on over a specifi c dura on, e.g. fi ve minutes ( Fig. 1; O 'Shea et al. 2013). Sociograms are commonly composed of boxes labelled with par cipants names and arrows or tally marks measuring how much the individuals talked, asked or answered ques ons, eye contact between team members etc. The sociogram is then described to the team and an open ques on is used to s mulate the team to interpret the sociogram and discuss possible approaches to more balanced communica on (Holen 2017;Holen and Sortland 2017). During the unfolding discussion the facilitator steps into the background and observes the process and implementa on. Sociograms aim to promote behavioural change by providing opportuni es for monitoring the social dynamics of the team and making the team aware of their interac ons (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). The discussion and interpreta on encourage regula on of and between individuals and therefore provide a pla orm for behavioural change (Bandura 2001). It is important that sociograms are presented as observa ons without judgement, otherwise defensiveness will dominate over openness and prohibit monitoring (Bandura 2001;Holen 2017;Holen and Sortland 2017). Sociograms can be used in addi on to more tradi onal types of feedback such as spontaneous feedback or appointed me for feedback (Holen 2017;Holen and Sortland 2017). Feedback that focuses on the teamwork process such as the social-cogni ve skills and dimensions of collabora ve communica on are the most eff ec ve at promo ng refl ec on, regula on and monitoring that lead to behavioural change (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). The objec ve of feedback is for the team to refl ect and discuss the feedback and poten al implementa on of agreed strategies. A refl ec on grid, based on ten criteria, was developed to help the students to evaluate and refl ect upon their teamwork skills and to iden fy ac ons to improve in future sessions ( . The refl ec on grid is divided into two aspects; fi rstly task oriented skills such as organisa on, me management and monitoring progress. Secondly the team is encouraged to think about interpersonal skills like communica on and ac ve contribu on. The two parts draw on the socio-cognive and communica on aspects of teamwork and the ques ons are aligned with key evalua on criteria (Strivens and Ward 2013;Valen ne et al. 2015;Bri on et al. 2017;Dowell et al. 2020). The form is summarised by two open ques ons asking the student to evaluate posive achievements and poten al for development in the next teamwork session. The use of such criteria based evalua on aids refl ec on, which provides opportuni es for behavioural change (Bandura 2001). During the PBL sessions at least one type of feedback was given to each team every session. Each team received all three types of feedback over the course of a week, typically associated with two PBL sessions. The refl ec on grid was used on a weekly basis and at the end of the course to encourage the teams to evaluate the development of their teamwork skills throughout the en re course.

Outcomes of the teamwork strategy
An example sociogram represents a team of four students, whose names have been changed to protect their iden es: Rachel, Ma hew, Laura and Adam (Fig. 1). The facilitator observed their team interac ons over 5 minutes and scribed tally marks for each me the individuals talked. The sociogram was presented to the students and the facilitator described the record of the observa ons. The team then discussed the sociogram in a friendly atmosphere and o en iden fi ed with their contribu on and how it compared to others. Following that they naturally expressed solu ons such as 'I will speak up more' or 'I shall listen more' or 'We can pose more ques ons to include Adam'. Then they returned to the PBL session with immediate and tangible eff ects; the communica on became balanced and Adam contributed more. The use of sociograms represents social monitoring as well as self-and co-regula on in ac on (Bandura 2001). The students iden fi ca on with the observa ons shows the refl ec on and awareness that sociograms produce (Bandura 2001). The responses to the sociograms record the insights the students were coming to and the changes in communica on a er sociogram feedback indicate that they are eff ec ve tools for behavioural change allowing par cipants to test and adapt new behaviours in real me (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). The impact of sociograms on the teamwork was evident even while the facilitator was a novice and easily became entangled in sharing the interpreta ons. It appeared challenging for the facilitator to simply present the observa ons and watch the process unfold. With more experience the facilitators mastered the process of describing observa ons and handing over to the teams. It was a steep learning curve for the facilitator to s mulate refl ec on without ge ng involved and withdraw to allow team development. Feedback helps the teams to evaluate the balance in communica on and social impact as well as regula ng those bahaviours (Dowell et al. 2020). Therefore, the feedback encouraged informal refl ec on, which kept the atmosphere open and dynamic. Over me, as the team became familiar with discussing feedback, they built trust and became even more open to feedback, connec ng with the group cohesion aspects of team communica on (Dowell et al. 2020). Regular and cumula ve changes in behaviour, teamwork and socio-cognive skills were observed (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). Par cipa on and even a endance increased, due to the accountability recognised in the collaboraon agreement and the increase in team spirit. This refl ects the growth of group cohesion, par cipa on, social impact and responsivity during the teamwork process as predicted by social cogni ve theory (Bandura 2001;Dowell et al. 2020). The students developed a refl ecve mind set to evaluate their own contribu ons and the joint interplay of the team interac ons, consistent with the fi ndings of Strivens and Ward (2013). Addi onally, the emphasis on teamwork and development of associated skills was noted as a strength in the course evalua on, refl ec ng the observa ons of Casper (2017). The feedback and criteria based evalua on encouraged many of the a ributes of monitoring, regula on and refl ec on required to produce behavioural change (Bandura, 2001). They are also eff ec ve at emphasising the socio-cogni ve and communica on skills that are fundamental to learning in a collabora ve se ng (Dowell et al. 2020).

Conclusions
Following recommenda ons from the educa on research literature on teamwork, a teamwork component was integrated into a course on ore deposits. The teamwork component combined curriculum design with collabora ve PBL at the core, training in teamwork skills, real-me feedback and criteria based evaluaon. Real-me feedback and criteria based evalua on were found to be the most essen al elements, because they target the social interac ons of teamwork to raise awareness of interac on pa erns and encourage self-refl ec on leading to behavioural change. In addi on real-me feedback provided opportuni es to directly try out diff erent behaviours.