Assessment of Learning: Student Teams Achievement Division Technique for Empowering Students in Problem-Solving Courses

Abstract

Nowadays, there is a growing interest in group activities as interdisciplinary and teamwork raises effective learning among the students than the conventional teaching methodology. It has become a huge challenge to foster learning interest among students and engage them during long hours of problem-solving courses. This study explores the effects of Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) as a cooperative learning technique in classroom teaching, on student learning experiences focusing on engineering students' learning experiences within team dynamics. Through an online survey question, (n=89) responses were collected that included four main categorical questions. The questions were divided into the following four input attributes such as ‘Student – Professor Interaction’, ‘Student – Team Interaction’, ‘Learning Tool’ and ‘Assessment Methodology’ and each of these inputs were further divided into sub attributes. Regression analysis and correlation was examined to analyze the association between the inputs and the Student Learning Experience as the output for the purpose of this research. The findings indicate that STAD promoted positive correlation with (R2 = 0.71) on student learning experience for the input attributes like ‘Student – Team Interaction’ and (R2 = 0.77) for ‘Assessment’ respectively where the students exhibited problem solving skills particularly in the context of the control systems course, suggesting that STAD methodology fosters a conducive environment for active learning and motivation within engineering education.