Keywords: online teaching, use of camera, student’s perspective, engagement, interaction

What and Why

To get information about the reasons why the students do open or do not open the camera during online lessons. To use this information when planning courses and online lessons.

How

Survey. Article.

Outcome

As a result from the pilot, an article was written and published. (Turku UAS Johanna Ailio, Tarmo Karhu and Sanna Simola) The article is in Finnish, below the translation made by Copilot. Link to the article:

Opiskelijanäkökulma kameran käytöstä verkko-opetuksessa – TalkTalk

Recommendations

Based on our own experiences and research articles, we have compiled a list of tips for teachers who want to motivate students to engage in face-to-face interaction in online education.

· Keeping the camera on is voluntary but recommended for students. Forcing it increases anxiety.

· Social pressure helps everyone commit to using the camera.

· Active participation by students is essential; simply listening to a lecture does not motivate them to be on camera.

· Group bonding in the classroom before the online study period facilitates interaction and appearing on video later.

· If this is not possible, special attention should be paid to group bonding through other means.

· It is easier to keep the camera on in smaller groups.

· Students should have a clearly focused task to work on together.

· Social interaction enhances learning and improves the sharing of opinions, experiences, and ideas. It is difficult to talk to a black screen.

· Through the camera, the teacher can comment on the student’s language and culture-related behavior.

· Keeping the camera on at the beginning or throughout an online exam serves as a means of identifying the student, ensuring the right student is present.

· The teacher should review the practices and communicate that to the students: when and why it is recommended to keep the camera on.

Link to extended description

Keywords: Assessment, innovation competence (critical thinking, creativity, initiative, teamwork, networking), project-based learning, online learning, motivation, feedback, complementary evaluation

What and Why:

The pilot was carried out in the Strategic Sourcing course, an optional course designed for 2nd and 3rd-year Industrial Management and Engineering students. The participant group was diverse, comprising TUAS students, exchange students, double degree students, and international degree students. Building on pilots conducted last spring, this iteration continued to focus on evaluating innovation competencies. However, the emphasis shifted to self-assessment of these skills within the context of group work. Additionally, peer-assessment was introduced as an optional component, offering students the opportunity to receive feedback from their teammates.

Participation in the SINCOE project research was voluntary, allowing students the option to opt out if they preferred. Under this arrangement, a total of 15 responses were collected and utilized as the foundation for this research. Accordingly, the findings and conclusions presented in this summary are based on these 15 responses.

In this pilot, we explored the use of the Cogknit platform as a tool to facilitate collaboration between students and a company on a project for the company. Cogknit was employed to evaluate and showcase the skills and knowledge students developed during their studies. Specifically, students assessed the competencies they demonstrated while working on the Sourcing and Procurement annual calendar tool as part of the Strategic Sourcing course. The platform focused on assessing innovation competencies, with students encouraged to seek feedback from their teammates as part of the evaluation. Finally, we examined how the platform’s visual summary supports learning, skill identification, and development, as well as its potential value during studies and beyond—particularly in career development, continuous learning, and job search.

How:

In the beginning of the course, the students were informed that assessment of the project and the work done will be included in the course. Two weeks before the end of the course, the students were given the following instruction/task to be completed by the end of the course:

“Self-assessment of the Sourcing and procurement annual calendar tool group work in the Strategic Sourcing course

Log into your team’s workspace in the Cogknit system. There you will find a list of skills that describe various innovation competencies that are useful in both studies and work life. Assess your skills as they emerged in this assignment for the Sourcing and procurement annual calendar tool in the Strategic Sourcing course. If you wish, ask one or more members of your team to assess your performance in the Cogknit system. This way you will get a more comprehensive summary of your work.

Review your summary for your own assessment and feedback from your team members. How do you feel that making skills visible through such a visual summary provided by the Cogknit platform supports learning or identifying and developing your own competences? If you could follow the development of these skills in different projects during your studies and receive feedback on these skills not only from your teacher and peers but also from the commissioning company, would you find it useful and how? Would you see such a tool as useful after graduation to demonstrate the development of your skills, for example in terms of career development, continuous learning or job search?”

Students conducted a self-assessment of their innovation competencies, focusing on skills demonstrated during the group project for the Sourcing and Procurement annual calendar tool. Using the Cogknit platform, they evaluated their own skills and had the option to request peer assessments for a more comprehensive review. They reflected on how the platform’s visual summaries supported their learning, skill identification, and development. Additionally, students considered the tool’s potential usefulness for tracking skill progression across projects and receiving feedback from peers, teachers, and companies, as well as its application after graduation for career development, lifelong learning, and job search.

Outcome:

The assessment tool effectively helped students articulate and concretize their group work outcomes by linking their critical thinking, creativity, initiative, teamwork, and networking skills to specific project examples. The feedback provided deeper insights into their competencies and complemented the numerical grades assigned by the teacher, enhancing the evaluation process.

Recommendations: [tips, guidelines, notes…]

Based on the student feedback from the pilot, the following tips and guidelines are suggested to improve future iterations of the course and the use of the Cogknit platform:

Students mentioned that engaging with self-assessment early on in the course would allow them more time for reflection and improvement. It is recommended to introduce the Cogknit self-assessment tool at the beginning of the course so that students can start tracking their competencies throughout the entire project, rather than waiting until the end. This would enable them to adjust their approach and seek feedback earlier in the process.

Several students expressed a need for clearer instructions and examples of how to effectively assess their competencies. To enhance the experience, it would be helpful to provide detailed guidelines on what specific behaviors and skills to focus on when evaluating themselves. Sharing examples of well-written self-assessments or model answers could also help students understand expectations better.

While peer-assessment was offered as an optional component, it was underutilized by some students. Encouraging more consistent use of peer-assessment throughout the project would help students gain a broader perspective on their contributions. Consider integrating peer-assessment as a mandatory part of the course evaluation process, with specific checkpoints for feedback during the project.

Students appreciated the visual summaries provided by the Cogknit platform but suggested that further explanations on how to interpret these summaries could help them better understand their growth. It would be beneficial to include a session or resource dedicated to guiding students on how to analyze and act on the data provided by the visual summaries, particularly in terms of identifying areas for improvement.

Feedback highlighted that students found value in receiving feedback from both their peers and instructors, but some suggested that more direct interaction with the commissioning company would be beneficial. It is recommended to introduce more opportunities for students to interact with the company representatives throughout the course, such as through mid-project check-ins, feedback sessions, or presentations, to ensure that students align their work with real-world expectations.

Students expressed interest in the potential long-term value of the Cogknit tool for tracking skill development over the course of their studies. It would be valuable to extend the use of the platform beyond individual courses, allowing students to track their progress in multiple projects over time. This could serve as an ongoing portfolio that students can reference for career development, job searches, and continuous learning.

To enhance the reflective aspect of the assessment process, it is recommended to encourage students to not only evaluate their own performance but also reflect on how their skills have evolved during the course. Prompting them to consider how specific tasks or challenges helped develop their competencies can deepen their understanding of the learning process.

Several students emphasized the importance of understanding how innovation competencies translate to real-world professional environments. It would be beneficial to include more explicit connections between the competencies assessed in the course and how they are applied in actual industry scenarios. This could be done through guest speakers, case studies, or additional resources that showcase the practical use of these skills in the workplace.

By implementing these recommendations, future iterations of the course can better support students’ self-assessment, foster more collaboration, and ensure that students are equipped with the competencies needed to succeed in their careers.

Link to extended description.

Keywords: MS Teams, Scrum, project work, communication, teamwork, assessment tool

Communication is essential for projects to succeed. Communication takes place both onsite and online. Online tools such as Microsoft (MS) Teams can be used for communication. Especially, when projects use agile project methods such as Scrum regular communication is important within the project and with their customer (Product Owner).

Working online with MS Teams was seen as a good choice for communication during agile projects but more important is the communication taking place onsite. However, working onsite was found to be the most effective way for teamworking. This was measured using MS Forms based survey that was conducted before and after the project work.

Recommendations: Both online and onsite communication are needed for agile projects to succeed and to improve teamwork skills. To measure the effect for a project team, surveys need to be filled in at the beginning and at the end of the project. SINCOE@Assessment Tool survey is a good choice for this measurement.

Link to extended description: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/783

Keywords: Engineering Education, Business Management, Innovation Assessment, Smart City Entrepreneurship

What and Why

A pilot course on Business Organization fundamentals was conducted for 75 first-year Physical Engineering students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The purpose was to help technically oriented students understand business management’s relevance to their future careers, particularly focusing on entrepreneurship and smart city initiatives aligned with SDG 11.

How

Theoretical and practical sessions (6 credits total)

Development of entrepreneurship projects focused on smart city technology

Integration of ICT with business models

Lab practices on demand forecasting and marketing

Assessment through voluntary surveys using FINCODA model dimensions

Focus on creativity and critical thinking

Evaluation of innovation competencies through student self-assessment

Outcome

· Survey results showed moderately positive results in innovation competencies:

· Dimension 3 (Creating original solutions): Mean score 73.8/100

· Dimension 4 (Making improvement suggestions): Mean score 71.8/100

· Online survey tool proved technically successful

· Participation rates were lower than desired due to voluntary nature

Recommendations: [tips, guidelines, notes…]

· Start assessment earlier in the course timeline

· Conduct surveys during regular course hours to increase participation

· Implement anonymous participation methods

· Create early awareness among students about assessment importance

· Better integrate technical aspects with business concepts

· Consider mandatory rather than voluntary participation

· Maintain focus on practical applications and real-world scenarios

· Structure the assessment process within regular course activities

Link to extended description: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/509

Keywords: Self-Assessment, Training, Biases

Before using the Sincoe@Assessment tool, students complete a self-assessment training course. The training serves as motivation and raises awareness of biases that can occur particularly in self-assessments.

Recommendations:

Various methods have been addressed already in connection with the topic of personnel selection and development. Students are introduced to the Sinco@Assessment Tool for self-assessment. Before using the tool, self-assessment, peer assessment and external assessment are compared. The susceptibility to biases, especially in self-assessment, is discussed. The self-assessment training is carried out and discussed with the assessment tool after the self-assessment.

Students train a self-perception that is as objective as possible. They become aware that biases play a role in self-assessments and learn how to avoid or at least reduce them.

Students should decide for themselves how to discuss their own results, what kind of feedback to accept.

Link to extended description: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/425

Keywords: Social and Environmental Innovation Challenge

Promote the social and environmental commitment of students through innovation. To sensitize students about the level of development of their social and environmental innovation skills

For 6 weeks, a group of students carried out a”Social and Environmental Innovation Challenge”

The project involved:

• Problem Identification: Choosing a social/environmental issue.
• Design and Development: Creating a robotic solution.
• Prototyping and Programming: Building and coding the prototype.
• Presentation: Explaining the project to peers and evaluators.
• Evaluation and Feedback: Assessing projects and providing constructive criticism.
• Reflection and Improvement: Considering feedback for potential enhancements.

Students identified problems, developed robotic solutions, built prototypes, and presented their work. Peers and teachers evaluated the projects, offering feedback for improvement. After completion, students took a SINCOE self-assessment survey on skills covered in the pilot.

After filtering, 20 responses were analyzed (17 men, 3 women, 34% participation).

Key observations:

• Some students found the survey too long, leading to incomplete responses.
• Most students reported being flexible with tasks and aware of team interdependence.
• Students generally preferred collective group assessment over individual assessment.
• The analysis provided a ranking of competencies developed during the project.

Recommendations:

• Use a “challenge” approach to make the experience illustrative and attractive to students.
• Ensure all students can complete all phases of the project successfully.
• For large groups, consider involving more than one teacher to manage effectively.

Link to extended description: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/415

Keywords: Self-peer assessment, Sincoe@ tool, Belbin team roles, collaborative leadership, teamwork competencies.

This experience empowers students with essential teamwork competencies through the implementation of the Sincoe@ self-peer assessment tool and the exploration of Belbin team roles. By fostering self-awareness, peer feedback, and collaborative leadership skills, the initiative sought to develop students’ abilities to thrive in dynamic team environments. The immersive learning experience involved participative workshops, Sincoe@ assessments, Belbin role analysis, practical exercises, and instructor mentorship. It provided insights into self-evaluation, team dynamics, assessment methodologies, and collaborative problem-solving capabilities – equipping students with the professional competencies crucial for success in today’s workforce.

Recommendations: facilitate an open and supportive learning environment that encourages self-reflection, constructive feedback, and active participation. Provide clear instructions and opportunities for hands-on practice, role-playing, and real-world simulations. Continuously monitor group dynamics and individual contributions, and tailor your approach accordingly.

Link to extended description: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/410

Keywords: Assessment, innovation competence (critical thinking, creativity, initiative, teamwork, networking), project-based learning, online, motivation, feedback, complementary evaluation

What and Why: The pilot was conducted on 2nd year Industrial Management and Engineering students’ obligatory course Supply Chain Management (3 credits). The students on the course were future sales engineers, which was an interesting target group. In the course, the students did eight extensive learning tasks in groups, which had a written part and presentations in class. At the end of the course, they did a self-evaluation of the group work of the course, where they were guided to evaluate their own and the group’s work through the SINCOE project’s statements about innovation competencies.

How: The course was implemented as face-to-face teaching. In practice, the students worked both face-to-face in class and remote, and online. During the course, eight different group projects were completed, with varying group compositions within a larger collective. Specific roles within the groups became established, though there was some turnover. As the course progressed, group work became a routine part of the weekly schedule, conducted outside of lectures via remote connections.

In the beginning of the course, self-assessment was given as one of the assessment criteria of the course. Towards the end of the course, the students were introduced the questions and asked them to return their answers in Its Learning platform at the end of the course.

Outcome: The assessment tool helped to articulate and concretize student groups’ work and accomplishments by describing their critical thinking, initiative, creativity, teamwork, and networking skills by tying examples to projects. The feedback was a good addition to the numerical grade the teacher gave.

Recommendations:

• Schedule more in-person sessions to foster better communication, creativity, and group dynamics.
• Use face-to-face interactions for critical discussions and feedback sessions.
• Provide guidelines for effective online meetings, including tips on scheduling and maintaining motivation.
• Encourage the use of collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft Teams).
• Incorporate structured timelines and clear task division to improve efficiency in both in-person and online settings.
• Design group activities that emphasize the importance of diverse perspectives and individual development.
• Provide a framework for effective presentations and task distribution.
• Monitor and provide feedback on group work efficiency and productivity.
• Guide students in taking on various roles (research, writing, verification) and adapting to changing group compositions.
• Offer support when workload increases due to changes in group dynamics.
• Recognize the productivity benefits of remote work and incorporate remote meetings as part of the course structure.
• Allow flexibility in course formats to accommodate individual preferences for remote and independent work.
• Design activities that teach teamwork, consideration, and listening to different perspectives.
• Emphasize the real-world applications of skills like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork.
• Encourage groups to find a balance between independent work and collaborative sessions.
• Set clear deadlines and expectations for task completion.
• Create a supportive environment that values teamwork and innovation competencies.
• Provide examples of how these competencies are applied in both academic and professional settings.
• Include assignments that allow for creative approaches and idea generation.
• Design tasks that require critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making.
• Encourage students to consider multiple perspectives in their work.
• Recognize and reward proactive behavior in starting tasks and leading projects.
• Provide opportunities for students to take initiative in various aspects of their group work.
• Encourage mutual respect and appreciation for each other’s ideas within the group.
• Create assignments that mimic real-world challenges, allowing students to apply their skills practically.
• Provide feedback on how well students demonstrate competencies like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork.
• Discuss the importance of these skills in professional roles such as technical sales or logistics management.
• Implement regular feedback sessions to continuously improve the course based on student experiences.
• Use this feedback to adjust and address any emerging challenges.
• Incorporate diverse teaching methods to keep students engaged and motivated.
• Balance between in-person and remote activities to accommodate to different learning preferences and needs.

Link to extended description

Keywords: Assessment, innovation competence (critical thinking, creativity, initiative, teamwork, networking), project-based learning, online, motivation, feedback, complementary evaluation

What and Why: The pilot was conducted on 2nd and 3rd year Industrial Management and Engineering students’ optional course Strategic Sourcing (5 credits). These students have chosen procurement and logistics as their specialization area. In the course, the students did an extensive group work ‘procurement year clock’ as commissioned work for a local company. At the end of the course, they did a self-evaluation of the group work of the course, where they were guided to evaluate their own and the group’s work through the SINCOE project’s statements about innovation competencies.

How: In the beginning of the course, self-assessment was given as one of the assessment criteria of the course. Towards the end of the course, the students were introduced the questions and asked them to return their answers in Its Learning platform at the end of the course.

Outcome: The assessment tool helped to articulate and concretize student groups’ work and accomplishments by describing their critical thinking, initiative, creativity, teamwork, and networking skills by tying examples to projects. The feedback was a good addition to the numerical grade the teacher gave.

Recommendations:

• Schedule more in-person sessions to foster better communication, creativity, and group dynamics.
• Use face-to-face interactions for critical discussions and feedback sessions.
• Provide guidelines for effective online meetings, including tips on scheduling and maintaining motivation.
• Encourage the use of collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft Teams).
• Incorporate structured timelines and clear task division to improve efficiency in both in-person and online settings.
• Design group activities that emphasize the importance of diverse perspectives and individual development.
• Provide a framework for effective presentations and task distribution.
• Monitor and provide feedback on group work efficiency and productivity.
• Guide students in taking on various roles (research, writing, verification) and adapting to changing group compositions.
• Offer support when workload increases due to changes in group dynamics.
• Recognize the productivity benefits of remote work and incorporate remote meetings as part of the course structure.
• Allow flexibility in course formats to accommodate individual preferences for remote and independent work.
• Design activities that teach teamwork, consideration, and listening to different perspectives.
• Emphasize the real-world applications of skills like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork.
• Encourage groups to find a balance between independent work and collaborative sessions.
• Set clear deadlines and expectations for task completion.
• Create a supportive environment that values teamwork and innovation competencies.
• Provide examples of how these competencies are applied in both academic and professional settings.
• Include assignments that allow for creative approaches and idea generation.
• Design tasks that require critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making.
• Encourage students to consider multiple perspectives in their work.
• Recognize and reward proactive behavior in starting tasks and leading projects.
• Provide opportunities for students to take initiative in various aspects of their group work.
• Encourage mutual respect and appreciation for each other’s ideas within the group.
• Create assignments that mimic real-world challenges, allowing students to apply their skills practically.
• Provide feedback on how well students demonstrate competencies like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork.
• Discuss the importance of these skills in professional roles such as technical sales or logistics management.
• Implement regular feedback sessions to continuously improve the course based on student experiences.
• Use this feedback to adjust and address any emerging challenges.
• Incorporate diverse teaching methods to keep students engaged and motivated.
• Balance between in-person and remote activities to accommodate to different learning preferences and needs.

Link to extended description

When teachers define the learning objectives for the upcoming course and for the course participants, it is assumed, most likely quite correctly, that the teachers already have obtained those skills themselves that they are teaching. Teachers do master the subject matter, but in my pilot, I wanted to check, how can I in my course design process identify my own innovation competences.

Course: Destination Germany Austria 3 ECTS (offered as a compulsory course for students going to ERASMUS / double degree exchange in Autumn 2024) 

Teacher: Sanna Simola   

Students: 11 (+ 2 who chose to attend, but not to do all the tasks) 

Goal and learning objectives: training and preparation for exchange in Germany or Austria, networking, inspiration (guests), career planning, language and culture skills, information search. 

Course implementation: Hybrid (Campus – online lessons – tasks in LMS itslearning)  

Duration: March- May 2024 (14 weeks) 

Advantages of this format: 

• versatile, varied (the content and place are matched to suit the purpose) 
• It is good to have different kinds of tasks and environments to enhance the learning experience. 
• flexible (weather conditions- easy to change the place) 
• to get guests to attend (abroad, longer distances) 
• high quality online learning material (e.g. Deutsche Welle)  

in this case: online lessons with a small group, camera on, active participation, discussions. Working online did succeed well, because of the group size and motivation of the students. Motivation was high due to upcoming stay in Germany/Austria. 

Link to extended description

Goal:

Examination of the influence of the Sincoe training videos on self-assessment.

Target group:

1^st Semester Life Sciences students. Age: 18 to 40.

Situation Environment:

50% online-lecture, 50% face-to-face.

Methods:

At the beginning of the semester, only the first two SINCOE training videos are used. Students then evaluate their innovation skills using the SINCOE assessment tool. Second assessment after the third SINCOE training video (Biases and how to avoid them) and discussion of differences.

Additional Methods:

Quasi-experiments – online and face-to-face. Online group work (Mini-groups).

Link to extended description

Keywords: Self-assessment, Sincoe@ tool

This self-assessment was conducted in a course about management implications of the development and use of information and communication techniques (ICT) in the marketing domain. Students should reflect on their relationship to and their personal competencies in “innovation”.

In its methodology, the SINCOE assessment was not typical for the structure of the course, that is structured as lecture with a short paper as exam.

Recommendations: “coaching” of the studies to participate in the survey is important – provide an easy access with the opportunity to participate anonymously – have enough time to present the idea behind and the structure of the survey.

Link to extended description

Keywords: motivation, study skills, innovation competences, critical thinking, creativity, co-learning

The formative questionnaire is designed to provide a wide range of information about the student’s motivation and the issues affecting motivation. The form also collects information on the student’s study skills, a few innovation competencies and different ways to support learning (face-to-face or online environment).

After the formative survey, you will be able to gain more in-depth knowledge in some area by interviewing a few students.

Both formative data and interview data requires analysis in order to draw conclusions.

Recommendations: Conduct a formative survey followed by possible interviews. By analysing the collected data, you can find out, among other things, things that affect motivation.

Extended description

Based on the results of motivation survey following tips for the teachers are:

Support for teachers in designing an online course:

• Design a clear structure for the course on the e-learning platform
• It is a good idea to divide the course into smaller entities on the learning platform
• Plan the course schedule
• Schedule the course workload so that the load is distributed as evenly as possible throughout the course
• Short videos support learning well alongside other material
• Plan how the learning support will be implemented in the course
  • Online teaching (Teams/ Zoom)
  • Create videos that provide support on the challenging issues or topics reported by students
  • Chat environment
• Plan the course evaluation
  • Is the grade based on assignments submitted in the course?
  • Do the students get feedback on the assignments already during the course?
  • Is the feedback given by the teacher or other students?
  • Is there an exam on the course?
  • How is the exam conducted?

Keywords: ASSESSMENT, tutoring, motivation 

Before goal and development dialogue with students a teacher gives them the Innovation Competence self-assessment task to answer. It is better to choose the most relevant of those and not to use the whole list of allegations. The students can concentrate on those most relevant to their study-field and level of studies. 

During the conversation, a teacher asks the students how they will improve those innovation competences they have assessed lower level than others.

Students commit themselves to improve those. They are more motivated when they find out the solutions by themselves. 

Recommendations: Choose one to three statements of all and ask students to answer only those. Have a personal discussion about those with them and ask them to think how to improve the ones they assess not so good. 

More information: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/316

• During a tutoring session, the teacher can select specific relevant items from the Innovation Competence criteria to discuss.

• After the student responds, they can talk about those areas and plan how to enhance the student’s skills.

• Focusing on just a few criteria makes the conversation more targeted.

Keywords: METHODS, ROLE, exercise, critical thinking, creativity, co-teaching, co-learning, innovativeness

The objective was to create sessions of demonstrating AI in a professional work and analyzing the results in a conversation.

The demonstrations were real-time tests in front of the class by a teacher. Students realizes they need to be critical to artificial intelligence when they notice how it hallucinates. After the demonstrations students test and make the analysis by themselves. 

The students understood the danger of hallucinating of the AI.

Recommendations: Test AI together with students in a real-time occasion to prove the need of critical thinking. Throw yourself in an unknown area together with students or a co-teacher without a fear of failure. Trust your own professionality even in a situation where students know more, research together. 

More information: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/311

Keywords: Assessment, method, role, sustainable development, sustainability

The objective was to support students to reflect and self-assess their competence of critical thinking in sustainable development.

Students were asked to consider the assessment items in their own studies so far, and after answering there was a discussion on their thoughts how they experienced the items.

The outcome was that students mentioned competence in sustainable development being among the most important competences now and in the future, but the expressions used, i.e. wording of the optional items, were found general and difficult to understand.

For the assessment to be realistic and reliable, it is essential that the student understands a fairly general competence item correctly.

Recommendations: Self-assessment always requires prior discussion with the students and should never be carried out without the students being prepared for it. The aim of the discussion is to explain to the participants what it is assessed, why it is assessed, and what the assessment items in practice can mean.

More information: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/304

Keywords: Self-assessment, teamwork skills, participative learning, student motivation, innovative assessment.

This case study piloted innovative teaching methods and assessment tools to foster collaborative and participative teamwork skills among students. Highly interactive workshops were implemented, enabling students to practice teamwork through group activities. The SINCOE@self tool was used for self-diagnosis and data collection, while the Belbin roles served as a reference for assessing team dynamics. Students’ perceptions of SINCOE@self were compared to the Belbin method, contributing to the psychometric validation of the SINCOE@ tool. Group products were evaluated using the triple diamond rubric, considering team competencies and roles. Frequent feedback and final grades were based on these activities. This approach aimed to create an engaging atmosphere for collaborative learning and continuous improvement. Self and peer assessments revealed innovative behaviors, competency priorities, and role dynamics within teams, providing insights for enhancing participative management approaches. Findings from this case study can inform the improvement of teamwork training and efficient assessment methods in educational settings.

Recommendations: To design team activities that align with real-world challenges or projects. Rotate team compositions to expose students to diverse working styles and assign specific roles or competencies for intentional development. Provide clear guidelines and rubrics, encouraging self and peer evaluation throughout the process. Give frequent feedback on team dynamics, roles, and competencies, facilitating reflective discussions after team activities for deeper learning. Use icebreaker activities to create an inclusive environment for collaboration and evaluate both the collaborative process and the final product.

More information: https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/category/resourcetype/pilots/pilotextended

Keywords: Active learning, Sincoe@ self-peer assessment, team role dynamics, innovative behavior, engineering education.

The motivation behind this initiative was to engage and motivate students, test efficient assessment tools, and analyze team performance based on personal competencies and roles. Through classroom workshops, the implementation of the Sincoe@ tool, and the use of the Belbin model, the study compared results across groups and evaluated different feedback models. Ultimately, it gained insights into activating learning, utilizing self-peer assessment, mapping team roles to innovative outcomes, and assessing large groups effectively.

Recommendations: To provide clear instructions, facilitating open communication, and ensuring a supportive learning environment. Continuously monitoring group dynamics, role assignments, and individual contributions can help identify areas for improvement. Leveraging diverse assessment models and techniques caters to different learning styles and promotes a holistic evaluation process.

More information: Enhancing Team Competencies: A Case Study on Motivating Students, Peer Assessment with Sincoe@, and Mapping Team Roles to Innovative Outcome. Extended description – SINCOE Toolbox (upv.es)

Keywords: ASSESSMENT, innovation competence (critical thinking, creativity, initiative, teamwork, networking), project-based learning, online, external supervisor, motivation, feedback, complimentary evaluation​

This experience aimed to use the SINCOE@ Assessment tool as a feedback tool for student groups solving a specific problem. The project owner met the student groups face-to-face only at the beginning and end of the course. Otherwise, the guidance took place in remote meetings. Since the project owner was unable to monitor the students’ work based on non-online meetings, it felt challenging to give feedback at first.  The assessment tool helped to articulate and concretise student groups’ work and accomplishments by describing their critical thinking, initiative, creativity, teamwork, and networking skills by tying examples to projects. The feedback was a good addition to the numerical grade the teacher gave.​

Recommendation: 1) Go through the assessment tool items. 2) Choose from there the items that best came up in the outputs or activities of the student project, e.g. 1-3 items per dimension. 3) To articulate and concretize feedback about claims to the project.

More information:

https://sincoe.blogs.upv.es/archives/category/resourcetype/pilots/pilotextended

Assessment Tool: Sincoe@ – SINCOE Toolbox (upv.es)