Group assignments and teamwork skills development in postgraduate construction management studies

It is commonly agreed that teamwork is a fundamental skill of construction personnel and therefore construction management students must develop this skill during their studies. Group assignment has been put forward to help students in developing their teamwork skills. Although research in team learning and teamwork is abundant, team learning in terms of students' perceptions on group assignments in construction management studies has not been thoroughly investigated. Using a survey questionnaire, the benefits, problems, formation, process progression and assessment of the group assignments in postgraduate construction management education were investigated. Development of cooperation and communication skills and being exposed to a variety of ideas were considered the main benefits, while unfair assessment and the difficulty of arranging times for group meetings, as well as low quality work by some members, were the major problems. The students preferred to form groups themselves with three or four members in a group. They believed it was important to monitor the process of conducting group assignments and to assess each individual's contributions. A combination of group assignments and individual assignments was most preferred. It was concluded that while group assignments were important and provided opportunities for students to learn technical content, share ideas and develop teamwork, cooperation and communication skills, it was necessary to establish detailed assessment criteria that addressed the monitoring of the process, the individual contributions and the final submissions. The importance of the submission of individually completed works should not be disregarded.