Investigation of lack of engagement among students taking part in group work in engineering subjects

Group work is a compulsory part of engineering courses in international universities. However, it is also an area of low satisfaction among both students and staff, particularly in relation to the lack of perceived participation and disagreements between some students. The aims of this work were to: identify factors contributing to poor engagement with group learning using qualitative methods; to identify if these factors could be related to integration between home and international students; and to determine if tailored intervention could mitigate against such factors. Six group activities were observed, involving over 400 foundation and master’s level students. Qualitative inductive analysis techniques were used, including observation and semi-structured interviews, to identify reasons for lack of engagement. Particular consideration was given to the participation of international students in a UK context. Some reasons for lack of involvement were identified such as groups containing too many individuals, with insufficient volumes of work to complete. It was also noted that students lacked the necessary skills to be able to delegate and negotiate tasks. Changes, including group size and volume of work were applied and were shown to improve student satisfaction and to increase involvement of students.