2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Performing under pressure is common in engineering. Many engineers work in fields with pressing deadlines, on projects where millions or even billions of dollars, public safety, or the lives of the end user of their designs are at stake. Training students strategies for performing on teams effectively under stress is essential for their success in their future engineering careers. This EL work in progress design paper will introduce a model for a non-traditional engineering leadership development activity. Specifically, this paper will explore the incorporation of a simulated stressful situation as a part of a entertainment activity into an educational program through the introduction of psychometric/behavioral profiling, curated reflective activities, and placement of the event in a scaffolded series of workshops. Through pre- and post- survey evaluations and evaluation of the post-activity reflection exercise, the change in students’ attitudes towards teamwork, self-perception of their role on teams, their perceptions of the importance of clear communication with teammates and their comfort level of effectively working on teams will be examined.

The XXX Leadership Academy at YY University is a corporate-sponsored, extra-curricular leadership program. As part of this program, students attend a series of workshops covering a variety of leadership development topics. One is a game-based, team-building event: participation in an award winning escape room activity center, TTT. The goals of this activity are to help the students apply strategy skills to improve teamwork, to learn how to thrive as a team in a high-pressure situation, and to increase their confidence in their own leadership skills. Recognizing the importance of connecting activities to reflection [1], [2], [3], [4], this paper offers a preliminary examination of how psychometric and behavioral profiling [5] can be combined with reflective writing and speaking exercises [6], [7], [8], pre- and post- Likert-based self- and activity assessments, and organization of the activity in a scaffolded sequence of events [9], [10], to lead to an impactful leadership development experience.

Preliminary evaluation of students’ responses shows changes in several areas, such as their confidence with assuming leadership roles. Although sharing the results of the reflection was not required, communications with the students after the exercise revealed periods of participant frustration that were mitigated by the group discussions prior to entering the escape rooms. By the end of the escape room activity and its associated self-assessment activities, many students learned the value of strategizing before the event and clearly communicating to groupmates before entering a potentially high-stress situation. Considering the relative abundance of escape rooms that have opened across the country and their popularity with college students, these findings can inspire other EL programs to adapt this non-traditional activity into their curricula.

[1] J. Dewey, How We Think. Boston, MA: Heath, 1910.
[2] D. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books, 1983.
[3] D. A. Kolb, Experiential Learning: Experience as a Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1984.
[4] L. Dee Fink, Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2003.
[5] https://www.emergenetics.com/
[6] L. J. Spencer, Winning Through Participation: Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Change With the Technology of Participation. Kendall Hunt Pub Co , 1989.
[7] B. Stanfield, The Art of Focused Communication. New Society Publishers, 2000.
[8] G. Rolfe, Freshwater, D.A. and Jasper, M. Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions: A User’s Guide, Basingstoke: Palgrave. 2001.
[9] Bliss, J. & Askew, M. “Effective teaching and learning: Scaffolding revisited.” Oxford Review of Education, 22 (1), 1996.
[10] Bodrova, E. & Leong, D. “Scaffolding emergent writing in the zone of proximal development.” Literacy Teaching and Learning, 3(2), 1998.