Extract

ABSTRACT
Drawing upon a review of the literature and discussion with teachers and practitioners, this paper studies conceptions of teamwork and group-work in the context of the design disciplines. The paper is a precursor to national study examining the teaching and assessment of teamwork in design education, and aims to inform andragogy through an examination of the peculiarities of conceptualizations of teamwork within the different settings of design practice and design education. The paper explores notions of team and group design activities in the literature, identifying the key elements and characteristics of effective teams and groups. While a great deal of research exists on effective teamwork in organizational, management and general education literature, we found a clear knowledge gap in relation to teaching teamwork in architecture and related design contexts, and in particular how this teaching might be informed by practice requirements. Suggestions are made about the ways in which theories on effective teamwork in organisations might elucidate the teaching and assessment of effectively functioning student teams and groups.

The literature review prompted key questions that were subsequently discussed with educators and practitioners, thus allowing the identification of the similarities of and differences between understandings of individual, team and group design processes in workplace and educational settings.

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