Putting “I” in Team: Increasing Students’ Interpersonal Skills, Engagement, Retention, and Grades through Groups

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Criminology and Criminal Justice from Classroom to Boardroom: Teaching, Research, and Related Agencies

Abstract

During the fall 2024 semester, sections one and two of the criminal justice required course, Corrections, are being assessed via a quasi-experimental design to answer the research question, “In the same face-to-face course, will peer-support group involvement in the prison design project increase students’ interpersonal skills, engagement, retention rates, and project grades in one section as compared to the individual prison design projects in the other section?” The pilot was performed during the spring 2024 semester by the students participating in the graded group-based projects. This pilot was used to inform the fall 2024 research study. The dual-modality comparison is occurring during the fall 2024 semester, which includes a pre and posttest anonymous Qualtrics survey based on the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWES-S) and the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale (SMES). This lighting presentation focuses on the status of the research.

Author

• Cassandra L. Reyes, West Chester University