Psychological safety in online interdisciplinary student teams: What teachers can do to promote an effective climate for knowledge sharing, collaboration and problem-solving

Robinson, H; Held, F

Psychological safety in online interdisciplinary student teams: What teachers can do to promote an effective climate for knowledge sharing, collaboration and problem-solving

Robinson, H

Held, F

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Publisher:: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Active Learning in Higher Education, 2024
Issue Date:: 2024-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Robinson, H https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0717-4639
dc.contributor.author	Held, F
dc.date.accessioned	2024-11-01T01:00:23Z
dc.date.available	2024-11-01T01:00:23Z
dc.date.issued	2024-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Active Learning in Higher Education, 2024
dc.identifier.issn	1469-7874
dc.identifier.issn	1741-2625
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/181657
dc.description.abstract	Interdisciplinary complex problem-solving relies on psychologically safe teamwork where individuals feel confident to speak up with unique knowledge, or voice dissent. Existing studies on psychological safety (PS) have mainly concentrated on developing diagnostic tools and categorising the antecedents to psychologically safe interactions in face-to-face teams. Few focus on the establishment and maintenance of psychological safety in online teamwork, let alone in the context of now-prevalent online learning in higher education. Leveraging the natural experiment in online teaching and learning brought about by COVID-19 lockdowns, we conducted a preliminary study that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the extent to which, and how, undergraduates experience psychological safety in virtual teams. Students reported experiencing relatively high psychological safety in their collaborations, yet the results also suggest that specific elements of instructional design were needed to support the establishment and maintenance of psychological safety in the online environment. These measures include extra provision for timetabled group work, demonstrating openness and curiosity, designing assessment tasks that necessitate diverse contributions and normalising constructive failure through iterative feedback. Pedagogical tools and practices related to these measures can help online student teams build and sustain psychologically safe collaboration to optimise problem-solving and innovation.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
dc.relation.ispartof	Active Learning in Higher Education
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/14697874241275346
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1301 Education Systems, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education
dc.subject.classification	Education
dc.subject.classification	3903 Education systems
dc.subject.classification	3904 Specialist studies in education
dc.title	Psychological safety in online interdisciplinary student teams: What teachers can do to promote an effective climate for knowledge sharing, collaboration and problem-solving
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1301 Education Systems
utslib.for	1303 Specialist Studies in Education
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost/TD School
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2024-11-01T01:00:22Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

Interdisciplinary complex problem-solving relies on psychologically safe teamwork where individuals feel confident to speak up with unique knowledge, or voice dissent. Existing studies on psychological safety (PS) have mainly concentrated on developing diagnostic tools and categorising the antecedents to psychologically safe interactions in face-to-face teams. Few focus on the establishment and maintenance of psychological safety in online teamwork, let alone in the context of now-prevalent online learning in higher education. Leveraging the natural experiment in online teaching and learning brought about by COVID-19 lockdowns, we conducted a preliminary study that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the extent to which, and how, undergraduates experience psychological safety in virtual teams. Students reported experiencing relatively high psychological safety in their collaborations, yet the results also suggest that specific elements of instructional design were needed to support the establishment and maintenance of psychological safety in the online environment. These measures include extra provision for timetabled group work, demonstrating openness and curiosity, designing assessment tasks that necessitate diverse contributions and normalising constructive failure through iterative feedback. Pedagogical tools and practices related to these measures can help online student teams build and sustain psychologically safe collaboration to optimise problem-solving and innovation.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/181657