CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION COURSES – A COMPARISON STUDY BETWEEN UK AND MALAYSIA STUDENTS

Rebwar Kamal Gharib¹*, Choon Ling Kwek², David Ellis^3
1Coventry University, School of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry, UK, rebwar.gharib@coventry.ac.uk
²Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Malaysia, kwekcl@acd.tarc.edu.my
³Coventry University, School of Strategy and Leadership, Coventry, UK, edu135@coventry.ac.uk
*Corresponding Author

Abstract
Almost every Higher Education (HE) institution integrates group assignments into their course activities. This is to help students to develop some transferable and employability skills such as team working, written & verbal communication, problem solving & decision making, and organization & time management. Despite the importance of collaborative projects, students are still disinclined to participate actively in them. As past research shows, many group work activities fail and this has been seen as a major obstacle for HE academics. A large body of research has been published on group work success in the work environment. However, substantially less research has focused on HE, and therefore there is limited understanding of what motivates students to actively participate in their group assignments. Consequently, this research seeks to answer two important questions: a) what are the key factors affecting success of group work activities in HE? And b) how these factors vary from one HE institution to another? Towards answering these questions, this study first propose a conceptual framework highlighting the key factors influencing group work performance at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels. Next, it will conduct a qualitative study to sanity-check the framework. This will be followed by a large quantitative study to examine empirically the framework and research hypotheses. For the purpose of this study, the data will be collected from UG and PG students from Coventry University (UK) and Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (Malaysia). The final outcomes of this study will make significant contributions to both knowledge and practice. In terms of knowledge, this study will extend the existing knowledge on the antecedents of group work success in HE. In terms of practice, it will propose a set of guidelines and practices to help academic practitioners on how to improve students’ engagement in their group work activities.

Keywords: Group Work Activities, Collaborative Learning Projects, Group Work Success, and Collaborative Project Success