Applying professional methods of team feedback to improve teamwork in an interdisciplinary project-based upper-level design course

We present an approach for coaching design team members to give qualitative feedback to each other in an upper-level undergraduate design project course. Giving and receiving feedback is an essential part of effective teamwork. However, students sometimes struggle to give sufficiently precise and actionable feedback. We find that using the BET/BEAR models from Harms and Roebuck [1] helps students give both praise and criticism in a form that is specific and results oriented. The models allow us to reinforce general principles about effective teamwork; they are simple to explain, easy to apply, and relevant to a wide range of team and project types. In the past, we have required students to submit their BET and BEAR feedback using spreadsheet templates; we have introduced a web-based version of the assignment that makes it easier for students to exchange feedback more frequently and more easily. We discuss what we have learned from using these models in our courses over time and offer examples from a word frequency analysis of past responses, as well as survey responses from former students. We also offer practical suggestions for incorporating these models into team-based, project-based design courses.