Group projects in foundation electrical engineering courses: Do they help, harm or make no difference to the students' learning experience?

This paper discusses research investigating to what extent, if any, group work influences the students' learning experience in Fundamentals of Electronics. Two classes of second year students from the College of Engineering at American University of Sharjah were involved. At least one class project is an established assignment in the class and is usually done in groups. For the purposes of this research, one class completed the project in groups and the other class completed it individually. The students were then given a short test specific to the material covered by the project. They also filled out a short survey and participated in focus group interviews to discuss their experience. The results indicate that although many of the students stated they enjoyed working in groups, a number of them admitted they did not gain a full understanding of the course material through the group work activity.