| Process education, an evolving instructional method gaining popularity in higher education, combines assessment, journal writing, problem solving, team-based learning, and structured reflection as strategies for enhancing students' learning, social growth, and affect development. As the first formal study of process education, a comprehensive description and its intellectual heritage is presented. The purpose of the study was to examine process education as it was implemented in a freshman-level business communication course. Forty-one students participated in the descriptive study which lasted one semester. Students decreased their communication apprehension change scores (CACS) by an average of 13.1 (p {dollar}<{dollar}.0001) as measured by the PRCA-24. The relationship between CACS and the amount of time students spent engaged in structured reflection (SR) approached significance (p {dollar}<{dollar}.09). The relationships between CACS and stress and CACS and value were not significant. Student-reported levels of stress associated with their teamwork experience was correlated with SR (p {dollar}<{dollar}.02). The relationships between SR and value and SR and stress were not significant. The relationship between overall stress (2.41) and overall value (3.9), on a scale of 1-5, associated with the course was not significant. Reasons why students found teamwork stressful included: final project, exams, attendance, and time management. Thirty-seven students stated that overall the value of teamwork outweighed the stress associated with it. Thirty-four would choose a course with teamwork over a course without teamwork; reasons why included: makes learning is easier, can learn more, enbances personal development, decreases stress in learning, promotes time management, and increases motivation. Five students cited individual accountability as the reason for selecting a course without teamwork and two cited reward interdependence. Students rated nineteen aspects of the course on measures of stress and value; the value ratings were higher than the stress ratings for all elements except the final presentation,.05 points more stressful than valuable. The relationship between stress and value associated with time management was significant (p {dollar}<{dollar}.0001). Recommendations for implementing teamwork, cooperative learning, continual formative assessment and structured reflection are provided along with suggestions for further research. |
