ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1637203
Teaching of Transferable Teamwork Competencies in Higher Education: Development of the TWC Training Protocol
Provisionally accepted- Boise State University, Boise, United States
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Teamwork competencies are essential for career success, yet higher education often lacks structured, effective training for developing those. This paper introduces the Teamwork Competency (TWC) Training Protocol © , a structured framework grounded in action research principles, designed to enhance students' teamwork competencies through iterative cycles of planning, action, reflection, and adjustment. It integrates theoretical foundations of teamwork with experiential learning, incorporating team charters, self-and peer assessments, and guided team reflections. Theoretical foundations and protocol development are described, followed by a pilot study across disciplines in Malaysia and the United States. Results suggest that the protocol advances key student teamwork competencies, such as open communication, planning and coordinating, goal setting, collaborative problem-solving, performance monitoring, as well as building trust and team cohesion. It also mitigates common challenges of social loafing and interpersonal conflict. Thus, the introduced protocol provides a scalable, evidence-based approach to teaching teamwork in higher education.
Keywords: Teamwork training, Teamwork competencies, Action research, Reflection, higher education
Received: 28 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Campbell, Babik and Crowley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cynthia G. Campbell, Boise State University, Boise, United States
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