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combination of MBTI personality types and the
quality of the output works developed by the
students. In order to assess the quality of the
resulting works, some criteria have been considered:
1. Technical qualities.
2. Quality of documentation presented.
3. Management of team work.
The technical quality shows aspects as the
adequacy and scope of the project, fulfillment of
requirements, use of innovative techniques,
adequacy to a real-life environment, realism in
project estimation and detailed planning.
The quality of documentation reflects whether it
is well adjusted to the demands of structural
documentation for project management, with a clear
and smooth writing. Detail and clarity of exposition
is also considered.
Work groups work together as a project team,
one of them taking the role as the project manager.
This project leader takes a secretary as his assistant
in management tasks. Groups are formed by 10-15
students each.
The tasks of the professor are of a double nature:
speaking both on behalf of the customer, guiding the
students on contents and focus of the project, and
also from a pedagogical approach as their tutor.
Group monitoring is made through weekly
sessions. The aim of this meetings is to present the
work already done, discuss possible technical
aspects and the planning of due work. Minutes are
also a part of this monitoring process, reflecting
what has been said and done in every work meeting.
Students have a website at their disposal, to
upload work documents, also including discussion
forums to communicate with each other and raise
any doubt. These forums are also monitored as part
of the groups’ assessment.
Analyzing the failed projects carried out during
these years, lack of internal coordination was
detected as the most recurrent cause explaining
failure to achieve the expected results in certain
groups. A relationship could be observed between
the MBTI profiles of the members and some cases of
poor coordination and internal conflicts. For
example, two of the most conflictive groups were
composed with similar types: there were a high
number of members with the same profile. In both
cases, almost all the members of the group were
ISTJ. Also in both groups there were conflicts
between members of the groups. Most of the
conflicts happened with ‘unsuited’ members
according to figure 2. Nevertheless, other groups
reaching a high level result, show more balanced
mix of profiles.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we presented a suggestion about the
influence of different personality types over students
in Project-Based Learning. MBTI, is one of the most
used personality profiling regarding to working
relationships. MBTI is a tool with intent not to
stereotype, but to allow understanding of individual
preferences to facilitate all aspects of life:
differences in learning and communication styles,
conflict management, and relationships. As
presented in the paper, previous experiences of
students taking MBTI test and using PBL for several
years, show that there is a relationship between the
result success and the different member profiles.
Considering this situation, MBTI could be useful for
the assessment of the team success, or at least to be
prepared to face some kind of conflicts depending
on the combination of profiles.
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