Small or Large? The Effect of Group Size on Engineering Students’ Learning Satisfaction in Project Design Courses

This study investigated the effect of group size on engineering college students’ learning satisfaction in project design courses. A self-developed questionnaire titled Learning Satisfaction Toward Project Design Courses was employed to assess college students’ learning satisfaction. The survey instrument was constructed using an exploratory factor analysis and reliability testing comprising three constructs: individual learning satisfaction, skill development satisfaction, and group learning satisfaction. Research participants were 480 senior electrical engineering students who had enrolled in project design courses at public research-based universities in Taiwan. The results showed that students expressed positive attitudes toward project design courses, particularly for skill development satisfaction. The small-group format (≦ 4 students) enabled students to achieve higher satisfaction in knowledge acquisition, learning performance, and skill development, particularly in oral presentation, paper writing, and problem solving. However, gender and time allocation in projects did not influence students’ learning satisfaction in project design courses.