IT Education and Team-Based Learning

Abstract

The basis of the Indian Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT and ITES) is changing from contract programming and business process outsourcing (BPO) to full life cycle development and end-to-end process ownership. These developments require professionals with better entrepreneurial and innovative skill sets. The skills depend largely on intrinsic motivation that should be fostered in colleges, if not earlier. As per self-determination theory (SDT), intrinsic motivation relies on a sense of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. We hypothesize that teamwork is one of the potent techniques for addressing the three. The paper uses ethnography to compare two case studies at an IT department at a college that had teamwork as an integral part. It also covers limitations and future scope for the study.