Promoting understanding in the classroom: Comparison of the Strength Deployment Inventory, Learning Styles Inventory, and Myers-Briggs

Given the importance of teamwork in engineering, engineering educators have explored using many different assessment tools to help individuals understand themselves and others. Among the most popular of these assessments are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)^reg and the Index of Learning Styles (LS). Another potentially powerful assessment tool is the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI). Whereas other tools measure behavior, the SDI provides insight into onepsilas underlying motivations both when things are going well and in conflict. In this study, we gave the SDI as well as the ILS and the MBTI assessment to twenty-five undergraduate engineering students. Here we present the results of these assessments and explore comparisons between the three assessment tools. For the students in our sample, we showed that Extroverts on the MBTI tend to be more ldquoRedrdquo or Assertive on the SDI while Introverts on the MBTI tend to be more rdquoGreenrdquo or Analytical on the SDI. Also, when under conflict, such as may arise on a team project, studentspsila behavior changes and is influenced by their MBTI type. This information might help instructors enhance studentspsila team experiences.