Level-Up your Students' Skills with Team-Based Learning Dr. Yuliana Zaikman, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Dr. Laura Madson, New Mexico State University Dr. Jamie Hughes,  The University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Acknowledgements Dr. Larry Michaelsen Professor of Management, University of Central Missouri Dr. Jim Sibley Director of the Centre for Instructional Support at the Faculty of Applied Science at University of British Columbia Dr. Michael Sweet Senior Associate Director, Center For Advancing Teaching & Learning Through Research, Northeastern University

Imagine a class where students… …laugh and high five during a quiz …are so engaged in a task they don’t realize the class period is over …look forward to coming to class …report that working with their peers is the best part of the course

Team-based learning Today we will Explain team-based learning Discuss the evidence for using team-based learning Explain how team-based learning works with different content

Team-based learning Students strategically assigned to permanent teams Students held accountable for pre-class preparation Class time spent on activities designed around what students should be able to do at the end of the course Students evaluate their teammates’ contributions to team performance Four elements to team-based learning Students strategically assigned to permanent teams Students held accountable for pre-class preparation via Readiness Assurance Tests Class time spent on activities designed around what students should be able to DO at the end of the course Students evaluate their teammates’ positive contributions to team performance

Permanent teams Instructor assigns students to teams at beginning of term Ultimate goal is to create diverse teams Three specific goals of team assignment maximize team resources minimize team liabilities eliminate existing relationships that inhibit team cohesion I will explain how we line up the students based on different questions: previous experience with TBL, junior/senior, read more than X books over the break, have a full time job and/or kids, last question: super excited about this class.

Accountability for pre-class preparation Individual, low risk quizzes completed prior to class or at the beginning of the class period Holds students accountable for completing pre-class preparation Followed by team quizzes – same questions, everyone in the team earns the same score Students practice communicating what they know, working together on a shared task

Activities instead of lecture Promote deep learning & team cohesion Activities can be individual or team tasks Four characteristics of good activities Significant problem Same question Specific choice Simultaneous response You pose a question or present a certain problem. You offer the students specific choices to choose from, either 4 multiple choice answers, or choosing one of the two options, then you have then present/report their chosen answer at the same time. This can be done either with clickers, or with pieces of papers. This usually promotes a discussion. If there is a disagreement, groups need to justify their choice etc.

Course grades Three components Individual performance Team performance – after earning a minimum % of individual performance points Peer evaluations – hold students accountable for their teamwork Grade weights can be determined by instructor or by students at beginning of term Highlight here the peer evaluation component as the fourth point of TBL

Application: depth & complexity Typical TBL Unit Basic facts Read and comprehend text outside of class Take a reading assessment as an individual Take a reading assessment as a group Lecture (i.e., material based on assessment feedback) 1-4 application activities Final assessment (cumulative activity or test) Application: depth & complexity

Discuss what is being learned Why use TBL? TBL Discuss what is being learned Apply knowledge Make decisions Solve problems Even in classes that involve active class wide discussion, often it is 5-6 students account for 80% of the interaction/discussion. With TBL most students actively participate and interact most of the time. In the traditional course learning is equated with recall or memorization. In TBL courses, learning is equated with higher level thinking. Using Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revision of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy, TBL stimulates students to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. Lectures

Why use TBL? Which of these skills is best achieved via individual study? Which would be best achieved in class? In November 2014, online survey among 400 employers whose organizations have at least 25 employees and report that 25% or more of their new hires hold either an associate degree from a two-year college or a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college. Respondents are executives at private sector and nonprofit organizations, including owners, CEOs, presidents, C-suite level executives, and vice presidents. The objective of the survey is to understand which learning outcomes employers believe are most important to acquire to be able to succeed in today’s economy, how prepared they believe recent college graduates are in these areas, and employers’ feelings about the importance of applied and project-based learning in college.

Who is using TBL? 1214 TBLC members worldwide, with a little over 300 of them from outside of the US (e.g., Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, Middle East, Australia) Health sciences, skills-based programs Medical (> 100 worldwide) Dental Nursing Pharmacy APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (Version 2.0, 2013) Knowledge base Scientific inquiry and critical thinking Ethical and social responsibility in a diverse world Communication Professional development Explicit skills (e.g., performing specific procedures) and implicit, “soft” professional skills (e.g., communication, collaboration, consensus seeking, valuing differing opinions; Sibley & Parmelee, 2008).

Evidence* Improves student attendance and participation/engagement TBL >= non-TBL on final exams and standardized exams Improves knowledge acquisition/retention for students near bottom of distribution when compared vs. lecture Improves student attendance and participation/engagement Students like TBL, although comparison matters and some frustration occurs Instructors report renewed enthusiasm for teaching, changed ideas about role of teacher, increased stress *Fatmi et al, 2013; Haidet et al, 2014; Kubitz, 2014 Kubitz: Students in TBL classrooms perform as well or better than students in non-TBL classrooms on final exams and standardized exams with control groups via historical comparisons, quasi-experimental studies, and experimental studies. Most of the experimental studies find TBL = non-TBL on exam scores. Equal performance with little lecturing! TBL > non-TBL on standardized exit exams in health sciences. Haidet: - social sciences, medicine, pharmacology, toxicology, nursing, and business education. Students generally respond positively to TBL, although mixed student perceptions when directly compared to lecture or other small-group active learning; some students given the choice express preference for lecture (although not in my Intro Psych classes; might be artifact of post-graduate health sciences students). Some students (mostly in health sciences studies) frustration over lack of lecture (withholding expertise of the instructor), ambiguity in application exercises, or peer evaluation process (especially forced discrimination). Fermi et al (2013) – Health sciences education. Seven studies (726 TBL/1152 participants), reported controlled learner reaction scores between a TBL and non-TBL group. Only one cohort study reported a significant difference favouring the TBL group (Levine et al. 2004). In one NRCT, students significantly preferred small-group learning to TBL(Willett et al. 2011). These two studies demonstrate that students had a positive reaction to TBL despite the more abrupt increase in workload when compared to a traditional lecture; however, when students were comparing to a less structured active learning strategy, such as SGL, they did not react as positively to TBL. Three studies reported non- significant differences.

Evidence from psychology (Travis et al 2016*) Random assignment of Intro Psych sections: TBL (7 of 12 major topics) or lecture. Common MC mid-term and final exams; mid-term and end-of-semester satisfaction surveys, student perceptions of TBL (TBL group only) TBL > lecture students on TBL material TBL = lecture on satisfaction TBL students report positive impressions of TBL they and their teammates were constructively involved in activities slight preference for lecture over TBL *See also Coleman (2012); Grant-Vallone (2010); Thomas & McPherson (2011) 29 sections of Intro Psych taught by 15 instructors (approximately 1,130 students) randomly assigned to use TBL for 7 of 12 major topics or to use lecture. DVs: Students’ probability of selecting correct answers on common MC mid-term and final exams; mid-term and end-of-semester satisfaction surveys, student perceptions of TBL (TBL group only) Midterm overall: TBL students had 73.1% chance of answering correctly; lecture students had 69.7% chance. Midterm I’action: TBL students had 80.5% chance of answering items taught via TBL correctly vs. lecture students’ 73.7%. No sig diff between TBL and lecture on non-TBL taught material: 70% vs. 68% Final exam: No overall diffs. Final I’action: TBL students had 80.8% chance of answering items taught via TBL correctly vs. lecture students’ 76.5%. No sig diff between TBL and lecture on non-TBL taught material: 75.6% vs. 74.7% Students report being equally satisfied at midterm and at final, despite greater workload of TBL TBL students report positive impressions of TBL they and their teammates were positively involved in activities slight preference for lecture over TBL TBL only perceptions: Two scales – TBL positivity (6 items “The group discussions allowed me to correct my mistakes and improve my understanding of concepts”) and TBL involvement (4 items “‘‘Most of my team contributed meaningfully during Team Exercise Days,’’), both positive (above neutral midpoint) with TBL involvement numerically greater than TBL positivity. TBL only students reported slight preference for lecture over TBL, likely due to greater workload associated with TBL.

Team-based learning works with different content Undergraduate and graduate courses Content and skill-based courses Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Social Psychology, & Advanced Social Psychology Psychology of Gender, Human Sexuality Psychology and Law Research Methods & Advanced Statistics We will present single assignment and unit examples and consider some challenges of using TBL

Ethics Activity Student Learning Outcomes Define risk and benefits analysis Identify APA ethical guidelines Describe the Belmont principles Identify levels of IRB Review Determine which category of IRB review is most appropriate given information about a study. Identify applicable Belmont principles and decide whether or not a study conforms to them. Perform a risk-benefit analysis. Evaluate the ethical issues raised by a study. Redesign studies to minimize risks. Reading outside of class to prepare Basic facts Application: depth & complexity

Ethics activity: Determine which category of IRB review is most appropriate given information about a study.

Application: depth & complexity Learning goal for course unit: Evaluate a criminal court case using concepts from social perception and social cognition Basic facts Day1: Staged robbery in the classroom; demonstration and discussion Day 2: RAP over reading Day 3: RAP appeals and follow up Day 4: Heuristics and bias application activity—match correct heuristic and bias to each scenario Day 5: Fundamental attribution error (FAE) activity—decide which scenarios FAE is most and least likely to occur Day 6: Part 1 social perception case study—chose the most and least reliable eyewitness Day 7: Part 2 social perception case study—decide which bias or attribution error colored public perceptions of the case Application: depth & complexity

Course Challenge 1 Course focuses on journal articles/empirical reports Consider using reading reflections/reading guides to hold students accountable for reading Create both unit level learning objectives and article specific learning objectives E.g., Unit objective is to develop recommendations to restructure policing in the USA Article specific objective: Identify biggest challenge to reforming use of investigatory stops

Course Challenge 2 Specific choice Simultaneous report Four “S” activities Significant problem Same problem Specific choice Simultaneous report

Specific Choice, Simultaneous Reporting Ask teams to create a product Ask teams to evaluate it E.g., Research methods gallery walk Choose most externally or internally valid Choose “best” Choose most ethical Grade using rubric If there is not a specific choice, encourage class wide discussion by finding dissenters

Course Challenge 3 Small number of students in the course Consider small teams (3 per) Develop questions bound to create controversy Include more than one good answer among choices

Benefits of TBL For Students For you Teamwork skills Student engagement Student learning Get to know instructor and peers Get to know different kinds of people Have more fun Students come to class prepared Students are fully engaged Activities are every bit as reusable across semesters as lectures Get to know students better Provide “JIT” feedback Activities > PPT Students come to class prepared (more on this soon) Students are fully engaged – no more blank stares Activities are every bit as reusable across semesters as lectures You can be more relaxed – less talking, less mustering enthusiasm, less performance-related anxiety Preparing activities is more engaging, creative, and exciting than writing lectures and creating PowerPoints You get to think about why you are passionate about your discipline preparing for class, not just when doing research

Learn more Learntbl.ca Teambasedlearning.org Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching Larry K. Michaelsen, Arletta Bauman Knight, L. Dee Fink (Editor) Team-Based Learning: Small Group Learning's Next Big Step: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 116 Larry K. Michaelsen, Michael Sweet, Dean X. Parmelee Team-Based Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Group Work that Works to Generate Critical Thinking and Engagement Michael Sweet, Larry K. Michaelsen Getting Started with Team-Based Learning Jim Sibley and Peter Ostafichuk Learntbl.ca Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching by Larry K. Michaelsen, Arletta Bauman Knight, L. Dee Fink (Editor) Team-Based Learning: Small Group Learning's Next Big Step: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 116 Larry K. Michaelsen, Michael Sweet, Dean X. Parmelee Team-Based Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Group Work that Works to Generate Critical Thinking and Engagement Michael Sweet, Larry K. Michaelsen Getting Started with Team-Based Learning Jim Sibley and Peter Ostafichuk

Questions?