1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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).

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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

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

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Questions?