Team Based Learning (TBL)

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Team Based Learning (TBL)

• Professor Colin Mason
• Director Institute of Teaching and Learning

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Teaching that is research-informedand focused
on learning
?
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I have used Team (or group ) work before ...

• And, there were problems !!
• So, why should we use it?
• Its not just educationists that advocate it

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Why use team work?
Team work is person-friendly it requires people
to communicate and co-operate. Within a team,
work is non-competitive and supported by team
members. This is the opposite of much individual
work in computing degree courses, where students
do not communicate except with a computer, and
compete for the highest ranking in the class.
Team work is recommended as a means for
attracting females into science and technology
courses by the Equal Opportunities Commission ..
and by Sue V Rosser
Julia Dain (1992) Person-Friendly Computer
Science
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Why else should I use team work?

• People work in teams and co-operate in employment
• Students learn from each other in teams (more
  feedback)
• Much learning is excessively competitive and
  undertaken in isolation (eg exam time!)
• Teams can achieve far more than individuals
• Resource Pressures
• less supervision
• less marking (and feedback)
• less equipment
• fewer project or essay titles

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Types of learning in teams

• Tutorial teams
• Learning teams
• Peer tutoring teams
• Project teams
• Problem-centred teams
• Task-oriented teams
• Other types ?

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Assessment of team work

• Products and Outcomes
• (Reports, Essays, Posters etc)
• Process
• (How the team worked together)

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Assessment of products and processes

• Team grade
• Split grade components/contract
• Shared team grade
• Peer assessed contribution to team
• Individual viva
• Individual exam on team work content

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Assessment of Team Process

• Team report
• How did you form and start work?
• How did you work?
• What happened?
• What did you do about it?
• What have you learnt about Teams?
• Section of final report
• Individual report
• Observation and/or viva

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The benefits of teams for students

• Students produce better quality learning outcomes
  if they co-operate with others
• Students learn more if they learn in teams
• Students learn more through teaching and
  assessing than through being taught and being
  assessed
• Student teams can learn more independently and
  can tackle larger scale problems (contribute to
  research?) than the individual members alone
• Students ( staff!) find team work engaging and
  work harder in teams (providing attention is paid
  to team work skills)

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So, whats different about TBL?

• Thats what we are here to learn more about
  .....
• But, arent the following good reasons to want to
  find out more .... ?

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Team-based learning outcomes

• Students do take responsibility for their
  learning
• Students do the preparation before class
• Peer pressure does ensure collaboration and
  co-operation
• Students do develop a commitment to showing up
• Students do recognise the abilities of all
  members of their team (especially the less vocal)
• Students do develop communication skills
  (especially how to make and defend an argument
  which builds self confidence and resilience)
• Students do learn to challenge authority