Dear David (and others),
I've only had one experience with a 1-team class (so I'd hope that
others on the list serv would chime in as well).
I did not, however, experience the problems you describe. I can only
think of two things (and maybe a third) that I did that might have
made the difference. They are:
1) I made a REALLY big deal about my views with regard to the
importance of teaching in a way that would prepare them to be
life-long learners (see attached transparencies). By doing so, I
think they: a) understood the dysfunctional nature of turning to me
for help without trying to work things out on their own and, b) took
pride in "going it on their own."
2) Instead of posting the team scores on the RATs (there were no
other teams to post scores for), I provided a "benchmark" by giving
them the average individual and team scores from previous classes
just before I handed out the test. They got every bit as excited
about beating the "norms" as teams typically do in "competing" with
other teams.
3) Although I'm not sure exactly what I said, I strongly suspect that
I probably reinforced their efforts at working independently in two
ways. One, that I do in multi-team classes anyway, is to "listen in"
and, when they ask for my input, I restate what they have been saying
to each other (e.g. "Joe seems to be arguing that ____ , Jane made
the point that ______ , etc." Then I draw some sort of a conclusion
and throw the ball back in their court. For example, I might say,
"If you take their input seriously, you're almost there." or "What
you have to figure out is which point is most
critical/accurate/fundamental, etc." or "Now you have to figure out
what's missing." The other is praising their successes. For
example, I might say, "I think it was really great when you _____
(specifically recounting what they did that was positive)." or
"Although I probably could have made the same point, you both
understand it better and will remember it longer because you figured
it out on your own. Good work."
If it is a graded assignment/test, the response is much the same as
point #3 but, even more comfortable. For example, I'll simply say
something like, "Joe seems to be arguing that ____ , Jane made the
point that ______ , etc. I can't say which point is most
critical/accurate/etc. without giving away the answer."
I hope this helps.
Larry
--
*************************************************************
Dr. Larry K. Michaelsen (405) 325-5692 - voice
David Ross Boyd Professor of Management (405) 325-7688 - fax
206 Adams Hall [log in to unmask] - e-mail
The University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK 73019
|
