Hi
I have gathered a number of different perspectives on team examinations.
Overarching themes:
Overall, very positive results with both instructor and student see value
Primary approach with individual examination followed by team examination
(with a few exceptions, more later)
Team examinations are either the same exam, and extended more difficult
version of individual exam, or a specifically crafted team examination with
no individual component
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Stories:
I've been using team exams for longer than I've been using TBL (40+years for
team exams/30+ years for TBL). They have always been focused on
applications. (In fact, I've never taught a class in which I haven't given
at least one team exam that used a full-length feature film or a novel as a
"case".) In my judgment, a well-designed team exam and 4-S applications are
nearly the same thing. The only significant difference is that I'll ask
students to provide one or more bullet points to support their specific
choice or I sometimes ask, "What are your number 1 #2 choices and what is
the most compelling reason for rejecting your #2 choice. The key is making
sure the form of the answer is simple (i.e., a specific choice supported by
the key or the top FEW reasons/facts/pieces of evidence, etc.). Don't force
the teams to produce an essay. If you do then their effort will go into
wordsmithing instead of DECIDING.
Larry
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I have used a team final exam after the individual exam is given both in an
elective course of 30-40 students and in a required pharmacotherapy course
with 125 students. It is always one thing that the students comment on in
course evaluations how much they appreciate this final opportunity to work
together as a team - kind of the grand finale!
Cynthia
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I used team based exams in statistics. I had either 3 hour or 1 hr 15
min classes, and used them with both formats.
I'm retired now, but I wouldn't do it any other way.
I allowed about half a session for the individual exams, a break of
10-15 minutes, letting anyone leave the room when finished, most of
the rest of the session for a team exam, then a few minutes to
self-grade the team exam using an answer sheet that I handed out at
the end of the team exam.
I reserved the right to re-grade the team exam, but rarely made any changes.
One major advantage was organizational. I finished the exam completely
in one class session and students rarely had questions about it when I
returned the graded exams at the next session.
The other major advantage, completely unanticipated, was that the
students left the room knowing how they had done. The teams had
conveyed any bad news.
The whole thing worked well. I spent more time preparing the exam, but
grading was usually easier and went quite quickly. I could usually
return exams at the next class session.
My exams were rarely long, but I spent time making them more thoughtful.
I did not require any arithmetic. This made my exams better in the
long run, and quicker for students and for grading. I usually had
short written answers.
Best wishes,
David
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I took a small shot at this last year in my electric circuits class. My
midterms are worth 100 points. As a practice for one of them, I gave the
teams last year's exam and gave each member of a given team up to 20 points.
I thought it went well.
Tim
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Info I gathered from Conversations
In a phone conversation with Ruth Levine (thanks Ruth) UTMB, Wright State and Louisiana State University Health Science Center have been doing some team examinations with the National Board subject tests at end of 3rd year medical student psychiatry rotations. With the permission of the National Board they have the students sit for the individual psychiatry shelf exams then take a 30 minute break in a secure environment then retake the exam in their teams. Both scores count towards their overall course score. They have conducted research on the student perceptions and the overall value of this process (stay tuned for publication). Ruth shared with me one interesting stat – When asked something like “Is using the National Board team test in the grade appropriate?” – 70% said yes, 10% said no and 20% were neutral. Scores on team exams at UTMB hovered around 99%. UTMB weighted scores 30% team exam and 70% individual exam.
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Locally, I interviewed a faculty member that has swapped up the process with
students sitting the team examination 2 days before the Individual. She is
very careful about test security and basically nothing can be brought into
examination room. She set a slightly more difficult team exam. She carefully
marks the team exam and provides extensive feedback and marks the individual
exam in a more cursory fashion. Following the first midterm cycle she
carefully debriefs the exam and high lights teams that adopted good exam
preparation and test taking strategies. Teams that studied together, then
pulled the exam apart to work on sections as duo¹s then reconvened to
achieve consensus answer were the most successful. A personal observation of
instructor was that high cohesion teams consistently performed better.
Midterms have this team component final is individual. Marks split 25% team
and 75% individual.
Jim
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