> Whether messy, random or structured, does team formation really matter that much? Hmm?
>
I don't know of this was a serious question or tongue-in-cheek. So, just to be safe, I see strategic team formation as fundamental/critical/crucial/serious/important/essential/key.
1) You want all teams to have the resources they need to succeed.
2) You want to avoid the stereotyping (positive or negative, self- or other) that can occur when teams are allowed to form homogenously, which they will because we are attracted to people who are like us.
3) You want to avoid the coalitions that occur when teams are allowed to self-select (e.g., two friends choosing to be on the same team of five, thereby creating a "voting bloc" within that team and an insider/outsider dynamic that never allows the team to gel as a unit).
4) You want students to learn the life lesson of coming to see people very different from them as allies, team-mates, and resources.
5) You want to avoid the "leftovers" effect that occurs when self-selecting teams create a "last" team composed of people "no one else wanted."
Now, it is true that once they graduate, these students will most likely not find themselves in work teams that are so carefully balanced by the powers that be. By the same token, they're not going to be taking a lot of multiple-choice tests, either. The classroom is for learning, which requires scaffolding, tools and experiences that are necessarily unlike what folks encounter in real life.
-M
-----Original Message-----
From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Fritz
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 9:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: team transparency
On Aug 30, 2010, at 10:38 AM, Levine, Ruth wrote:
> The trouble with using methods like previous grades is that if the
> students find out you did that they will always wonder (or worse--
> find out!!) who the "smart one" and who the "dumb one" in the team
> is and that can be counterproductive to team cohesion in the long run.
I tend to agree with Ruth. After all, isn't one of the virtues of TBL
supposed to be that it prepares students for the teams they will
inevitably find themselves to be a part of? We don't always get to
choose our colleagues (or neighbors). So part of life is figuring out
how to work well in the teams we find ourselves in, whether we chose
them or not. Transparency is fine, but in the end, if team formation
vs. function has more to do with their success, then the big life
lesson of TBL may not have been learned or facilitated.
Whether messy, random or structured, does team formation really matter
that much? Hmm?
Just my .02.
John
John Fritz
Asst. VP, Instructional Technology & New Media
UMBC Div. of Information Technology
410.455.6596 | [log in to unmask] | www.umbc.edu/oit/itnm
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