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Hi all,

I am a very enthusiastic newcomer to TBL.  In the spring, I will be teaching for the 5th time a general education class on ethical reasoning where group work is emphasized.  I will have approximately 20 students, the majority freshmen with a handful of sophomores.

Students tend to really like the class, but there are always struggles with the group work aspect. I'm hopeful that a TBL approach will help.  A couple issues I'd like some feedback on:


1.       The slacker student.  I always have one or two students who just have other priorities (and often very short-term judgment skills:  For example, students who are pledging to a fraternity and everything else takes a backs seat.) I have  a strict attendance policy and my groups create contracts that allow them to 'fire' non-contributing members.  But no matter how bad it gets (and sometimes it gets quite bad), I've never had students been able to follow through with the contract.  I think that's mostly because they're freshmen and know each other well, but also because who likes conflict?  I'm hopeful that the TBL approach will create more peer pressure and keep the teams functioning better, but I suspect I'll have a couple that just don't get with the program.  What do you do about students like this?

2.       The course is required to have a group researched argument, which they then present orally.  This is a long-term project, taking multiple weeks.  All the TBL readings I've done have emphasized working in teams during class time, and application exercises with the 4 S's.  Has anyone built up to a bigger project?

I've gathered tons of ideas from this listserv's archives and Michaelsen's books; I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Best,
Candice

Candice Benjes-Small, MLIS
Head, Information Literacy and Outreach
McConnell Library, Radford University
540.831.6801
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