MAILING LISTS

I haven't had much experience in a TBL setting yet. But I taught a mildly autistic student electronics engineering in a project/ problem based setting for three semesters . Two things seemed to work in my class.

1)      Careful selection of teams and familiarity: It was essential that at least one or two team-mates  were able to "read" his reactions to questions and continually invite him to contribute to the discussions.  It helped that the team knew his particular strengths and did seek his input on certain things.

2)      Direct task oriented questions: Socratic questioning or open ended  did not work so well for me. What worked were questions that got him to work towards a tangible outcome. Questions like "How much current would you need to drive this part of the circuit? " or "Can you think of a way to move as many wires as possible to one side of your circuit board".
This worked quite well in project/problem based learning because of the "divide and conquer" approach teams sometimes had to adopt to respond to the problem. Not sure if it would work for a TBL session.
Cheers
Preman
Preman RAJALINGAM | Medical Education, Research, and Evaluation | Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School | 8 College Road, Singapore 169857 | Tel: (65) 66011565 | Fax: (65) 62272698 | [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Web: www.duke-nus.edu.sg<http://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/>


From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathryn McKnight
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 10:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TBL & Aspergers, anyone?

Has anyone had successful experiences with an Aspergers student in a TBL setting? I currently have an advanced UG in my class who has Aspergers, and it appears to me that it is difficult for him to participate in group communication. He is a bright student with a B+ average, but avoids eye contact unless directly spoken to, and has not said a word in class that I'm aware of, except when I have directly spoken to him. The campus disabilities resource center is working with me, and I am going to find out whether the student is willing to share the information with team-mates, which I think would be extremely helpful. I have the information that in other classes he has thrived with instructors using a Socratic method (I'm guessing that means direct and open-ended questions to him). But, if anyone has experience, I would welcome suggestions.

Thanks,
Kathy





Kathryn J. McKnight
Associate Professor of Spanish
Associate Director for Academic Programs
Latin American & Iberian Institute
MSC 02 1690
801 Yale Blvd NE
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001