Members of the Team-Based Learning Listserv:

We have two exciting announcements to make about team-based learning (TBL)
and we are sending them first to you who have signed up to the TBL listserv.
    * Book: Praeger has now published the book on TBL that Larry
Michaelsen, Arletta Knight, and I have been working on for the last 3
years. Title: Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups (in
college teaching).
    * Website: We have added videostreaming to the TBL website, showing
material from Larry Michaelsen's class where he uses team-based learning.
We have edited 4-6 minute sections on 11 different topics related to TBL.
In each of these, Larry talks for a minute or so about that topic, and then
we show how that topic operates in a real class. URL:
www.teambasedlearning.org; click on the "Video Demonstration" button.
A couple of comments about the book.
    * Content: The first part of the book has four chapters about
team-based learning (TBL); the second part has 10 chapters by teachers who
have used it very successfully in a variety of contexts (=the "Voices of
Experience"). The final chapter, by Arletta, summarizes the lessons that we
can learn from the experiences of these ten teachers, about the value of
and about different ways of using TBL.
    * Value: Our hope is that the book will be a major resource for anyone
thinking about using TBL. It has the best available comments on what TBL
is, what teachers need to do to make it operate effectively, descriptions
of teachers using it in multiple contexts (different subject matter, with
different kinds of students, large classes, in international situations,
with online learning, etc.), and appendices that contain a variety of
useful materials.
    *  Cost: The publisher, Praeger, made a decision which we didn't learn
about until very late in the process, to print and market only a hardcover,
reference book for libraries (or perhaps faculty development centers). For
this reason, it is priced at a rate for that category of books: $68 a copy.
We are in the process right now of negotiating a release of the paperback
rights to another publisher, where it can be published at price that
individuals can afford ($25). But that won't happen for several months.
    * Our suggestion: Get a copy in your library or in your faculty
development center now; wait for the paperback before encouraging
individual faculty to get their own copy.
Forward to Interested Colleagues: Feel free to forward this email and
information to any colleauges you think might be interested.

If you have questions or reactions about any of this, please send them to
us via the team learning listserv: [log in to unmask] That way,
everyone can hear the question and the answer.

Enjoy!

Dee Fink


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
L. Dee Fink, Director                   Phone: 405-325-2323
Instructional Development Program       Email:  [log in to unmask]
Hester Hall, Room 203           FAX:    405-325-7402
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK  73019                       IDP Website: www.ou.edu/idp
Dee Fink's Website:  www.ou.edu/idp/dfink.htm