Bill and Karla, I am only a little farther along in this process. I have been using Team Learning for a year (3rd semester of use) and like anything else, you will get better at it. I also got these same comments from students my first time "forcing" them to learn "on their own". I now know that they are going to be concerned about this and the other things you commented on. I address them directly. The entire first day of class and then at least once a week thereafter. I (and colleagues) have designed skill exercises that help students identify their goals for the class and how the choices they make in and out of class effect their goals. I ask them to discuss their definition of a successful group and verbalize how they will attain success. Later in the semester we will work on group leadership. This sounds like it takes the place of "content" in the course but it actually makes the content more accessible by helping them realize that working together is a skill that will be important long after they leave our classroom. The time it has taken for teams to form from groups has gone from about 6 weeks the first time I used TL to about 2 weeks. Just my 2 cents. Scott Dee Fink wrote: > Bill & others, > > I would like to respond to Bill's specific situation, because it has > so many of the common challenges of team-based learning. > > The Assignment: I looked at the material on the website. Excellent > materials, and enough to lay the foundation for some real critical > thinking. > However, using short-answer essay responses (even though you > have them write these out on the board simultaneously) is probably > part of the reason the students are not responding better. Too many > questions at once, too many moving parts. > Instead, I would suggest modifying these in the following way: > > * Have the students read the material before class, and tell them > to read with certain issues in mind (but don't state your > questions directly). > * Then, when they come to class, have them address each of the > questions separately, one at a time. > * But, convert several of the questions into multiple-choice, > decision-based questions. For example: Which of the following > species concepts was used in this case? (and then give them a > choice of X, Y, or Z) > * If they are committed to one specific answer and other groups > disagree, this will usually generate some discussion between > groups. They want to be able to justify their answer (before > you have indicated what you think is the correct answer). > * After working through most of the questions this way, then you > can give them one of the more complex questions, e.g., Propose a > biologically reasonable scenario for the evolution of apple > maggot flies. This is sort of like a "culminating problem" > where they start to put the pieces of a bigger problem together. > * For this latter kind of question, have each group talk about the > question and then sketch out their answer on a piece of > flip-chart paper. Then have them post these on the wall, > simultaneously. Have all the groups review each other's > posters. After they have had time to do this, have each group > put a BLUE post-it note on the one they think is best (other > than their own) (like a blue-ribbon, "1st Prize") and a YELLOW > post-it note on the one they have the biggest question about. > This stimulates some valuable critical analysis. > * For the debrief of this portion, have the groups (a) indicate > why they liked the ones they did and (b) respond to questions > about their own poster. => lots of good sharing of thinking, > with lots of data in front of them. > > Student Reactions: > I too have often had students make the comments you report. I have to > remind myself that, for the students, this is a new and different ways > of learning. Students are not usually challenged to learn on their > own (they should be, in my view, but they aren't). > That level of change is almost always going to generate some > initial discomfort. The challenge for us as teachers is then to help > them through that phase until they have time to adjust and find out > the value of this way of learning. > My reaction: Talk these out with the whole class. You can be > sure that if some students voice these concerns, several other > students have them as well. So I want a chance to share my thinking > with the whole class on these concerns. > Some possible responses: > > * "We are forced to learn on our own." > o Yes and no. Yes, you have to do the initial learning on > your own - just like you will have to do in life after > college. But then look at what happens: You get lots of > help from the other members of your team and eventually > from the other teams, in figuring out what the correct > answers are. This doesn't always happen in life; enjoy it > and take advantage of it while you can. > * "When are you going to lecture? I don't learn anything from the > others on my team." > o When I (the teacher) lecture, I am only telling you what > you can learn on your own by reading. But when we work on > problems - in class, in teams, you learn what the > information means and what you can do with it - something > that cannot happen well in a lecture. > o As for learning from others in their teams, you (the > teacher) may need to give them a little time (a few weeks) > and then ask them to compare the scores of the teams with > their own individual scores. if you are doing it right, > the teams will outscore the best individuals, not > necessarily on a given test, but over the course of > multiple tests. This says they are learning from others. > o Note: If the teams are NOT outscoring the best > individuals, the teacher probably needs to make the test > questions and the team problems more challenging. > * "I don't know what to study for the test." > o Again, after college we will all be confronted with the > need to learn on our own - without the benefit of study > guides. I will try to help you with study guides. But > one of the hallmarks of a well-educated college student is > that they have learned how to figure out what they need to > learn. Let's get started with that process now. > > So, to answer your basic questions: yes, there are some things you > can do differently to help the discussion phase of this process, but > this is a widespread difficulty of early users. On the other hand, > the initial responses of your students are also very common. Help > them think through what is happening and ask them to give the process > a little time, and then see what they think about it. > > Dee Fink > > > At 02:13 PM 2/9/2004, William Bromer wrote: > >> Hi everyone, >> Like Karla, I also just started team based learning this semester and I >> seem to have a similar problem with teams not willing to defend their >> answers. For example, last week they completed a case study on >> speciation of maggot flies >> (http://www.sciencecases.org/maggot_fly/maggot_fly.asp) and each of >> the 6 teams wrote their short answers (without explanations) on the >> board at the same time. It seemed to me that if 4 of the teams came to >> the same answer then the other 2 teams felt they must be wrong. I even >> tried to indicate that I thought the minority answers were better but >> the teams seemed content and felt they had finished. I am wondering if >> this part of the team builiding process and it might just take some >> time. However, I still feel I could have done something differently. >> >> Some of my students are also making comments that may be common, but >> they do make me feel a little bit uneasy about the team-based learning. >> A few have said things like: >> I don't like that we are forced to learn this all on our own. >> When are you going to lecture, I don't learn anything from the others >> in my team. >> I don't have any notes and I don't know what to study for the test ( >> even after I explained that their notes during team discussions were >> their notes for the class and they will have open book tests) >> >> Are these common or are they warning signs that I am not doing >> something right??? >> >> Bill Bromer > > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > 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 > <http://www.ou.edu/idp> > > President-Elect of the POD Network [Professional and Organizational > Development] in Higher Education > Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences (Jossey-Bass, 2003) > Dee Fink's Website: www.ou.edu/idp/dfink.htm > <http://www.ou.edu/idp/dfink.htm> -- Scott D. Zimmerman, Ph.D. Department of Biology University of Wisconsin-Stout 410 10th Ave. Menomonie, WI 54751 Ph: 715.232.1448 Fax: 715.232.2192 [log in to unmask]