Ed and others,
On the *student* side, this sounds like a classic case of not spending
sufficient time at the beginning of the course, orienting students to what
the teachers were going to do and why, in a way that gets student buy-in.
Whenver a teacher does something different than what students are used to,
you need to spend a substantial amount of time (1-3 hours), helping students
understand (via experiences - not explanations) what the teacher is going to
do that is different and why he/she is changing. This is as true of TBL as
anything else.
If you haven't seen it yet, there was an article in the National
Learning & Teaching Forum a few months ago that provides an excellent way to
do that. (attached).
On the *faculty* side, not so sure. It may be that someone needs to collect
data on the qualityof student learning, in a way that can compare the
quantity and quality of student learning with lecture vs. with TBL. My
expectation would be that the latter is higher. If it is, that should be
persuasive as a reason to change. If it isn't, either one needs to find out
why it isn't higher - or else go back to lecturing.
Dee
On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 3:55 PM, Ed Bell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> TBL Colleagues:
> I coordinated a new course using TBL Spring 2009. This 3-credit course
> (pharmacotherapeutics) is in the 2nd year of a 4-year professional pharmacy
> program (115 students). Three faculty taught (separate 5 week modules).
> We
> followed the TBL model very closely (ie, IRAT/GRAT, IF-AT forms, AE, peer
> evaluations). I attended the TBL conference in March. Final course grades
> overall were quite high. Student evaluations (8 pages total written
> comments) post-course were "interesting" - most evaluations were negative
> and included several themes:
> 1) students want more lecture - they want to be told what is important
> 2) students believe we as faculty - the "experts"- should be telling them
> what is important about medications that they will need to know as a future
> pharmacist - this is our "responsibility" as faculty/teachers
> 3) several students emphasized 2) above in light of our school being
> private, with high tuition reasoning for responsibility of the faculty to
> tell students "what's important"
> 4) some faculty this semester and due up next semester don't seem to fully
> accept TBL vs. still desiring to lecture
> How do we respond to these student - and faculty - concerns? I researched
> the TBL list serve archives and found similar concerns from 2005 postings,
> yet I am seeking additional recommendations and input from seasoned TBL
> faculty.
> Thank you.
> Ed Bell (Drake University College of Pharmacy)
>
--
***********************
L. Dee Fink
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**National Project Director: Teaching & Curriculum Improvement (TCI)
Project
**Senior Associate, Dee Fink & Associates Consulting Services
**Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences
**Former President of the POD Network in Higher Education (2004-2005)