Hi Ed These kinds of student responses are not uncommon....student as customer, expert should tell, lecture more Students don't necessarily like being pushed out of the passive role....the benefits of active learning are not immediate or automatic....the students actually might not have the confidence as learners to think they can succeed....hence the resistance....read Weimer's book Learner-Centered Teaching for more on this. Even though the literature shows that active instruction outperforms passive instruction....the literature also shows that students continue to want passive (read Haidet etal TBL article for more on this) IMPORTANT: You need to frequently and eloquently explain your rationales for using TBL and acknowledge that students may feel uncomfortable as they grow as learner When I get my rationale speech ready....I review Felder and Brent's "The Bumpy Road to Student Centered Instruction" and their follow-up article "Sermons for Grumpy Campers" and then relate that the passive transmission of information won't give them the enduring understanding and problem-solving capabilities that will make them successful in the ever-changing workplace People also having been having success with using Smith's "First Day Questions for the Learner-Centered Classroom" to set the tone in their course. All the mentioned articles are available at the TBL Website Cheers...and good luck jim -----Original Message----- From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Bell Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:55 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Student complaints on new TBL 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)