I agree with what others have said about creating effective teams - that much of it lies in the structure of the course and the kinds of assignments teams engage in. (I'm still working on this) Given where you are in the course and what you describe, Lisa, my suggestion would be to talk individually with members of the team - the one who is giving all low scores, and the one who is perceived as not being prepared. Asking them to "tell me about your perceptions of the team and how well it is working" can guide you to understand the issues more completely. I've found that individual conversations reveal far more than what is seen in class - and I am almost always wrong when I predict what students are thinking or experiencing. Using TBL with graduate students, I have been struck by how hard it is for students to address conflict constructively, especially when they are under stress with deadlines, papers and exams. Many of them seem to need guidance and suggestions for words to use - as others on this list have noted. I have been surprised to hear students asking me to spend part of a class teaching about effective team dynamics - and noting that if I had suggested that at the beginning of the semester, they would have been hugely dismayed that we were discussing the real course material. As a recognition about how hard this is, I am painfully aware that with some of my colleagues I too have a hard time naming issues that arise and proactively and effectively addressing the conflict. Given the complexity of humans, I suspect I will be working on this for the rest of my life. Sophie Sophie Sophie M. Sparrow Professor of Law Franklin Pierce Law Center 2 White Street Concord, NH 03301 603.228.1541 x. 1205 [log in to unmask] >>> "Levine, Ruth" <[log in to unmask]> 10/22/2009 10:05 PM >>> This sounds like quite a challenge-I am eager to hear how others will respond. I have a few questions 1) How often does the team evaluate each other? 2) How much does the evaluation count in the grading scheme? 3) Does the team ever get an opportunity to sit together and process their small group interactions? 4) Do they have formative evaluations before their graded evaluations? 5) Do the students believe that their evaluations are sufficiently ‘anonymous’ that they can safely behave the way the outlier is behaving and not suffer repercussions—do you want to maintain that feeling of safety? I am really looking forward to seeing what the experience of others is in cases such as this. Ruth From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lisa Hager Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:38 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: problem with peer review I am new to using TBL and I have a problem I need some help with. I have one team that has an individual who is assigning very low numbers to 4 out of 5 of the team members he/she is evaluating. One member of the team has not participated during the last two classes b/c he was rated as not being open to others' ideas and got a qualatitative comment that he is too vocal and doesn't give others a chance. This student was also rated as not being prepared. I know that the student is prepared and that he is vocal but I know that he does work well with the team. The rater has also rated 3 other members of the team with low scores. Do I step in and talk to the one student? Do I let the students work it out? Do I advise the student in how to approach his team about the problem? I initially decided to let it work itself out but then the one student came to ask my advice and to tell me his is uncomfortable with participating in his group now. They are ready to evalute each other for the 3rd time and are half way through the semester. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Lisa Lisa D. Hager, Ph.D., Chair Social Sciences Division Department of Psychology Spring Hill College 4000 Dauphin St. Mobile, AL 36608 (251) 380-3055