We've have about 8 years experience with this, 1600+ students.  In
our year one curriculum, a student must achieve a 70% or better on a
course's exams in order for the TBL component to be added in.  This prevents
any 'slipping through.'  In the second year, we do not do this, but we've looked
at the 'inflation factor' and it's about 1.5% overall.  This is an important 'contextual'
question - so far, we're happy doing the way we are doing it.  Dean
Dean Parmelee, M.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Boonshoft School of Medicine
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio
www.med.wright.edu/aa/parmelee.html 


On May 21, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Edward Bell wrote:

TBL Users:
We (Drake U. Pharmacy) began using TBL last year in one of our major courses (Therapeutics, a 3-semester course, 110 students) - this year is our 2nd year.  Grades this Spring semester were quite high - 91% average (85 A final course grades).  This spring semester included 4 exams (70% of course grade), 9 IRATs (10% of course grade), 9 GRATs (15% of course grade), and 2 peer evaluations (5% of course grade).  Many students received an A or B that actually had exam and IRAT averages each less than the final grade (ie, exam and IRAT av. 75% but B grade or even 77% each av. and A final grade) - the high GRAT and peer evals pushed up final averages, perhaps too much.  My questions: how much should group work/peer evals factor into final grades, and have others had a similar experience (ie, where individual, group, and final course grades do not seem to correlate)?
Many Thanks
Ed Bell
--
Edward A. Bell, PharmD, BCPS
Professor of Clinical Sciences
Drake University College of Pharmacy
Des Moines, IA
515-271-1841