Hi,

I have been using TBL for about 3 years with considerable success in Political Science courses, so am fairly experienced.  I use the IFAT forms in multiple-choice RATs, and use individual, team and peer assessment.

Does anyone know what to do with the few minutes in between the IRAT and TRAT, when people are waiting for team members to complete the individual RAT?  Or when different teams complete the TRAT at different speeds, some just wing through it and other teams have to ponder longer.

I have up to now told the class that I do not rigidly time the IRATs or the TRATs, but give reminders to be aware of others and to try to complete in a timely manner, but there are always the same students who tend to take longer.

I have also handed out reading materials in preparation for future classes, or given them worksheets.  In the case of teams, they have ongoing projects to work on together.

The noise level tends to increase for the whole class during this 'dead time' and laptops tend to be opened, making it even harder for those who take longer to finish.

I am reluctant to rigidly time these as I want to avoid the time pressure constraints, but any ideas would be welcome.



Rosalind Warner

Okanagan College

Department of Political Science
1000 KLO Road
Kelowna, BC
V1Y 4X8