Hello All,

Are there any modifications to TBL for introductory (i.e.
freshman/sophomore) undergraduate courses that you recommend?

In searching the archives, I found a few:

   - Giving non-RAT tests (e.g. Midterms and Final) is recommended to help
   beginning students "know what they don't know"
   - More substative RAT reading guides, instructional videos, etc. may help
   students not used to college-level reading material
   - Making sure the professor shares knowledge "above and beyond" the
   readings after the RAP (e.g. latest research, great AE's, etc.)

I am asking because I am trying out TBL for the first time in my intro.
"Economics 101" classes.  The students just took a midterm with questions I
used before, without TBL.  On most of my midterm questions, students did
slightly worse that students in pervious terms.  Considering how much time I
put into adopting TBL this is disheartening.

It's my belief that TBL could do more to motivate out-of-class studying and
preparation, a need I feel that is correlated to how well a student is
prepared for college-level work, a problem for beginning students more than
for upperclassmen/graduate students.  As far as evidence goes, my iRAT
scores averages are around 50% (tRAT scores using IF-ATs are around 83%).

I am planning to try TBL again in the Spring.  Greatful for any input.
Below I am including more information about my situation.

Best,

Eddy Chi

Further background:

   - I read the 2004 book on
TBL<http://www.amazon.com/Team-Based-Learning-Transformative-College-Teaching/dp/157922086X>
and
   decided to adopt all the major recommendations except for one that I am
   aware of: I mistakenly overlooked the recommendation to assign final grades
   based on "break points" in the distribution of students' overall scores (p.
   220).
   - I teach at a community college in California for a low-income and
   low-educational attainment population.
   - My students are more diverse in their backgrounds and abilities than at
   a typical 4-year college.
   - There is high attrition.  About 40% drop.
   - I am new to TBL and relatively new to teaching.  This is my third year
   teaching, second year at this college.  Before TBL, I had lectured and used
   a lot of cooperative group activities during my classes.
   - The classes I teach are taken primarily by students looking to fulfill
   a genderal-education area requirement for them to transfer to a 4-year
   college.  They can take classes with less of the math and abstraction of
   Economics instead of mine (e.g. History, Sociology, etc.) to fulfill the
   transfer requirement.  Only some of my students need the class for a
   particular major.
   - There are other non-teaching-strategy related factors at play, such as
   whether these "101" courses should be offered or instead courses with
   content more suitable for my students, i.e. an Economics "001" class which
   is really more of a "general ed."/elective type course than my "101"
   classes.

-- 
Eddy Chi, MA
Assistant Professor, Economics
Humanities and Social Sciences Department
Moreno Valley College, Riverside Community College District
16130 Lasselle Street
Moreno Valley, CA 92551, USA
Phone: 951-571-6100
Fax: 951-571-6185