Hello!

 

I did a TBL 101 session yesterday. This was a typical learn-by-doing session.  Participants were to complete an assigned reading ahead of time and view the 12-minute TBL video.  The participants completed a RAP process in class.  Great discussions and interest.

 

Participants taught mostly “professional courses”  – Teacher Education and EMS professionals.  There were also several who taught general courses—sociology, biology, & public speaking.  These folks were under the impression that they had a situation where TBL wouldn’t work.  Basically, they felt that most of their students did not want to be in class. They didn’t believe that there would be buy in by their students.

 

So their major concerns:

Ø  There is a lot of attrition during the first week of classes.  So they didn’t see how “teaming” could work on the first day of their courses.

Ø  Buy in and interest of their students.

 

My first thoughts were that the “first day”  activities would matter quite a bit….lots on rationale, sample syllabus iRAT, gRAT, etc.  Also, seemed like they would really have to focus in on creating dynamite application activities, with interesting “significant”  problems.  Perhaps some contact with students ahead of time (email “welcome”  messages) would help.

 

Do you have any other suggestions for these folks?

 

I teach nursing assistant courses and have been using TBL for a number of years.  Retention in my courses is excellent….and the students “market” these sessions to others, so “word of mouth”  plays a big part, I think.

 

Thanks for any ideas!

 

Gail

 

Gail Feigenbaum, RN, PhD

Nursing Assistant Instructor

School of Health, Wellness, & Public Safety

Central New Mexico Community College