Hi-I've been using TBL in my Introduction to Epidemiology course in a
BS/MD program.  I teach in the third year.  The instructor who teaches
Introduction to Demography/Health Statistics (which introduces many of
the epidemiology and biostatistics topics applied in my course) has
decided also to use some aspects of TBL in his course next year.  He
teaches one semester before I do.  In our school, the entire cohort of
students takes all classes together.  (Thus, those in the 2nd year
class, will be the exact same students in the 3rd year class.) Also, the
material covered in the 3rd year is an in depth extension of the same
material covered in the 2nd year.

 

I am concerned about a couple of problems.  

1) I set up teams in a way that everyone sees how the team formation is
done: I have everyone line up in the class room, then ask those with
strong biostatistics skills to move to the front (<10% of the class),
and continue like this with a series of skills that I think are relevant
to understanding Epidemiology.  I then ask the students to stand next to
their best friend (hoping to break up these tight pairs that ruin group
cohesion). I have students count off, and create groups of 6-7 students.
If the students are aware of this process, they will "game" the process
and make sure that they end up in teams with their friends (these are
very young students with very close ties to their friends).  If the
instructor before me sets up groups, making this process very
transparent, I'm worried that it will negatively impact on my group
formation.  How can I avoid this, keeping the process transparent?
(Remember the relevant skills are the same in both classes...)

 

2) I have the students vote on the grading process during the first day
of class.  The final exam counts for 40% of the grade.  The other 3
components of the grade are: IRATS, GRATS (and group assignments), and
peer evaluations.  Each of those 3 must count for at least 10% of the
grade.  Voting on grades has done wonders in allowing the students to
feel a part of the development of the course and the grading process. I
have never had complaints about grades, since they were part of
establishing the process.  However, if the students have had prior
experience with TBL, this voting process will reflect their experience
of the value of groups grades (always higher than individual grades),
perhaps to an extreme.  Should I omit the process of voting for grades
in this case, as the outcome will be very clear (40% group, 10% IRAT,
and 10% peer), and force the IRATS to be worth more to force the
students to spend time on studying for IRATS?  Again, our students are
very grade-oriented, and are more concerned with getting A's than
developing good study habits at this point.

 

I would appreciate any other advice from folks who teach TBL courses
with the same class of students over a number of years. Are there things
that the year 2 instructor and I should coordinate? Are there problems
that he and I should know about ahead of time?

 

Thanks!