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!