In general, I try to create a situation that is similar to what students will experience in the workplace. Thus, I say something like:
In the workplace, when someone is gone, the group has to pick up the slack but the absent member still benefits from the group work. If the absent person has a good reason for being gone, explains the reason to the group,and does their best to make amends, most groups will gladly extend the benefit. If, however, members have doubts about the reason for the absence, feel like the member is trying to “freeload” or both, then the absence is likely to be a black mark that may not be forgotten when the peer evaluations come around. So, if you have to be absent, let your peers know in advance and make sure that you do your best to make up for it. Otherwise, you are at risk.
Then, if they do need to miss a RAT or some other graded activity, I give them the team score and also allow them the opportunity to take the individual test using one of two options. One is to take the test early so that I can let their team have access to their individual answers during the team test. The other option is to take the test later. Some professors are uncomfortable with the idea of giving make-up tests. They worry that allowing some students to take a late exam will give them an unfair advantage over other students but see the task of creating comparable but different exams as extremely time-consuming. It turns out that neither of these problems are as big as they seem.
In my case, I do not create an alternative exam. If a students misses a RAT when it is given in class (and few do), I leave a copy of the regular exam with the departmental secretary. Then, any student who needs to take a make-up RAT contacts her to make arrangements to take the exam in a nearby room. In the many years I have done this, the vast majority of students taking such make-up exams get scores that are lower than their average on the RATs they take at the normal time. This means I can simply use the same exam for the make-up exam, and doing so does not give students any significant, unfair advantage.
If allowing make-up RATs turns out to be too much of a problem, another option is to set up the grading system that allows students to drop one individual RAT score. When students calculate their overall score for the individual RATs, for example, they would only count the best 5 out of 6. If they have no absences, they get to drop their lowest score. If they have one absence, they simply have a “0″ for that score and drop it. If they have more than one absence, they get to drop one of those but they have to calculate the other “0′s” into the total. The advantage of this approach is that it reduces the hassles associated with giving make-up exams. The disadvantage, and one that I personally feel is important, is that it tends to eliminate the opportunity to reward students who are willing to put in the effort to be prepared on every test.
1. Student must inform faculty and team of absence.
2. Student can make up IRAT (at time and place set by faculty – can be before or after). Student will get team scores.
3. Or – in some cases (when we have many of them) we permit student to drop lowest TBL session from calculations.
Part of this depends on how many TBL sessions you have, what percent of the grade, what is most important – learning and scores, and finally how the team feels – as Peer evaluation can play a role in how the team feels about missing their team-mate.
Sandy
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From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Lowry
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 3:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TBL and course policies
I am implementing TBL in an undergraduate course this winter semester, and I had some questions for the group about some policy issues.
I have at least 1 university athlete in the class, who will miss a class here and there due to traveling. Given that it is university-sponsored travel, I don't have a problem with this. How have you structured a class to accommodate absences? What are some other course policy issues that you have experienced? Responses are appreciated
JohnJohn Lowry, MS, ATC, CSCS
Instructor of Kinesiology
Saginaw Valley State University