Hi

We have a process that seems to work very well. As TBL is a scheduled university assessment, we apply the university policy for missed exams.

Any session missed requires a medical certificate provided to the unit chair, or an approved absence by the unit coordinator, in order for the student to undertake a supplementary test on the content of the missed session. We have a bank of similar type and complexity of multichoice IRAT and application exercises, and the student needs to make a time to see the unit coordinator and take the test.  No supplementary assessment or marks are awarded for a test missed without a medical certificate or valid reason within 72 hours of a missed test. We have very few absences without a medical certificate (they just can’t be bothered having to come in to the uni and do a test another day, and they realise it is not as useful for their learning). We apply their individual test score as a percentage across the IRAT, GRAT and application components for that week.

One year, we tried  “you get your team score and the average of your previous IRATs” for a one missed session without a medical certificate, but it seemed messy, and wasn’t consistent with other university scheduled assessment policies. Our experience is that students (masters level critical care nurses) find the classroom experience of TBL invaluable and enjoyable and do not miss it without real reason. They develop very strong team accountability and as their professional success is dependent on their capacity to demonstrate in clinical the knowledge, skill and attributes they are practicing in the classroom, we find they have are very motivated to be at TBL sessions.

regards

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Oldland
Lecturer
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health
Deakin University, Melbourne Burwood Campus
Phone: 03 9244 6608 International: +61 3 9244 6608
Fax: 03 9244 6118 International: +61 3 9244 6118
email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.deakin.edu.au/nursing
Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code 00113B (Vic)

From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tobin, Tammy
Sent: Wednesday, 22 February 2012 6:03 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What to do when they miss...

That is very similar to what I do when the student knows they will miss a RAT in advance – The student takes the IRAT in advance and shares the team grade.  However, I also require the student to participate in the GRAT by writing notes for their team.  I pass those notes on to the team for use during the GRAT session.  That way, the team can still evaluate the student’s preparedness and, to a lesser extent, contributions for that day, and the student does not get a team grade for free.

Tammy Tobin
Susquehanna University


On 2/21/12 1:52 PM, "Paul Koles" <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Amanda:  Yours is an important question, because it involves both accountability to teammates and professional behavior.  Here's what we do:

a) students who know in advance they will miss TBL and have obtained an excused absence from student affairs office (e.g., attending a meeting where they will present a poster):  take the IRAT before they leave (full credit) and receive the grade earned by their team for GRAT and applications.   This policy assumes and expects the person taking the IRAT early will not violate honor code by sharing any portion of the IRAT with others in the class.  Students are also expected to notify their teammates in advance about why and when they will be absent.  

b) students who miss the TBL session because of an unexpected event considered to be a legitimate excuse by the office of student affairs:  take the IRAT within 2 "business days" after returning to campus.  Again, honor code and professional trust assume that the person will not seek or receive help from those who have already taken the RAT.  They receive their own grade for IRAT plus whatever their team earned on GRAT and application.   Legitimate excuses:  car broke down 5 miles from school, loved one in immediate family has a medical emergency or dies, student went to emergency room to be treated for traumatic injury or serious acute illness.   Non-legitimate excuses:  "I thought the TBL started at 3pm",  "my girlfriend is in town only for 6 hours", "I had to take my friend to the airport", "my hangnail is hurting", etc.  We have found that if someone doesn't show up for TBL, their teammates will usually call that person's cell and try to find out why they are missing.

Critical points:  
1. taking IRAT before leaving for a scheduled out-of-town event is the responsible thing to do (not after one returns).
2. all reasons for being absent are adjudicated by the office of student affairs, using uniform criteria.   Our experience is that various faculty doing TBL will have various degrees of sympathy or toughness in evaluating students' reasons for being absent; accordingly, the evaluation of excuses is better done by someone who is not running the TBL sessions and who is experienced in dealing with the full range of explanations provided by students.

Grading:  
1.  for approved absences under (a) and (b), student gets full credit for everything.
2. for non-approved absences, student gets a zero for that TBL session and does not take the IRAT  (no credit for individual or team components of the grade)

This is not gospel, just the way we try to develop professional behavior in our students.   /PK

On Feb 21, 2012, at 12:24 PM, Emke, Amanda R. wrote:

I have a question for the group. Every year, we have students miss TBL sessions because of illness or being out of town for conferences. Because there are very few mandatory experiences at our school (outside of exams, almost none), students do not, and sometimes cannot, avoid missing sessions.

How are absences handled?

Amanda

Amanda R. Emke, MD
   Instructor, Divisions of Pediatric Critical Care & Hospital Medicine
   Associate Fellowship Program Director, Pediatric Critical Care
   Course Master, Pre-Clinical Pediatrics
   St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University Physicians
   Washington University School of Medicine
One Children's Place, Northwest Tower, Campus Box 8116
St. Louis, MO 63110
(314)454-2527
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