Nick,
I backed into TBL. I was giving open notes quizzes during the first class period of each week over a single chapter before I learned about TBL and I've never encountered any problems. In fact, it seems to help get students into a normal routine for preparing for class each week. I post discussion and review questions online and base my readiness assessments on the responses to those questions. The process encourages the students to think about the readings, apply concepts, and take good notes.
I've shied away from combining chapters into modules because I'm concerned that students wouldn't prepare as well because there is more material to cover. In addition, I find that 10 multiple choice questions per chapter is perfect for covering the most important concepts and can be covered with a 30 minute mini lecture. I dedicate 10 minutes at the beginning of class for the iRAT and approximately 10 minutes for the tRAT. All three activities fit nicely into a 50 minute class period.
Cheers, Tom
On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 11:56 PM, Dianne York
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello Nick,
For A&P, I break each semester into 6 units of material, therefore I administer
6 RATs. Each unit covers about 2 chapters in the text. My RATs have 15
questions. Hope this helps.
Dianne York, MS, MT(ASCP)
Biology
Lincoln University, PA
[log in to unmask]
On Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:16:36 -0400, Nick Roster <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I have implemented TBL in my 2-semester Anatomy & Physiology class. I
love
>it. However, I was wondering if anyone else has done the same. The issue I
>am running into is that my iRATS and gRATS are only over a chapter at a
>time. I can't seem to think outside the text on this one. Is it unwise to
>have so many (about 13) RATs a semester. I am using them to introduce the
>chapter material, then we launch into cases from there. Any thoughts?
>
>Thanks
>
>Nick
>
>--
>--
>You can fill your head with a million facts and still be entirely
>uneducated.
>--
>*Dr Nicholas O Roster*
>Science Department, Chair
>Northwestern Michigan College
>1701 E Front St
>Traverse City, MI 49686
>
>231-995-1278
>