These responses (including the mix of mostly positive with a couple negative) sound very much like what I get/have gotten from my students every semester. It seems there are always a couple (sometimes more) that simply WANT to be lectured at and don't like that they have to 'teach themselves' so much. My impression is that the students who are most resistant are those who are actually "good students" in traditional classes and their resistance to TBL stems from the fact that they have largely figured out how to do well in traditional classes with minimal effort, to regurgitate whatever their teachers have said in lecture, but TBL forces them to actually think for themselves. I had one such student this semester who spoke to me about halfway through the semester and actually said, "I don't think it's fair that I have to take this class [it's required for majors] but you're the only one teaching it so I don't have the opportunity to take a 'normal' class. I get As in regular lecture classes and it isn't fair that my grade is going to suffer because of the way you teach." So I asked him, "But using that logic, how is it any more or less fair that a bunch of your classmates, who seem to learn better in this team environment, are forced to sit through lecture classes with other professors?" Of course he just stared at me in confusion...

I don't think it's about preparing students for the experience - I have a lot of students who say they were really skeptical at the beginning but they now understand how much more they learn with the team approach. I've also asked a lot of students what more I can do to prepare them at the beginning and they tell me they don't think there's much more I can do, that I was very clear from the first day but they had to sort of 'see it in action' before it really sunk in. I've mostly just accepted that you can't please all of the people all of the time but as long as it's only one or two in each class that don't "get it" (and the positive responses from students far, far outweigh the negative), I feel like it's still vastly better than what I used to do.

Jennifer
****************************
Jennifer Imazeki
Department of Economics
San Diego State University
homepage: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~jimazeki/
Economics for Teachers blog: http://economicsforteachers.blogspot.com



On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Sandy Cook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

What did you do about the one who really hated TBL, wanted to be lectured at, thought that was what you were being paid to do – s/he was not there to learn by him/herself!  Is that an issue of preparing students for the experience or just the fact that there will be some who just don’t get it, don’t like it, and want to be spoon fed – no matter what you do?

 

Sandy Cook, PhD,

Assoc. Prof.

Senior Associate Dean

 

W: (65) 6516 8722

 
Administrative Executive: Belinda Yeo | [log in to unmask] | 6516-8511
 
Important:  This email is confidential and may be privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify us immediately; you should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person.  Thank you.
 

 

 

From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Herbert Coleman
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Notes from the field

 

Thanks, Gail, I'm so glad you picked up on that.  Two students actually mentioned this.  I was thinking of a group share where a rep from each team forms a temporary group for research or TRAT then reports back to their permanent teams and have that rotate through each unit.  It hasn't fully gelled so that's why I'm sharing with the group.

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 12:45 PM, FEIGENBAUM, GAIL <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Nice journal assignment and prompt, Herb.  Interesting student responses as well.

 

I was thinking about one of the comments....that the student didn't know others on the other side of the room.........

 

...

 

Since students have a large lab skill component, I often assign partners that are not team members....as students will perform skills on many different patients in the clinical setting.

 

...



-- 

Herb Coleman, Ph.D
Dir. Instructional Computing and Technology

Adjunct Professor of Psychology 
Austin Community College
Highland Business Center

5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752
[log in to unmask]

512-223-7746
*************************************************

Don't Think Small


"Arthur: It would have to be a 747.
Cobb: Why is that?
Arthur: Because on a 747 the pilot is up top, and the first 
class cabin is in the nose, so no one would walk through. But you'd have
to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.

Saito: I bought the airline.....It seemed neater."

From the motion picture Inception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAm_Cp3OKik


 
*************************************************

 

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-- 

Herb Coleman, Ph.D
Dir. Instructional Computing and Technology
Adjunct Professor of Psychology 

Austin Community College
Highland Business Center

5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752
[log in to unmask]
512-223-7746

*************************************************
Don't Think Small


"Arthur: It would have to be a 747.
Cobb: Why is that?
Arthur: Because on a 747 the pilot is up top, and the first 
class cabin is in the nose, so no one would walk through. But you'd have
to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.

Saito: I bought the airline.....It seemed neater."


From the motion picture Inception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAm_Cp3OKik

*************************************************