> From: Paul Koles <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: July 2, 2012 5:23:34 PM EDT
> To: "Geiss, Roger" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Forming Teams in second year preclinical classes in Medical School
> 
> Roger:     Among year 2 medical students, my opinion is that no criteria are needed to balance academic achievement, since everyone in the class has made it into med school and through year 1, demonstrating competence above minimum acceptable level.  When teams consist of 5-6 MS2s assigned by a randomization method, it's VERY unlikely that any single team will be handicapped or overly endowed with learning capacity.   The only sorting criterion we use in second year is gender;  we don't allow the random sort to produce all-male or all-female teams; if that does occur, we move a few students before the first TBL assignment to insure that every team has at least one male and one female.  
> 
> You will find the attached article on "collective intelligence" relevant, I hope.  /Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 2, 2012, at 12:18 PM, Geiss, Roger wrote:
> 
>> We are embarking on using TBL in a number of our second-year preclinical courses, and I am interested in knowing the criteria used by others to form teams in such classes. Some criteria are fairly straightforward, while others are not. In particular, how does anyone “get at” previous academic achievement without embarrassing low-achieving students. I suppose one could “preselect” using their transcripts, but that would compromise transparency.
>>  
>> In addition to using (or not using) academic achievement, what other criteria do any of you use? Thanks much.
>>  
>> Roger
>>  
>> Roger W. Geiss, M.D.
>> Professor and Chair
>> Department of Pathology
>> University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
>> 1 Illini Drive, Box 1649
>> Peoria, IL 61656-1649
>> Phone: 309-671-8440
>> Fax: 309-671-8434
>> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>>  
>