Thank you for your feedback. I'm happy to provoke some lively discussion!

Just a little more food for thought. 

One of my main goals here is to see if TBL, and the things I do in the classroom translate into transferable skills in the real world. I am looking to see whether TBL (and the things I do in the classroom) provides them with the skills they'll need to succeed in the workplace. The research on teams in business (I/O) and cognitive psychology suggests that effective team skills in work settings consists of skills such as the ability to be a leader, to monitor team process and performance, plan and coordinate tasks, to communicate, to solve interpersonal problems and so on. 

My students and I developed scenarios based on overlapping domains of three team effectiveness theories and we asked ourselves what kind of situations might highlight use of those kind of skills. I have been teaching TBL since 2008, and my students have taken my classes and have taken classes with "group learning." Together, we developed a large number of items, and because there were so many, we divided them up so that each person taking the survey  would only be exposed to about 20 items (people are busy). Once we have a rank of which responses are "best" given faculty and student feedback we'll make sure that experts responses are different from non-experts responses. That is, I was hoping to receive your expert opinion regarding the "best responses" and as if you were in the situation. This is phase one. Phase two will require big samples and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Phase three will involve predictive validity studies. Sometime next year, we hope to have a manageable (not long), validated measure of team skills at the undergraduate level. This assessment could be used in a pre-test/post-test fashion, or to measure program outcomes.

While it is certainly true that TBL classrooms do not involve all the situations in my scenarios (I would never assign a paper to a group and I don't assign work that could be completed in a summative fashion). However, these are (hopefully) situations/scenarios that tap into the "skills" that employers find helpful. In other words, these are skills that researchers have found help create effective team work and I am attempting to measure them.

I think (and hope to find evidence to back up) that TBL helps students gain skills that are transferable to the marketplace. How we measure these skills may require scenarios that do not fit how the TBL classroom operates. Again, this is phase one of development and so some of the scenarios will be dropped or will turn out to be not good measures of the skills. I appreciate your time and hope to develop a measure that will be useful to the community.

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 7:06 PM, M Alexander Jurkat <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
As a counterpoint, I found the survey an excellent exploration of group dynamics and individual team member decision making. The various responses struck me as plausible and directly within my own (relatively rich) group leader/facilitator/member experiences. I particularly enjoyed thinking through the rankings as several questions had more than one pretty-good-choice response and nearly all of them had approximately equal bad-choice responses (in my view). 

I am eager to see the results of the survey. I also see the survey questions as an excellent means to explore and learn about group dynamics. If permissible, I look forward to devising an "issues in group learning dynamics" lesson/discussion based around the questions.

I do agree, however, that many of the questions presented group-work problems that would not arise in well designed TBL activities or projects. Many of the problems posited occur as a result of individual projects (such as writing) inappropriately assigned as a group project. Groups are for decision-making among specific defined choices or brainstorming. All other work should be assigned individually as a take-away after a group meeting or an action item before the next group meeting.

My two cents,
Alex Jurkat
INF 202 Team Lead
Informatics Department
University at Albany

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 7:09 PM, Sandy Cook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Actually Jamie,  I agree with Jim, it is hard for TBLers to respond to these questions because many of the situations just don’t typically happen, so some of the options – in a forced ranking are just not ones that I can or would want to choose  - I might want to say none of them or give another option.  Further, since it looks as though it is meant to be answered by the student/learner, I’m not sure how you want us to respond – as if we were a student in a (any) team – to tell you what we “think” they might do; or as our selves – as to what we would “hope” our students might do – or what we might do if we were in that situation (of a team – but not specifically TBL)?  And how would you know the difference in the responses?

 

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Medical Education, Research, and Evaluation (MERE) Department|

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Assistant Manager: Belinda Yeo | [log in to unmask] | 6516-8511
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From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jamie Hughes
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2014 2:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Teamwork Skill Assessment: Looking for Research Volunteers

 

Hi Jim,

 

I apologize. Perhaps I should have made it clear that this assessment is designed to measure teamwork skills in general regardless of instructional strategy. The hope is that TBL students might outperform those who have not been exposed to TBL or who have been exposed to group work. Although the questions are general, those with TBL experience should be able weigh in on best strategies regardless of instructional situation. The items are derived from several team theories regarding the components involved in effective teams.

 

I appreciate your help!

 

Best regards,

 

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 11:55 AM, Sibley, James Edward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi

 

I started the survey but it is about cooperative learning and group projects….not team-based learning

 

So I won’t have experience to contribute

 

jim

--

Jim Sibley 


Director 
Centre for Instructional Support 


Faculty of Applied Science 
University of British Columbia 
2205-6250 Applied Science Lane 
Vancouver, BC Canada 
V6T 1Z4 
Phone 604.822.9241 
Email: [log in to unmask]

 

 

Check out my new book Getting Started with Team-Based Learning available at Stylus Publishing

 

Check out TBL at www.learntbl.ca

 


© Copyright 2014, Jim Sibley, All rights reserved The information contained in this e-mail message and any attachments (collectively "message") is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the recipient (or recipients) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this message in error and that any review, use, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, and delete the message.

 

From: Jamie Hughes <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Jamie Hughes <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 7:22 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Teamwork Skill Assessment: Looking for Research Volunteers

 

Dear TBLers,

 

This summer I sent a query regarding a teamwork skill assessment that could be used to measure teamwork skills at the undergraduate level. I did not find the type of assessment I was hoping to use and so I decided to develop one. The scale is a situational judgment test in that scenarios are presented along with several possible responses. To obtain a measure of which responses are the best responses, I am asking for help from the academic community. Specifically, I am looking for teamwork experts to help in validating the scale. An expert is anyone who conducts research on teams or who has experience working in collaborative teams.


If you are willing and able to help I would greatly appreciate it. The survey will require approximately 20 - 30 minutes of your time, and if you participate you can be entered into a drawing to win $75 at Amazon.com. 

To participate please click here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J7BJVK5

If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at [log in to unmask] 

Thank you for your time and for considering this research. 

 

--

Jamie Hughes
Assistant Professor, Psychology

University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Mesa Bldg Rm 3122

Fall '14 office hours: Tues & Thurs. 3:30 - 5:30, Wed 1:00 - 2:00, & by appointment

 



 

--

Jamie Hughes
Assistant Professor, Psychology

University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Mesa Bldg Rm 3122

Fall '14 office hours: Tues & Thurs. 3:30 - 5:30, Wed 1:00 - 2:00, & by appointment

 



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.




--
Jamie Hughes
Assistant Professor, Psychology
University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Mesa Bldg Rm 3122
Phone: 432-552-3345; [log in to unmask]
Fall '14 office hours: Tues & Thurs. 3:30 - 5:30, Wed 1:00 - 2:00, & by appointment