I’m with Tricia. This can be a huge undertaking for an individual faculty member. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Just don’t get discouraged if you aren't able to immediately produce the same results as a team of professors, grad students and technical experts working together on a course that will be delivered across multiple sections simultaneously. I have been working on my undergraduate Business Ethics course by myself for three years. When I started I had the luxury of being "sort of” retired and was able to devote an effort that was completely disproportionate to my compensation. My first IRATs weren’t very good. They are getting better. My team exercises are improving. I have a long way to go. In our first class we watch Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, "Changing Education Paradigms". It resonates with many students or at least arouses their curiosity. We agree we will try something different. I am upfront with my students that the course is a work in progress. I tell them they have both an opportunity and a responsibility to contribute to making the class better for themselves and future students, for example, I sometimes have them help create questions for the next week’s IRAT. I have no evidence to prove my students are learning more than they used to. However, they are present, awake and actively engaged in their learning. I have never enjoyed teaching more. -Tom Tom Brown Academic Director Graduate Diploma in Business Administration Segal Graduate School Beedie School of Business Simon Fraser University [log in to unmask] > On Jan 8, 2015, at 8:54 AM, Bertram Gallant, Tricia <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > I concur. This is my fifth time using TBL and I still haven’t been able to design the “perfect” application activity. I’ve designed some good ones, but they stray away from the concept of holding up cards or voting simultaneously. There is still simultaneously discussion, but not in the sense as talked about in the TBL literature. In particular, I found that voting did not stimulate active/robust class discussion, so I’ve changed most of it to interaction between teams as the simultaneous reporting. > > I think, in part, it depends on the topic/concepts being learned, but I also think it is just something you have to find your own way through by trial and error. I must be doing better each term because my teaching evaluations increase every quarter, likely as my material gets clearer, the activities get honed, and I get more confident in what I’m doing. > > If you are like me, you are all alone on your campus – the only one using TBL. So, it’s challenging to get support. This listserv is great but I wish I could attend theTBL conference to interact with others using TBL. It’s not possible at this time (i.e., I wouldn’t be supported by my university to go), but maybe in the future! > > ~ Tricia > Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D. > Director, Academic Integrity Office > Lecturer, Rady School of Management > University of California, San Diego > 301 University Center > 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0069 > 858-822-2163 > http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu <http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu/> > > UC San Diego is a proud institutional member of the International Center for Academic Integrity <http://www.academicintegrity.org/> > > From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dan Acland > Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 8:18 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Activities for Economics > > I don't have suggestions, but have a comment I'd like to share with the whole list, because no one told me, and others might benefit from hearing this. Designing genuinely good team assignments is *seriously* hard. Way harder than anything I found on the TBL website would lead you to believe. I say this only because under-appreciating this lead to a rather shocking first outing for me. Caveat Doctor. > > Dan Acland. > > On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 12:56 PM, James Latham <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: > I will be using TBL for the first time in my microeconomics course this Spring. Designing activities that are effective with this approach is my biggest concern. I would love any advice on TBL activities specifically for Econ. I would greatly appreciate any activities that have worked great & any info on what NOT to use. > > If you have any suggestions please reply to me directly and not the list serve. Thank you, > > Michael Latham > > > > James "Michael" Latham, Ph.D. > Professor of Economics > Business & Computer Systems > Collin College - Spring Creek Campus > SCC J228 > 972.578.5514 <tel:972.578.5514> > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>