Dear Sonia and others struggling to get students prepared to take TBL exams.

 

I could not agree more with Lane Brunner, the MCQ exams are not the limiting factor here- it’s the proper implementation of the session and the questions themselves.  There should be an introduction to the IRAT/GRAT and application process and an explanation of the expectations (e.g. group and self-directed learning) at the start of the semester- before class starts, there should certainly be well written course/class objectives, and faculty/teachers should pay special attention to how they write their questions/what they are asking/and how they are asking them.  If these are done correctly, some students will still find the exam questions troubling and difficult (that is OK), but they will rise to the challenge- they will work harder with their teams, prepare harder before coming to class, and evolve to perform better.   

 

After so many years of performing TBL as an instructor, it amazes me how students constantly rise to the challenge as long as we stick to the principles mentioned above.  One further point that has not been mentioned is something that I personally find essential for good TBL session- namely facilitation.  Creating great TBL MCQ questions is not a perfect science- students will always struggle with various issues- having someone in the front of the classroom who can manage the follow up discussions and engage students in that discussion (e.g. get students to answer other students questions) is very important.  There is a publication on that very issue in Medical Teacher (facilitation in TBL) that speaks to this. 

 

Those of you brave enough to use TBL for the first time- you have already started doing your students a great service.  Keep it up!

 

 

 

Hello Sonia, et al,

 

There should be no difference between how students prepare for TBL tests (i.e. iRATs/tRATs) than for "normal" tests or quizzes. Students just need the appropriate starting point. From my experience, the "difference" is how the instructors prepare the readiness material and write the RATs.

 

Instructors need to provide carefully crafted, clear and concise learning objectives for the students reflecting what the students should be able to do before they engage in the application exercises. In addition, the readiness material needs to be customized to the topic (as opposed to just "read the chapter in the book").

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RAT questions are difficult to write as the RATs are about readiness not content mastery. It's easy for instructors to forget and fall back into the habit of accessing content mastery which defeats the purpose of readiness. In other words, if an instructor wants the students to master the content before class ... why hold class?

 

With respect to preparing students for TBL (not just TBL tests), it is of significant value to work with them at the start as the students are generally not as accustomed to "learning" in advance of class. Most of the students are acclimated to Death by PowerPoint in a lecture hall which requires no thinking in advance.

 

Lane

 

 

 

 

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