I wholeheartedly agree with the previous comments from Dee and Max. Here at the University of South Alabama, TBL is the focus of our five-year Quality Enhancement Plan (a required component of our accreditation process). We began with a pilot group in 2012 and officially launched in 2013. Our implementation has been successful because of top-down support and bottom-up efforts. TBL is supported and valued by administrative leaders, who have made provisions for personnel, faculty development opportunities, and supplies. Also, our administrative leaders have actively conveyed the message that TBL is an important aspect of achieving our educational mission by attending workshops and recognition events. Faculty participating in the project have the opportunity to earn certificates and awards reflecting their accomplishments. Through ongoing communication with administrative leaders, from department chairs to the president, we've created an overall culture that values TBL course design and  implementation by our faculty. While it is important to cultivate support and value of TBL among administrators, I would be careful with a heavy-handed top-down approach. Faculty using TBL who do not believe in TBL or do not want to use TBL will likely be detrimental to the overall success and perception of TBL on your campus. It is important to invest the time and energy necessary to gain buy-in. 

From a bottom-up perspective, an early adopter model has been utilized to spread interest in TBL organically among our faculty. A number of outstanding faculty champions have shared their success with others in their units and supported colleagues as they implement TBL. Their enthusiasm is contagious! Faculty who are considering TBL have examples of success, often just down the hall. We have a fairly large cohort of faculty using TBL, and they gain great insight from interacting with one another. We are currently launching TeamUSA Faculty Learning Communities to further expand that type of collegial support and encouragement. Starting with a small cohort of very interested and dedicated faculty will likely lead to others giving TBL a try.

Judi, all the best to you as you encourage the use of TBL at your university!


Julie M. Estis, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Director of Quality Enhancement Plan
Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology
P: (251) 380-2731
F: (251) 460-6192
—
University of South Alabama
ILC 113
310 Alumni Circle
Mobile, AL 36688-0002




On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Winter, Liz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Max,

 

This sounds like a rigorous process. Would you be willing to share your facilitation checklist, please?

 

Liz Winter, Ph.D., LSW

Academic Coordinator and Clinical Assistant Professor

Child Welfare Education for Leadership Program

School of Social Work

University of Pittsburgh

 

2327 Cathedral of Learning

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone: 412-648-2371

Fax:     412-624-1159

 

 

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From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]LT.UBC.CA] On Behalf Of Anderson, Max Carl
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 10:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]A
Subject: Re: Question about "selling" TBL

 

Hi, all,

 

I also want to give a shout out to instructional designers. I am the (only) instructional designer at the UI College of Medicine in Chicago. I work closely with our faculty to help them to improve their facilitation skills, content creation, etc. As has been stated, many faculty members were not trained in the art of teaching, so there is a responsibility to help them to be the best they can be as educators. We do a pretty extensive course and faculty review process – I review every single piece of educational content that is created for every lecture in the first two years of the four-year medical program. I use best-practices and evidence/research-based criteria to give my feedback, and then I read the evaluations written by students to see if I hit the mark.

 

With TBL, I attend every TBL, and record the timings and distribution of answers for every portion, and again, use a checklist to gauge the facilitation. I meet with the facilitators before and after the TBL (when possible) to discuss best practices and follow it up with a review, so we can determine what needs to be modified for the next time it’s delivered.

 

Max Anderson, MLIS, MS

UI College of Medicine

 

From: Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]CA> on behalf of Dee Fink <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Dee Fink <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, September 16, 2016 at 09:25
To: "[log in to unmask]CA" <[log in to unmask]CA>
Subject: Re: Question about "selling" TBL

 

Judith,

 

This is an important question:  How do you get faculty interested in learning the powerful new ideas about college-level teaching that are "out there"?  

     We don't have a tradition in higher education of learning about teaching but we badly need it.

 

My response to your question:  We need both a bottom-up and a top-down approach.  

    Bottom-up:  This is where you or a faculty developer or some advocate of good teaching can work to build enthusiasm for learning about teaching.  I have found that the best "argument" for learning and using new ideas is to link them to the general problems that many professors face in their teaching: problem with attendance, low engagement, and poor levels of student learning as evidenced in test or project performance.  If these advocates can say:  "Hey, you might want to take a look at these ideas and practices.  A lot of teachers have found they increase class attendance, etc."

 

Top-down:  At the same time, we need to encourage college & university administrators (chairs, deans, provosts) that, if they want a top-notch educational program, it is absolutely necessary to find ways to encourage a high percentage of all teachers to learn about and use these new ideas about Best Practice in college teaching.

    They can do this via annual evaluations and course evaluations.  These usually focus on the Holy Trinity of higher education: teaching, research, and service.  What they need to do is add a component there on professional development, especially in relation to teaching.  

    The justification for this is that all professors need to work on getting better, all the time, i.e., every year throughout their career, even the good teachers.  We can all get better, and if that is possible, we need to be doing it.  And that means two things:  Learning about teaching and changing our teaching.  It is hard to get better without doing both of these tasks.

 

My Best,  Dee Fink

 

On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 4:53 PM, Bradetich, Judith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I have appreciated the quick, supportive responses that I got to my query about Business schools – THANK YOU! to all who responded. I now have another question.

I have been officially asked to work as a “Faculty Fellow” to get more faculty interested in TBL across my campus, so I will be presenting some workshops this fall and hope to infect a cohort of multi-disciplinary people with the TBL virus/passion.  One of the women I work with suggested that perhaps we are going about it the wrong way – from the ground up – and wondered how other universities have essentially coerced their faculty to use it. Not that we would do THAT, but it’s still an interesting tactic – from the top down.

So my question is, how does this happen? What evidence is presented in these instances that convinces administrators to insist on implementation of TBL across their campuses? Is there one specific “tipping point”? – or many? I know there is research evidence that corroborate our story, but what else?? – what is the nitty-gritty selling point that seems to grab people?

I am really curious. I have a feeling there will be as many different responses as there are respondents. Perhaps a pattern will appear. If that is the case, I will be happy to share my findings. Perhaps a packet of persuasive PR-type documents can be gathered and disseminated through this ListServe and the Collaborative. If there already are such documents, please point me in the right direction! TBL is at the forefront of future educational practices. Ultimately, I would love to see TBL’s influence will grow exponentially, and if I can be part of the process, I would be pleased.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Judi Bradetich

 

 

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--

***********************
L. Dee Fink         
234 Foreman Ave.
Norman, OK  73069
Phone/FAX:  405-364-6464
Email:  [log in to unmask]
Websites:      
        www.designlearning.org   [multiple resources on course design]
        www.deefinkandassociates.com   [offer workshops & online courses]
        www.finkconsulting.info  [Fink's consulting activities & publications]

**Former President of the POD Network in Higher Education (2004-2005)
**Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences (2013, Updated Ed.,  Jossey-Bass)

**Senior Associate, Dee Fink & Associates Consulting Services

 

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