Hello, TBL’ers,
The upcoming Vancouver Island TBL Institute is almost full, but here’s a reminder for the remaining few seats, in case you are aware of faculty members looking for a TBL “boot-camp” experience. This event is designed to lead participants
through a complete course re-design and prepare them for a first-time implementation of TBL in January 2017.
A summary of the TBL Institute can be seen in the blurb below, used to recruit local faculty members. Additional guest-specific details of the agenda can be found on the
application/registration page.
Let me know if you have questions.
Bill
Bill Roberson, PhD
Vancouver Island University
Vancouver Island TBL Institute
Inclusive Classrooms by Design: Ensuring that Group Work
Really Works
Wednesday, December 7 and Friday, December 9, 2016
The broad diversity of students within institutions of higher learning makes it critical that our classrooms become not only inclusive, but proactively so. Having community is, for many students, the catalyst for
academic engagement. But the existence of generally inclusive environments may not always be enough to ensure success.
How do we leverage a positive social dynamic for deeper student learning?
A growing number of our colleagues at VIU have found an answer to this question through the use of a teaching and learning strategy called Team-Based Learning.
Team-based learning, in this case, is not simply the use of groups or even permanent student teams. It’s a comprehensive design strategy (developed by organizational behaviour specialist Larry Michaelsen) for turning
our classrooms into close-knit communities of highly motivated learners.
Here is what faculty members using this method are saying:
The team learning strategy is increasingly popular internationally, and has worked effectively in both large and small classes, both theoretical and applied courses, in science, math, philosophy, literature, history,
health and nursing, business, technology and trades. It can be adapted to nearly any teaching situation. It is particularly effective in bringing energy to courses that are extremely heavy in dry content.
VIU’s Team-Based Learning Institute
will be facilitated by
Bill Roberson and
Tine Reimers
of VIU and UBC’s
Jim Sibley. The program takes you through the complete design process for transforming a course using the
Michaelsen-Knight-Fink Team-Based Learning Model. This offering is primarily for faculty members who will
implement a Team-Based course beginning in January 2017. For a brief introduction to what this entails, please read this
overview.
For more information on registration, please proceed to our
Application-Registration page and provide us with a bit of information about your plans.
Please address questions to Bill Roberson ([log in to unmask]).