You might find this paper helpful. It addresses reading rates/amounts and retention by medical students. I share this with faculty in my courses to explain why I recommend limiting assigned readings to about 10 textbook pages per hour of class.

"How much reading is too much reading for medical students? Assigned reading and reading rates at one medical school." Edward Klatt and Carolyn Klatt. Academic Medicine, Vol 86, No 9, pp 1079-1083. September 2011

Regards,

Chris

---

From: Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Dee Fink <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2018 2:35:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Contact Hours in TBL

 

Hello All,

I would like to add to what Jim said.  

    

When I use TBL, I "estimate" the amount of time that it will take students to (a) do the reading assignment(ss) for the RAT and (b) do any other individual, out-of-class assignment.  

     The trick is in realistically estimating how long it will take a student (as opposed to a professor) to complete the reading assignment, etc.  Usually, I estimate that it will take them either 1.5 times or twice as long as it would me.

But then one still has the question of how much time is it appropriate to ask students to spend on out-of-class assignments each week?  For me, I use the 2:1 ratio, meaning it is acceptable for me to make assignments that will require "up to" 2 hours of out-of-class work for each hour of in-class time.  For a 3 hr/week course, that means it is "within bounds" for me to assign up to 6 hrs of work each week.

     This was often more than students were spending in most of their other courses.  But I talked about this, mentioning that this course was "packed full of valuable learning activities", and that if students did the homework, they would also probably learn more in this course than in their other courses.  

     

One useful exercise I did years ago, to check on my estimate of how long my assignments were taking students to complete, was this.  I would make my best guess each week, but then, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the week into the course, I would ask the students to let me know - individually and anonymously, approximately (to the nearest hour) how much time they were spending out-of-class for this course?

     I did this to find out if my estimates were halfway accurate.  But the exercise had another benefit.  

     There was of course a range of times spent.  So I would tally up the range and share a diagram of the range of times with the whole class.  I would mark on the graph where the 6-hour mark was.  So long as 2/3's of the class was spending that or less time each week, I said I was OK.  

     But what this also allowed was for those students who were spending a lot more time or a lot less time than the others, to see that.  Those spending 10-20 hrs/week, they were prompted to ask themselves:  "Why is it taking me so long to do this?  Am I unnecessarily obsessing over details?"  And conversely, those who were spending, say, 1-3 hours per week, to ask themselves whether they might need to spend more time on this course, especially if their grades in the course were low.

I also asked them how they felt about how much they were learning in this course compared to their other courses, and this course usually came up looking quite favorable - thanks in great part to the impact of TBL.

My Best,  Dee

On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 4:12 PM Jim Sibley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi

Just to add....we don't reduce contact hours...we expect/design for 1.5 to 2 hours of outside work for each contact hour...this is probably unrealistic....but it is what we use

jim

Educational Consultant specializing in Team-Based Learning

Read my TBL book Getting Started with Team–Based Learning

Visit my TBL website at www.learntbl.ca

_______________________________________

Jim Sibley and Amanda Bradley
106-2575 West 4th Ave.

Vancouver, BC

Canada

h 604-564-1043
w 604-822-9241

On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 9:11 AM Sibley, James Edward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi

 

The readiness assurance process is the basic tool for in-class activity preparation…we need to be careful if we stray from this model

 

When later in a module you want student to further prepare for in-class you would need to make student accountable for that preparation….what you don’t want are some students preparing and others not….team work will suffer if we keep defaulting to most prepared team member

 

Some people have used a set of simple reading questions students need to answer before class…Harry Meeuwsen calls these “tickets to class”…he checks them at the door…no ticket….no class admittance

 

Don’t forget outside class time can be spent on more traditional individual homework assignments……or doing some kind of summary extension assignment that extends and consolidates in class work

 

We don’t cover everything…but students are responsible for learning everything….it is fair to remind them that summative exams will cover ALL this material (list) ….and TBL activities will help you learn it…but you are responsible for any gaps in your knowledge

 

 

Hope that help

 

jim

 

 

Jim Sibley 

 

Director 

[log in to unmask]" style="width:5.427in;height:1.2708in">

http://cis.apsc.ubc.ca/

Faculty of Applied Science 

University of British Columbia | xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Territory)

 

 

CEME 1214-6250 Applied Science Lane 

Vancouver, BC Canada 

V6T 1Z4 

Phone 604.822.9241 

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

 

Check out my book Getting Started with Team–Based Learning

Check out my TBL website at www.learntbl.ca

 

 

© Copyright 2018, 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: Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of "Rogers-Johnson, Michelle" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "Rogers-Johnson, Michelle" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, October 19, 2018 at 10:18 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Contact Hours in TBL

 

I’m interested in learning about how instructors design the course to allow students sufficient time outside of class to prepare for in-class TBL activities. Do you reduce contact hours? If so, how much time do you allocate for preparation outside of class? Do you have any resources I could refer to that explicitly address this?

 

Thanks,

 

Michelle

 

 

Michelle Rogers-Johnson, Ph.D.

Assessment Specialist

Center for Teaching and Learning

515-271-1662

 

DMU.edu | Facebook | Twitter

 

“The information in this e-mail may be privileged and confidential, intended only for the use of the addressee(s) above. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of this information is prohibited. If you have received this email by mistake, please delete it and immediately contact the sender.”

 

 

---

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.

---

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.

---

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.

--

***********************

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

---

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.

---

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.