I have taught 1-2 courses per year of 10-15 students in a TBL format for ~5 years now (fields of biology and museum studies) and had tremendous success.  For smaller upper-level, majors courses, I find that four students is perfect (everyone must be prepared and participate, very little room for disengagement), three is too few (just not enough perspectives and if anyone is underprepared, the other two can't carry the team) and five is too many (too easy to disengage/retreat).  I keep track of answers and reasoning from year to year so I if both teams agree on an answer with the same reasoning, I can toss out a different perspective from a previous year using wording from a student team's perspective.  That has helped me a lot when the makeup of the class is not particularly diverse or I have questions that aren't highly complex (especially useful in new classes and when I was less experienced in TBL). 

Cheers,

Heather

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Heather R. L. Lerner, Ph.D., M.S (she/her)

Joseph Moore Museum Director
Associate Professor of Biology and Museum Studies
Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College
801 National Road West
Richmond IN 47374
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Google Voice: 949-GENOMES
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://heatherlerner.com/

Meeting booking:  https://hlerner.youcanbook.me

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On Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 12:52 AM Graciela Elizalde-Utnick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Go for it! My classes typically have about 17 graduate students but in the summer I have had as low as 10 or 11. My preferred team size is 5 with 4 being the smallest size. So two teams of 5 is perfect in my world. You do the same that you typically do with the larger classes. You just have two teams and you should note that it will take less time than you are used to. But it works beautifully In my classes. I find that with more than 5 it is easier for students to participate less. 
Best,
Graciela

Graciela Elizalde-Utnick, Ph.D.

Bilingual Specialization Coordinator, School Counseling & School Psychology

Department of School Psychology, Counseling, & Leadership

1107 James Hall

School of Education

Brooklyn College – CUNY

2900 Bedford Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11210

718.951.5876

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 12, 2020, at 3:32 PM, John Gotwals <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


CAUTION: This email is from outside BC, so examine it closely before opening attachments or clicking on links

Hi everyone,

I just found out that my fall term course that usually has ~25 students, may only have ~10. Does anyone know of a resource that presents best practices for using TBL in really small courses? Or has anyone used TBL in really small courses? If so, I'd love to pick your brain for tips...

Cheers,
John

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Note: Due to the pandemic, I am currently working from home and having to balance doing so with my partner’s work and parenting. This may lead to delays in my response to email.  

John K. Gotwals, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator
School of Kinesiology
Lakehead University
955 Oliver Rd.
Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 5E1
Canada
phone: 807 346-7952; fax: 807 343-8944


Lakehead University resides on the traditional territory of the Fort William First Nation and the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi nations, collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy. I am grateful for the opportunity to base my work out of that territory. 

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