Hi Justin,
Thanks for the message. You bring up valid concerns, some of which we have dealt with on our campus. Our students are responsible for booking their exams (and quizzes) through the Disabilities Resource Centre well ahead of time. Whenever
possible, the DRC schedules them to start early enough to accommodate any extra time, as well as “travel time” to get to the classroom on schedule. My responsibility as an instructor is to provide the DRC with dates/times for the in-class exams and quizzes.
The students are briefed ahead of time, and understand that they will be escorted by a DRC invigilator who makes sure they don’t use their phones or look at their books. Rarely, a student’s timetable necessitates them writing their exam much earlier, or perhaps
the previous day. In these cases, they basically sign an academic integrity contract promising not to discuss the exam or look things up. It’s basically on the honour system. If they do look up answers, it would benefit their whole team—but those stakes are
fairly low (RATs are not a large component of the grade; team portions of two-stage exams are 15% of the exam grade).
It is an imperfect system to be sure, but it works well, and I have not encountered any problems with academic misconduct.
Cheers,
Richard
From: Justin Kalef <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 5, 2024 at 12:07
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>, "Plunkett, Richard" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: First time TBL user - questions about testing accommodations
|
[CAUTION: Non-UBC Email] |
Hi, Richard. That sounds like a great solution, but how do the students at the DRC join the students in class so quickly? Our Office for Students with a Disability is very far
away from my usual classroom, and travel would take about half an hour (not to mention the fact that the students who make the trip could easily look up the answers along the way).
Best,
Justin
On Friday, January 5, 2024 at 02:19:44 PM EST, Plunkett, Richard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear Gretchen,
Congratulations on taking a TBL leap in your class.
😊
I employ TBL in large-enrolment science classes (up to 300 students) and always have a number of students who require accommodations for RATs
and the two-stage exams I use. We have a great system worked out with our Disabilities Resource Centre (DRC). Briefly, students request accommodations ahead of time, and the DRC schedules and invigilates the individual portions of the RATs/exams at the testing
facility. I provide information about what time the team portion will begin, and the students who write their individual part are scheduled such that they finish in time to be accompanied by an invigilator to join their team just in time to work together on
the team portion.
In the end, most students have opted out of using the DRC for iRATs. I believe it is because of the low stakes and low(er) pressure of RATs
compared with exams.
For students who miss a RAT with an excuse, I generally exclude that RAT from their grade. And in a recent biochemistry class I taught (with
just four TBL modules), as an experiment I did not grade RATs at all!
I look forward to hearing how others help with accommodations, and I hope this is helpful!
Best regards,
Richard
--
Richard M. Plunkett Ph.D. (He,
Him, His)
Associate Professor of Teaching
Program Advisor – Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Medical & Molecular Biology)
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science | Biology Department
The University of British Columbia | Okanagan Campus | Syilx Okanagan Nation Territory
1177 Research Road | Kelowna BC | V1V 1V7 Canada
Phone 250 807 9650
[log in to unmask]
From:
Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Gretchen Sneegas <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Gretchen Sneegas <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 5, 2024 at 09:59
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: First time TBL user - questions about testing accommodations
Hello all,
I will be using TBL in one of my classes for the first time this quarter. The class is an in-person 200 level environmental geography class.
There will be four modules with a RAT at the start of each; students will also take the final using the same format (individually first, then in teams).
I have several students with testing accommodations - e.g. extra time, low-distraction environment, etc. Are there any recommendations for
how to best accommodate the RAT process for such students?
Additionally, I have some students who have reached out to me that will be absent on some of the days when in-class RATs will happen. What
recommendations are there for how to make up RATs if a student has to miss one of those days due to sickness or something else outside of their control?
Thank you for your help, and I am so excited to try this process out for the first time!
Very best,
Gretchen
--
Gretchen Sneegas, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Assistant Teaching Professor
Geography Department
University of Washington
Email:
[log in to unmask]
Recent Publications:
Sneegas, G., L. Seghezzo, C. Brannstrom, W. Jepson, and G. Eckstein. 2022. "Do not put all your eggs in one basket: social perspectives on
desalination and water recycling in Israel." Water Policy 24(11): 1772-1795.
LINK
Brannstrom, C., W. Jepson, S. Beckner, G. Sneegas, and L. Seghezzo. 2022. "Not a silver bullet: social perspectives on desalination and water
reuse in Texas." Urban Water Journal 19(10): 1025-1037.
LINK
Sneegas, G. 2022. "Producing (extra) ordinary death on the farm: unruly encounters and contaminated calves."
Social & Cultural Geography 23(1): 63-82.
LINK
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