Teaching team-based learning in large classrooms. TLThd Faculty Focus

Do you teach in a large, fixed-seating classroom and think you can’t do group work successfully? Well think again!

Team-based Learning, or TBL, is a teaching strategy that is an “evidence based collaborative learning … strategy designed around units of instruction, known as “modules,” that are taught in a three-step cycle: preparation, in-class readiness assurance testing, and application-focused exercise.” (1) It shares many of the same structures you see in a flipped classroom, problem-based learning, and active learning but the process is what sets it apart from these other strategies.

The Process:

Pre-class preparation designed to give the students the appropriate background and understanding of the concept
In-class readiness assurance testing as an individual and then in their group. This ensures that the student not only did the pre-class prep but understands it as well. Competing the assessment as a group allows an additional opportunity for misunderstandings and knowledge gaps to be rectified prior to the group exercise
In-class application focused exercise is designed to apply and extend the knowledge from the pre-class prep material. It’s normally case or problem-based and the team must arrive at consensus on the best solution. This then leads to a class discussion to explore the topic between groups.

While this strategy works in many different disciplines, it’s perfect for science, exercise science and public health classes. The problem is these are usually some of our largest classes and faculty worry that they can’t successfully conduct this type of team work in a large, fixed seating classroom. The folks at the Faculty Innovation Center at The University of Texas at Austin would disagree. Watch this video on how they have been successful using TBL in large classrooms

Team-Based Learning from Faculty Innovation Center on Vimeo.

Want to know more about TBL? Visit the resources below.

1 Team-based Learning Collaborative: http://www.teambasedlearning.org/definition/

2 Team-based learning in large enrollment classes by Jonathan D. Kibble, Christine Bellew, Abdo Asmar, and Lisa Barkley 03 OCT 2016 https://physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00095.2016

Assessment, Collaboration, Mobile

Digital scavenger hunts for building class community

March 14, 2019January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

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Scavenger hunts are a great way to get your students working together for a common goal. This is a wonderful way for them to bond as a class or to gel as a group project team. These types of hunts can be used for assessment as well but I want to focus mainly on team and community building.

For interaction, successful group work, and/or great discussion to occur in your class there needs to be trust. Students need to trust the instructor but more importantly, they need to trust their classmates. This trust is what allows the students to speak their minds, voice their opinions, or contradict an instructor or a classmate. Without this all you get is superficiality.

While building trust within a classroom is another topic in and of itself, the first step to establishing this type of environment is to get the students familiar with one another and to have them experience working as a team. A scavenger hunt is a fun way to do this.

Check out Goose Chase scavenger hunt creator. First, a special shout out to Melissa Negreiros from Philip Simmons Elementary who introduced me to this application. It’s a free (mostly) digital scavenger hunt application and here are the details:

Free
- Regular account allows for 3 groups in a hunt and one hunt at a time.
- Educator account allows for 5 groups in a hunt and one hunt at a time.
- Educator paid is <$50/yr.
Online
Built-in list of possible activities from which to choose
Can create your own activities customized to your students, organization, or content
Can set a duration for the hunt
Can easily invite students with a class code, no accounts required
Can password protect it

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Uses:

Group community building
Class community building
Icebreakers
Content assessment
Field trip engagement
Brain break
Learn about campus resources

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Collaboration, Productivity

Guest Blog Post | ORGA: The On-Campus Resource that Makes Grant Applications and Grant Management Easier!

January 16, 2019January 31, 2023 Chris Meshanko

This post was written and submitted by the Office of Research and Grants Administration. If your office or department would like us to share updates, information, and/or resources with faculty, as part of our new holistic development focus, please contact Chris Meshanko.

We all know that applying for grants can be a real pain. We often hear that few people actually enjoy applying for grants, because they perceive that grant applications take up a lot of the time that they could spend on their projects. But, applying for grants is also an important way to get the resources you need to conduct projects. And, there are plenty of grants out there, not only for research projects, but for many other types of projects—such as curriculum development, community outreach and public service, instruction-related projects, equipment, and planning.

The Office of Research and Grants Administration (ORGA), at the College of Charleston, can help you with several steps in your grant application. ORGA assists in finding grants that are specific to your interests and offers support for preparation of your grant application, such as composing a budget and budget justification. Our staff also works to makes sure that the grant application is submitted on time.

Once a grant is awarded, ORGA staff, together with Grants Accountant staff in the Controller’s Office, help manage the grant. In general, ORGA acts as liaison with funding agencies, coordinating everything from the timely submission of financial and technical reports to applying for no-cost extensions and potential supplements. In addition, our office also handles research protections and compliance. Through education and the implementation of federal, state, local, and College of Charleston policies and procedures, ORGA promotes the responsible conduct of research.

So, if you are working on a project, developing a new curriculum, conducting research, or if you have an idea in mind and do not know where to start, come to our office and talk to us about it. We will help you find answers to your questions, and refer you to other faculty or staff who work on projects related to your interests. We are happy to meet with you and to discuss strategies for grant applications.

We also offer a variety of workshops for faculty and students on campus. In the past, we have successfully provided faculty workshops on grant proposal writing and student workshops on research protections and compliance, budgeting, and grant proposal writing. Please feel free to contact us regarding requests for grantsmanship workshops, as well as for other support.

Collaboration, discussion, Video

#OneNewThing: FlipGrid – lots of new features and totally FREE!

January 7, 2019January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.101″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” border_width_all=”1px” border_color_all=”#c60027″ custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|4px||10px” padding_left_1=”10px” box_shadow_style=”preset4″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ padding_left=”10px” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.101″]FlipGrid is a video discussion platform that allows the professor or teacher to create a topic and the students to respond to that topic via video. It can be used to:

hold online discussions,
practice languages or public speaking,
hold online debates,
create class community,
student introductions,
student reflection,
elevator pitches, and so much more.

You are just limited by your imagination! It’s a wonderful way for students to verbalize their learning and share.

If you’ve tried FlipGrid in the past then now’s the time to try it again. They have partnered with Microsoft so all the Premium features are now available for FREE!
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CHECK OUT THE COOL FEATURES OF FLIPGRID

The Recorder/Camera – allows the user to switch between horizontal and vertical while recording on a phone or tablet.
Works on a computer, phone, or tablet.
Can trim the beginning and/or end of a video recording. Can also append to your recording.
Can add “Vibes” which are tags that you put on top of the video.
Can add an attachment (external link) to your video. The teacher can use this to make a lesson in their initial prompt to give the students resources to inform their response.
GridPals – Link with other classrooms across the country or the world. Great for cultural and language learning.
Emoji support in Topics and Grids. This can help with blending images and text and for voting or giving a feeling about the grid.
Replies – when a student leaves a reply, other students can now reply back, making the grid a “threaded” video discussion.
Collaborative storytelling where Student 1 starts the story, then Student 2 adds a piece of the story via a reply, and it keeps going with all the students.

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Team-based Learning: a quick guide to understanding

Assessment, Best Practices, Collaboration, Innovative Instruction, Pedagogy

Team-Based Learning Quick Guide

November 19, 2018January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

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What is Team-Based Learning?

“Team-Based Learning is an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy designed around units of instruction, known as “modules,” that are taught in a three-step cycle: preparation, in-class readiness assurance testing, and application-focused exercise. A class typically includes one module.” 1

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Why incorporate Team-based Learning?

TBL covers all types of learning:

rote and concept learning tested by the individual assurance testing (iRAT)
collaborative learning when discussing and coming to consensus on the team readiness assurance test (gRAT/tRAT)
application and creative learning during the team case portion

In addition, it also encourages additional skills necessary to succeed in work/life today, such as:

problem-solving
teamwork
consensus
cooperation
leadership
listening skills
collaboration

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When should you incorporate Team-based Learning?

TBL is most successful when used on a consistent basis throughout the semester. This is because the critical component to TBL is the ongoing, consistent team! CIEL at Vancouver University states, “Groups are collections of individuals. Teams are groups who have developed a shared purpose and sense of collective responsibility. Groups evolve into teams when an instructor creates the proper conditions for effective collaboration.” 2 In order for these teams to gel and be successful they need to meet and work together on a regular basis otherwise, it’s just in class group work.

TBL can be used in any discipline so don’t shy away from the idea because you don’t immediately see how this will work for you. A little web research will show you many case studies and problems that you can use to teach your concepts. When choosing a case or problem remember, the teamwork is most effective “when used with assignments where students are asked to converge their diverse thinking in making a single, collective decision, much like a deliberative body.”2

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Creating the Teams

The teams are the most important part of TBL. Here are a few rules to follow when making the groups:

never use student-selected teams
create diverse teams (balanced intellectual and personality resources)
make the selection process transparent
5-7 students per team
decide what criteria are important to the groups in your class, as well as detrimental. Ex. had previous courses in the program.
prioritize your criteria (good and bad)
call out the first criteria and allow the students to self-determine if they meet the criteria or not

Learn more about creating your teams at Team Formation for TBL.

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The Process

Taught in modules (usually one per class) in three-step cycles: preparation, in-class readiness assurance testing, and application focused exercise.

Student Preparation:
- must be done before the class – watching, reading, completing a worksheet, etc.
- some give a reading/watching guide of things to look for and vocab to know.
In-class Readiness Assessment Test (RAT):

Step 1: Students complete an individual RAT (5-20 questions) and submit it (this is not on the if-at) a.k.a. iRAT
These questions are based on the reading(s) and shouldn’t be an easy yes/no answer. They are multiple choice but should require some thought and application.

Step 2: Students get into their teams and take the same RAT together (uses if-at) a.k.a. tRAT or gRAT
All answers must be agreed upon by the entire team so if there is a discrepancy, the students have to try to convince the other students on the team until they come to a consensus. This is the same test they took earlier as an individual.

Team reads the question and discusses it.
They then scratch off the answer they agree upon on the If-At scratch-off.
If it is correct they see a star and get full points.
If it is incorrect they have to discuss again and give it another go.
They continue to scratch answers until they receive the correct one. Their points decrease every time they incorrectly scratch.

Step 3: Teams are given the opportunity to appeal answers they got incorrect. This is a formal process in writing where they state their Argument then provide Evidence with page numbers from the readings that back their argument.

Step 4: Professor conducts a clarifying lecture of what the students didn’t grasp, based on the RAT scores.

Application Exercise:
- students are given a problem or challenge and they must come to a team consensus to choose the “best” solution. These problems do not have one right answer.
- the teams discuss their findings and solution with the class.

The application-based exercises are very case-based and should include the following:

Significant: demonstrates a concepts usefulness.
Specific choice: based on course concepts. Ex which procedure is BEST to use and why.
Same problem: all teams receive the same problem.
Simultaneous report to the class in a discussion.

Scaffolding

Instructors can give a worksheet to the teams that teach them to think through a problem by walking them through the process, how to dissect a statement and make an argument.

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Student to Student feedback at midterm and final

This feedback is critical to the success of a long-term team so these evaluations are an important part of the process. The feedback should be positive and constructive. Here are some ideas for questions:

One thing they appreciate about this team member
One thing they request of this team member
Distribute points among the members
- Look at Preparation, Contribution, Gatekeeping, Flexibility
Also, include what they appreciate/request about the instructor

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Sample Case Repositories

COFC ONLY – Does this seem at all interesting? If so, contact me and I’ll give you the IF-AT scratch-off cards to use in your class. They include instructions and a test-maker! This offer is first come, first serve so don’t wait! Email benignim@cofc.edu using your CofC email to let me know you want them.

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Resources:

Team-Based Learning Collaborative

Team-Based Learning Video

Yale Center for Teaching and Learning: Team-based Learning

What is Team-Based Learning? from the Center for Innovation and Excellence in Learning

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Best Practices, Collaboration, Pedagogy, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #11: The Benefits of Peer Teaching

February 9, 2017January 31, 2023 Jessica Smith

When we ask students to work in groups or turn to their neighbor to discuss course content, many of us wonder whether this kind of collaboration is worthwhile. Students aren’t experts, so could they be teaching each other incorrect information? Or perhaps what they discuss is superficial or watered down? Not to mention the drama and interpersonal conflict that can arise when students try to work together. Is peer teaching really worth it?

Despite these concerns, and many others, a significant amount of empirical research indicates that there are numerous benefits of peer teaching. For example, a recent study published in Teaching in Higher Education, found that working with peers has a positive influence on students’ psychological wellbeing, including autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth. The research of Eric Mazur, who popularized peer instruction in the sciences, demonstrates learning gains frequently double and sometimes triple when peer instruction is integrated into class time.

Beyond the research, we must also recognize that peer teaching happens informally all around us. Maryellen Weimer argues that students instinctually learn from one another. When they have a question about course content, they often turn to their peers before their instructor. Students are often intimidated by professors and don’t want to appear “stupid,” so they approach their classmates first. I can’t tell you how many times I overhear students in the hallways turn to a classmate and say “I have no idea what Dr. so-and-so wants for this assignment. Do you?” Students are constantly learning from one another, so why not use our classes to cultivate stronger collaboration and communication skills?

Here are a few simple peer teaching strategies to try:

Microteaching: Students choose or are assigned class periods during which they are responsible for teaching the entire class. They act as the professor for the day and are charged with developing a lecture, crafting activities, and facilitating discussion.

Think-Pair-Share: The professor poses a complex, challenging, or controversial question and asks students to think about their responses alone. To encourage deeper thinking, students should write down their thoughts. Then, ask the students to turn to a neighbor and compare answers. The students are tasked with reaching a consensus or formulating arguments to support their views. Finally, students report back to the rest of the class.

Peer Instruction using an Audience Response System: Students are assigned a reading or video lecture prior to class and then quizzed on the more difficult or complex topics using an Audience Response System, such as Poll Everywhere, to submit their answers. Students then form small groups, discuss the quiz question, come to a consensus, and re-submit a group answer. Instructors can then instantaneously see where clarification is needed based on incorrect answers provided by both individuals and groups.

Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique: This is the low-tech version of the above strategy. Students are presented with multiple-choice questions that they discuss with group members. Then, using cards that are similar to scratch-off lottery tickets, students choose their answer by removing the foil covering options A, B, C, or D. If their choice reveals a star, they know they’ve answered correctly. If they don’t see a star, they must problem-solve with their classmates and endeavor to determine the correct answer. If you are interested in this technique, TLT can provide IF-AT cards to try with your students.

The Jigsaw Technique: In this strategy, the instructor first divides a topic, problem, or assignment into parts. Next, students are split into “home teams” with one member assigned to each topic. Working individually, each student learns about his or her topic. For example, if the content is divided into parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, group one would contain four students and one student would work on part 1, one student on part 2, and so on. Next, groups are reformed into “expert teams” so that everyone in the group worked on the same topic (e.g. all the ones become a group, all the twos, and so on). These students share their findings and collaborate to discuss, verify, and synthesize all the information gathered. Finally, the home teams reconvene and listen to presentations from each member. These final presentations provide students with a better understanding of their own material, as well as the findings that have emerged from other groups.

These are just a handful of popular peer teaching strategies that do not require a significant amount of labor on the part of the instructor. Consider giving one a try. But remember, it’s important to recognize the benefits of peer teaching do not result from simply putting students together in groups. Group work that promotes learning and other positive outcomes is carefully designed, implemented, and assessed.

This post is part of a series which presents low risk, high reward teaching ideas, inspired by James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.

Reference: Hanson, J. M., T.L. Trolian, M.B Paulsen, and E.T. Pascarella. 2016. Evaluating the influence of peer learning on psychological well-being. Teaching in Higher Education 21 (2): 191–206.

Assessment, Best Practices, Collaboration, Distance Ed, Events, Innovative Instruction, Pedagogy, Teaching Advice

DE 2.0 Workshop: Humanizing Your Online Course

December 20, 2016January 31, 2023 Amy Ostrom

“I miss getting to really know my students. It’s just not the same.”

“There’s no way of knowing who is on the other side of the screen.”

Sound familiar? If so then you aren’t alone.

Not only do some instructors feel this way about online learning, but students do as well. Often they feel isolated, disconnected, and insignificant. These feelings of seclusion can often lead to decreased motivation, attention, and engagement. As part of the online learning process, it is vital to intentionally design elements to make sure that that the human connection isn’t lost in the online learning process.

What is Humanizing?

Humanizing your course involves considering the teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence of all participants in order to build community and enhance communication. The ultimate goal of this process is to make online education as personal and individualized as possible while building relationships between your students, the content, and yourself.

About the DE 2.0 Workshop

This 3-week long, self-paced session will take you through some strategies that you can use in your online class to make you and your students feel more connected. While this course is held fully online, it does contain three optional synchronous sessions with experts in humanizing online education from around the world!

Workshop Goals

Discover the elements of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence as it applies to the online learning environment, particularly in the areas of facilitation, learning domains, and course design.
Research assessment and engagement strategies, community building/maintaining platforms, and technology tools for increasing the humanized element.
Discuss elements of humanized learning with other faculty teaching online at College of Charleston.
Ask questions, exchange ideas, and meet other CofC faculty teaching distance education courses.
Create engaging content and online activities that foster the elements of teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence.

Learning Outcomes

Explore instructional theories that lead to a more humanized online class.
Identify areas of your course that can be made learner centered and/or interactive.
Revise and/or create course interactions, including social learning experiences, content delivery methods, and assessment of student learning.

Register now on TLT’s DE Readiness Blog!

Applications are open until January 31, 2017!

Collaboration, discussion, instructional technology, iPad, Mobile, Portfolio, Presentation, Research

#OneNewThing – Padlet

December 13, 2016January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

“Padlet is a virtual wall that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device.” (Mrs. Treichler)

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, also has plugins for Chrome and WordPress

How It Works

Uses for Faculty & Students

Create a blank board and share it (either with specific people via their Padlet account, or via a general link.
Double-click on the board to add a new “sticky” note.
You can add:
- Text
- Audio
- Video
- Images
- Files
Drag the notes around to organize and sort them.

Works on a computer or almost any mobile device.

Discussion and collaboration
Constructing a classroom code of conduct or an assessment rubric with your students
Backchannel where students can write questions during or before class
Exit ticket
Brainstorming
Planning
Student-to-Student image sharing
Writing prompts and collaborative writing
Student introductions
KWL Charts
Curation
Flow maps
Opinion forums
Inspiration wall
Portfolios
Website bookmarking tool
More…
Even more…

Assessment, Collaboration, Google, Google Apps

Easier Paper Grading with Google Classroom

November 11, 2016January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

Hurricane Matthew forced TLT to cancel our session on “Easier Paper Grading with Google Classroom.” We had several people ask if we could reschedule, so to meet the needs of more faculty we decided to do a recorded version of the class. Check out the playlist to view the entire session, or click on the three lines in the upper right corner to view specific videos in the series.

Collaboration, Google, Google Apps, instructional technology, Share

6 Reasons You Should Be Using Google Sheets Instead Of Excel

October 28, 2016January 31, 2023 Mendi Benigni

I have always said that if I could only have two applications on my computer it would be Photoshop and Microsoft Excel. With those two applications I can do almost everything I need to do in a day. Lately, however, my eye has drawn to Google Sheets, and I have to say, I love it.

Now some of you may be saying, “Why do I care? I don’t teach accounting.” Well you don’t have to teach accounting to use spreadsheets in your teaching. They are great for collecting text-based information, running statistics and doing calculations, and graphing and analyzing text or data. So now that you are ready to use spreadsheets in your classroom, here are 6 reasons why you should use Google Sheets instead of Excel.

Reason 1: Collaboration

Unlike Excel, Google Sheets is collaborative. All CofC students already have Google accounts so it’s very easy to share a spreadsheet with them or for them to share with one another. When collaboratively editing a sheet each student can see the exact cell that is currently selected all other users, to prevent overwriting. There is also a built-in chat function so students can communicate online while collaborating on a Sheet.

Reason 2: Revision history

How many times have you heard, “Student X didn’t contribute anything to the project.” Now you can see exactly who contributed what and when using the Revision History. The built-in revision history gives you a timeline of all changes and additions to the spreadsheet, who made each one and when they made it. Just go to File > Revision History to see this record. The best part? This is all automatically recorded. While you can track revisions in Excel, it’s a more manual process and in the end, still leads to multiple versions and things being overwritten.

Reason 3: Sharing

Google Sheets are easy to share. Because they are already online, Sheets can be shared to OAKS or a website, using a link. These links can be set to allow the users to only view the sheet or to edit it. This is particularly handy if you want to post a spreadsheet in OAKS. Just go to Content and select New > Create a Link and paste in the shared link to your Sheet, making the file easy for the students to locate and easy to work on collaboratively as a class. This is something that can’t be done with Excel (Note: I believe this feature is available in Office 365).

Reason 4: The power of Google

From Alice Keeler, “Because of its tight integration with Google, Sheets can import all kinds of data from other Google services and the web at large. You can translate the contents of a cell using the function GOOGLETRANSLATE(), or you can fetch current or historical securities info from Google Finance with the function GOOGLEFINANCE(). And with Sheets IMPORTFEED and IMPORTDATA functions, you can pull information from the internet directly into your spreadsheet.” (Teacher Tech)

Reason 5: Google Forms

When paired with Google Forms it’s an easy way to collect data. Google Forms, also part of Google Drive (a.k.a. G-suite), allows for quick and easy form creation that professors and students can use to collect data. These forms can be completed by anyone, on campus or off, with or without a Google Account, and the data is dumped right into a Google Sheet. This can be used to replace an audience response system in your class, to check for understanding, to conduct peer evaluation, to collect lab data, etc. Once the data is in the spreadsheet, students can work with the data online or export the Sheet to Excel in order to take advantage of Excel’s more powerful functions and data analysis tools.

Reason 6: Explore with Graphs

Sheets has a super cool EXPLORE icon in the lower right corner of every spreadsheet. This offers a quick overview of the data in chart format. You can view the entire sheet or just specific rows or columns. It’s a fast way to get a first look at the trends in your data before moving on to your own analysis. Just click on the icon and Google does the rest. Don’t worry, if this doesn’t provide enough analysis you can always create your own graphs, pivot tables, and calculations. Excel doesn’t have this feature that I can find.

These are just my top 6 reasons to use Google Sheets. I have a ton more. So, can I do everything I did in Excel in Google Sheets? No, I can’t. Excel’s statistical analysis features and functions are still more powerful and probably always will be, but that’s not really what I use spreadsheets for much anymore. Most of the features I used in Excel, like shifting cells, can be done via a Google Add-on, which is a little extension that you can load to increase Sheet’s functionality. Given that, there’s very little need for me to go back to Excel.

Still not sold?

Check out Alicekeeler.com. Alice Keeler is a Google Sheets guru and she always has some amazing cool tricks that you can do with spreadsheets in the classroom. She has written some Add-ons for Sheets that allows you do have more control and automate some processes. Teacher Education folks, you will love her as all of her examples are from her classroom experience. Check out this one:

Have everyone contribute to their own tab – Give students their own and collaborate. This add-on takes your class roster and automatically creates a spreadsheet tab customized for each student in your class. It can even copy a template to each tab. What a great timesaver!

Category: Collaboration

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