TBL FTW?

This weeks readings were reviews of common statistical techniques and thinking.  I was fortunate to take two quantitative stats courses over this past Summer, so most of the reading was a nice review.  Thus, rather than discussing some related subject, I've decided to write a little about my experiences composing a rough draft for my research paper on Team-Based Learning (TBL), which, incidentally, can be found here.

My colleague, Dr. John Mark Jackson, teaches Optics and Contact Lens classes at Southern College of Optometry, and has been using Team-Based Learning techniques for several years now.  This stoked my curiosity about the (to me) novel technique, although not enough to cause me to look into it beyond a merely cursory examination (my own attempts at implementing elements of TBL had been met with considerable resistance from the students, which certainly contributed to my gunshyness).

Having composed a paper on the subject, I can identify what I had done wrong when I attempting TBL in the past.  Core principles of TBL are team dynamics, immediate feedback, and student accountability.  I was doing none of those things.  Instead, I was using a poor imitation, asking classroom questions and having students report their prepared findings.  This added to the burden of the students, who had my lectures, and there own research to worry over.

I think I am ready to give TBL another go now that I am more prepared.  Research-wise, I would like to design a study for the literature, measuring my students grades and attitudes before and after the change.  Rest assured that, this time, all my moves will be well grounded in the literature and good study design.