Bob is a faculty member in the School of Business. I first spoke to him back in 2021 about his experiences moving online during COVID, but recently I found out he has been embracing Team-Based Learning (TBL), and I wanted to find out more about his experience. “I had a conversation with Derek Murray in passing about student engagement and preparedness prompting me to take CETL’s Improving Student Engagement workshop last spring, which gave me a good overview of TBL.” After taking the workshop and reading Getting Started with Team-Based Learning, Bob was intrigued, curious to learn more, and to build TBL into his course over his Scheduled Development time. So, “in August that same year I took the TBL course through Vancouver Island University.” Bob was initially skeptical about the structured methodology of TBL, but after taking the TBL course learned that “you can decide how you want to use the structure in your context, but like, many things in life, you have to trust the process, so I did.”
As Bob worked his way through the course, the method began to resonate him. “The idea was to spend our class time on activities that allow students to apply what they’ve learned and make sense of it from each other. This means students are processing information in a different way from just listening to a lecture. But I was still wondering how to ensure that students would learn what they needed to learn to meet the course learning objectives.” Bob was also not convinced that components of the TBL structure would work for some of his courses. “For example, one TBL element is to give students a module test on the first day of that module. But if the module covers three chapters, and students are tested on all three chapters before coming to the first class, I am not confident that the students will come prepared. But I had an aha moment learning it was ok to, after learning the whole process, abandon those parts of the process that won’t work for your context.” But Bob told me he tried to hold onto as much of the full method as he could the first time around because “when the TBL group talks about the success stories from the classroom, those are real!”
I wondered what specifically happens in Bob’s classrooms when he’s teaching with TBL. “I follow the script, sometimes begrudgingly – TBL can take time out of your class in that students are not always working on content but developing how they’re going to be with each other. But the more effort you put in upfront to help students build comfort and trust with each other in their groups, the more engaged they will be. I spend a lot of time right up front explaining what TBL, or decision based learning as I prefer to call it, is: where students are working to come together on a decision about what they are going to do to move forward. And I explain why they will be working with the same people for the whole term. So, in the first class we don’t talk about the course at all.”
To set students up in groups, Bob first has them self-select into groups of six and discuss what they think they need in order to be successful in a team. “They decide on the range of abilities, knowledge, backgrounds, that need to be at the table so they can be successful at solving problems related to the course content, not just about how to be successful on a team. Each group comes up with their own list, then as a class, we work together to select the one thing that will inform the final group selection for the term. And that’s the first day.” One of the other activities recommended for a first TBL class is to run a practice iRAT (individual Readiness Assessment Test) / tRAT (team Readiness Assessment Test) about the syllabus. “I have never been able to get that done in the first class, so I move it to the second class, and then they go from that right into a real quiz. Because the first one is just for practice, they can have fun with it, and it destresses the real one.” After that, Bob runs the iRAT / tRAT during the first class of a module for the first chapter of the module, and students then complete quizzes on the other two chapters in D2L before each class. “Later, I can find the one or two questions students struggled with, and bring those to class, show the right answer and give them an opportunity to challenge that answer if they don’t agree with it.”
The TBL model also includes peer assessments, which Bob finds challenging. “In my classes, students individually identify five helping behaviours that they think will help their peers be successful. They then share those behaviours with their group and collectively, the group decides on their top five which they put on big yellow sticky notes.” Each group selects one person to represent them, and Bob brings those students into what he calls a Council of Six (since there are six groups) who explain their groups’ choices to each other. Finally, that group of six identifies a minimum of five helping behaviors for the class to be assessed by. However, Bob finds that, invariably, these behaviours chosen by the Council are not ready to be used by the class. “So, the Council works outside of class (for bonus points) to clarify their list. The first term, it took three weeks to get it done, but the second term it only took two weeks.” And while the end result might not be the ‘ideal’ peer review process, it’s the one the students’ chose. Bob includes two formative peer reviews in his classes (in weeks six and ten), giving students a chance to change their behaviour, as well as a summative one in week 14.
Once the preliminaries are all out of the way, Bob can dig into content. “I don’t follow the TBL approach completely. I’ll do a 15-20 minute mini lecture, which is really a reminder of the key concepts they’ve already reviewed, then we’ll take a break. Then we do two to three 4-S activities (Significant, Specific, Same, Simultaneous) in the last part of the class. I have them do an individual reflection on whatever the question is and write it out. I have them put their name on it, and sometimes I’ll select one or two in each class for them to turn in. I mark those not for being technically correct, but for being logical, showing their thought process, and demonstrating their familiarity with the content.” And these in-class activities become a part of the course grade, “generally 15 to 20%, which gives students some incentive to come to class, and which also which makes the learning process that much better.” Another reason Bob has students write down their reflections is that he can more easily see who is struggling. “I can then ask them why they think they are unable to answer the question, how did they prepare for class, did they understand the reading, or is did they not have time to complete the reading (in which case we may need to talk about time management.)”
Then students share their reflections with their group which “provokes a lot of cross-table discussion that is superior to a normal class group discussion because they’ve already set out their views, are accountable, and have to defend them, as opposed to just going along with the most dominant voice at the table.” Then the groups share their consensus with the class, trying to convince other groups to change their positions. “Generally, they don’t convince anybody, but sometimes you do hear: You know what? I never thought of that. I was really entrenched in my position here, but after listening to you, I think I’m wrong. And that is cool to hear.”
In Bob’s Business 322 course, all those reflections and discussions support students in completing their two assignments, the first of which is a proposal for how they are going to approach the second. “At the end of each module, they write a short paper about one takeaway from each of the chapters we’ve covered explaining why it stood out to them and how it has influenced their approach to their project. At the end, in addition to the major project, they write a reflection paper about the overall key takeaways from the course and how they will use those once the course is completed. So, everything connects, and they can see that.
I wondered what Bob’s thoughts were on how TBL influences student learning. “You can see students building relationships with people they wouldn’t normally have built relationships with. And at their tables, they have more time to reflect. I talk to them about how some people need time to formulate their thoughts, especially if someone is translating from English to their first language, formulating an answer in and then translating back to English. So, I think compared to other classes, students who maybe would be less forthcoming with their thoughts or ideas about things are more readily able to share them.” Bob tells me he is also excited by the engagement in the class. “The enthusiasm in the class is contagious. When students are having their conversations, they are wholly engaged. They’re talking to their peers about the content that they’ve digested and convincing each other of what’s true or not true or what could be or what shouldn’t be.”
As to what students say, “I haven’t asked for formal feedback, but anecdotally, students tell me that they’re enjoying the engagement. They also like that everyone is coming to class prepared. They tell me that time goes by so fast because they’re engaged in what they’re doing, and they love not listening to me.” And Bob is transparent with the students about the approach. “One of the things we do in the first class is set the stage for why we’re taking this approach. We walk them through a series of questions, for example: What can you do on your own (for example reading a lecture or watching a video)? What can you do with others (the conversation piece)? What is best to be done in the classroom? Then they understand why we carve off time for TBL in the classroom.”
I asked Bob what is next for him for TBL. “I’m working on Business 220 (Organizational Behavior) now. Another instructor has already been using TBL in that class, and it’s working really well. And I’ll also redesign Business 150, which is more of a survey course so it may more of a challenge. What’s exciting for me about those courses in particular is that they’re lower level – every School of Business student has to take it.” Meaning that students can be introduced to this engaged method of learning early. Another course Bob is weaving TBL into, working with another faculty member, is Business 311 (Employment Law). “I’m doing a TBL light in that course this term. Students are assigned to groups, and we do in-class activities without the formal structure of TBL which gives them an opportunity to process things with each other, rather than just waiting until their first exam to see how they are doing” Bob told me he is struggling with Business 290. “That class takes place in a computer lab and physical space is an important consideration for TBL since people need to move around. They will find a way, but it’s better if you can make it easy for them.” Reflecting back to how his classes were before, Bob says “students were engaged, but I wonder: were they really learning?” Instead of processing information individually, “now they sit with five other people engaging with discussion questions and amplifying their own knowledge with different approaches and aha moments which is just cool to watch.”
After such an amazing conversation about Bob’s work with TBL, I wondered what advice he might have for other instructors wanting to try it out. “Trust the process. Be cautious but have an open mind. Plan for planning – TBL involves a lot of prep, but each successive delivery is a bit less. And the first time you integrate TBL, learn about it as early as possible and work with it from the beginning of whatever course you’re developing, rather than integrating TBL while you are teaching the course. I would advise people to script out the timing of TBL class activities. For example, I plan for five minutes of reflection, then 10 minutes of table conversation. Part of TBL is putting the pressure on students to make a decision, so it lends itself to being timed. I have two or three pages of notes for every timed activity, and I will take notes in real time, if the timing is off, what happened so I can adjust next time.” In addition, Bob advises flexibility. “Not every class has to fit into a nice, neat box.” But the biggest note Bob has for new TBL instructors is to let go. “In traditional classrooms, students look to you to provide the answers but, in this approach, they need to look to themselves. And if they don’t have the answer, they need to find it as opposed to having handed to them. And your role is to ask questions more than making statements.”
And finally, Bob says, “follow the step-by-step TBL script at least once so you can see the benefits, then you can figure out what works for you. If you take shortcuts too early, you might miss some opportunities to see how things can work. It’s all time consuming, but it pays off and you will be surprised with the outcomes.”
In the end, Bob says it’s important not to start from a position of “no.” “I look at each course and ask myself how I could make it TBL versus wondering which ones could or couldn’t be TBL. In fact, I’m confident that most of the courses in the Management and Human Resource Leadership program could be moved to TBL. At the end of the day, anyone can make TBL fit with their personal teaching style because it’s all about how we can support students to engage with the content and each other so they can apply what they’re learning.”