Team-Based Learning

Team-based learning refers to a small group of students interacting as in-class teams to apply content to problems with the feedback of the teacher-facilitator as the content expert.

As defined by Larry Michaelsen, Michael Sweet & Dean Parmalee

Team-based Learning is designed to assist students to understand and utilise the course concepts to solve problems. A vast majority of class time is dedicated to group work that is specifically tailored to improve learning and promote self-directed learning.

Characteristics

• Groups to be formed and managed.
• Students to be accountable for the quality of their individual and group work.
• Students to receive frequent and timely feedback.
• Group assignments to must promote both learning and team development.
• When these four essential elements are implemented, student groups will evolve into cohesive learning teams.

Adapted from Michaelsen, Sweet & Parmalee, 2009

As defined by Kathryn McMahon

Team-based learning is a large group, expert-led, interactive and analytical teaching strategy. Facilitated by one or more teachers as content expert(s), the students learn and subsequently apply the content to specific problems in small groups at intervals during the learning session.

Characteristics

• Teams are formed to ensure equal distribution of resources amongst different teams and teacher-facilitators to maintain the group dynamics.
• Students are held accountable for their own learning and its application to problem solving and incentives are used as motivators.
• Teacher-facilitator and peers provide frequent and real-time feedback to students.
• Team is developed through the team-based learning process and through peer teaching.

Adapted from McMahon, 2010

As defined by Sandra Metoyer, Scott Miller, Jennifer Mount, & Sandra Westmoreland

Team-based learning is a specialised model of teaching and learning that uses a structured cycle of events to motivate students to learn and to increasingly hold each other accountable for their own learning.

Adapted from Metoyer, Miller, Mount, & Westmoreland, 2014

As defined by Kearney, Schuck, Burden, & Aubusson

Michaelsen and Sweet structured the team-based learning framework from a sociocultural perspective whereby socially mediated problem solving and discourse plays a key role in the development of meaning and reasoning. Essentially, instruction is structured to require students not just to learn and gain knowledge about the content but to engage in the scholarly practices of the discipline, allowing students to learn to think about the topic, express their thoughts and perspectives, provide opportunity for ideas to be challenged, consider perspectives of others, and socially construct knowledge via interaction and discourse with others. In this way, collaborative learning and discourse-based instruction represent important aspects of the team-based learning framework allowing for collective problem solving the assumption of multiple roles, confrontation of misconceptions, and collaborative work skills (Wanzek et al., 2014).

Hrynchak and Batty (2012) argue that team-based learning incorporates the main elements of constructivist learning, in which the “focus is on the mental representation of information by the learner” (Svinicki 2004, p. 242; Kaufman 2003). Team-based learning allows learners to compare their current understandings with those of the group and debate controversial points amongst themselves. This is consistent with a constructivist view that learning occurs by integrating information obtained by new experiences into existing mental schemes.

Click here to find out more about Constructivism.

Pre-Implementation Process

1. Identifying instructional objectives

• Design the learning tasks (including an application problem), goals and objectives using the process of ‘backward design’:
  • Plan on what the students need to be able to do after they finish the lesson.
  • Plan on what students need to know in order to do what they need to do.
  • Identify evidences which indicate that students have understood the content and its applications.
• Design Readiness Assurance Test
  • This consists of both the individual and team Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT and tRAT respectively).
  • The questions are based on the curated materials that have been assigned to the students.
  • These questions should enable the teacher-facilitator to assess whether or not the students have a sound understanding of the key concepts from the assigned readings.
• Design 4-S Problem

The application problem is designed according to the 4S-Application, which requires 4 elements:

• Significant problem: Problem involves issues that are relevant and appeal to students’ interest.
• Same problem: Individuals/groups are working on the same problem, case or question. This allows inter-team comparison of answers and the rich and energetic exchange stimulates better understanding.
• Specific choice: Individuals/groups are required to use course concepts to make a specific choice between alternatives.
• Simultaneous Report: Individuals/Groups report their choices simultaneously in order to avoid group think. Disagreements and conflicting answers can form the basis for a fruitful class discussion.

2. Designing a grading system

• Provide incentives for individual contributions and effective work by teams.
• Address the students’ concerns on fair play that naturally arise when group work is part of an individual’s grade.
• Apportion grade according to individual performance, team performance and each member’s contributions to the success of the teams.

Actual Implementation

1. . Orientation and Familiarisation of Team-based learning

This step is strongly encouraged if it is the first time that the students are experiencing a team-based approach to learning. It sets the stage in terms of the process, roles and hence, expectations of teacher-facilitator and students.

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator orientates students to team-based learning, detailing the process and roles of the teacher-facilitator and students.

Students

Students familiarise themselves with the process and expectations, bearing in mind that the central focus of team-based learning is teamwork.

1. Group Formation

Team based learning requires teacher-facilitators to oversee the formation of the groups. These groups will remain permanent until the end of the lesson. Each group should comprise of five to seven students from diverse backgrounds, ability, and capacities to enrich the discussion with different perspectives and viewpoints. Time is essential to nurture the group to become cohesive.

Teacher-Facilitator

In addition to overseeing the formation of the groups, the teacher-facilitator is required to provide detailed clarification on shared group goals determined by students and individual accountability, set clear expectations on how students should collaborate and share conflict management strategies.

Students

Students are required to set and clarify group goals amongst themselves, be familiar with each member’s roles and responsibilities and learn to manage conflicts should any arise during collaboration.

. Readiness Assurance Process

1. Assigned readings

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator provides instructions to access the curated materials that would prepare them for the iRAT, tRAT and eventually, solve the application problem.

Students

Students access the assigned materials in order to be prepared to take the iRAT and tRAT.

2. Individual Test

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-Facilitator administers individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) which contains questions crafted from the assigned materials. The iRAT will be collected back for grading.

Students

After reading the assigned topics, students to take the iRAT individually. These tests will be submitted to the teacher-facilitators for grading.

3. Team Test

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher to distribute the same question items for the team Readiness Assurance Test (tRAT).

Students

Students retake the same test as a team (tRAT). The team must reach an agreement on the answers to each test question. In the process, the students may present their different answers with their own reasonings. They may teach one another, they may refer back to their readings to discuss about the answers. Using the self-scoring answer sheet, team will receive real-time feedback on each team decision via the immediate feedback assessment technique (IF-AT). The technique allows the students to scratch off the covering of one of four (or five) boxes in search of a mark indicating they have found the correct answer. If they find the mark on the first try, they receive full credit. If not, they continue scratching until they do find the mark, but their score is reduced with each unsuccessful scratch.

4. Appeals

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator listens to the students’ appeals and notes the the misconceptions and misunderstandings of the assigned readings.

Students

The team can refer to the curated materials and make an appeal based on the quality of the questions or inadequacies of the assigned curated materials. Group members are encouraged to work together to build a case and use compelling evidence to support their appeals.

5. Teacher feedback/Teacher Clarification

Teacher-Facilitator

This feedback comes in after the appeals process and allows the teacher-facilitator to clear up any confusion that students may have about any of the concepts presented in the readings.

Students

The team that answers the questions correctly may be called upon by teacher to explain their answers to the class.

4. Group application

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator tasks students to solve the application problem which is designed using the 4S-Application requirements (refer to details outlined in “Pre-implementation”).

Students

The team uses the content learnt and apply them to solve a problem. (Discussion and/or Affinity Grouping may be used here)

5. Reinforcing Learning

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator conducts a class review by showing the explicit connections between exams, the RAT questions and the application assignments and surface any persistent confusion among teams. The value of team synergy is highlighted by comparing team performance and individual performance.

Students

In addition to reviewing the learning material, every team member explicitly thinks and reflects about the group processes and effectiveness. Team members reflect on their own and the peers’ strengths and weaknesses and their own and their peers’ development in group communication and group work.

6. Grading and evaluating team-based learning

Teacher-Facilitator

Teacher-facilitator must align assessment goals with desired outcomes of lesson. Teacher should design assessment criteria to grade and evaluate students’ acquisition of content knowledge and their problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills. Team-based learning has two elements: scores from RATs and peer evaluation.

Adapted from Michaelsen & Parmalee, 2009; Michaelsen & Sweet, 2011; Gillespie, 2012