Team Based Learning

1. Team Based Learning Dan Mayer, MD Professor of Emergency Medicine Theme Leader, Evidence Based Health Care Albany Medical College Albany, New York, USA

2. THE PROBLEM • Present more material to students without giving more lectures • More small group learning • Less lectures • Excite students about learning • Teach critical thinking skills • Encourage independent investigation • Teach students to work in a team

3. Four principles • Teams properly formed and managed • Students made accountable • Team assignments promote both learning and teamwork • Students get frequent and immediate feedback

4. Team formation • Minimize barriers to good teamwork • No cliques in the teams (except by chance) • Distribute member resources • Even distribution of pre-acquired skills in each team • Balance men and women • Permanent teams (for duration of course) formed by the teacher

5. Readiness Assurance Process (RAP) • Individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) • Group Readiness Assurance Test (gRAT) • Review answers and accept appeals • Discuss problems with concepts

6. Application exercises • Apply material learned to new situations • Select “best response” from several choices • Simultaneous response from all groups • Leads to discussions and each group must explain their answers

7. Grading • Combination of • iRAT • gRAT • Peer evaluations • Encourages all students to work together • No free rides

8. What is the down side? • Takes much more work ahead of time by the teacher • Write RAT • Prepare Application exercises • Keep track of multiple grades (iRAT, gRAT and peer evaluations) • Once this is done, don’t need to put in much more effort

9. Questions?