Achieving High Functioning Teams Using Team Based Learning in Flipped Classrooms

Achieving high functioning teams is essential for successfully implementing flipped classrooms methods relying on collaborative learning. Team-Based Learning is a unique approach to flipping a classroom because of its prescribed framework. This paper provides quantitative and qualitative data showing that teams are high functioning and high performing yet minimal instructor guidance and intervention is required when Team-Based Learning is used in mechanical engineering courses. Introduction From lab to design courses to group projects in general education or major courses, students are gaining experience working in teams. Unfortunately, teams may have one or more students doing all the work while another student does little to no work, yet reaps the benefits, i.e., grade, of the team. Active learning pedagogies using teams in the classroom, such as collaborative learning, Problem Based Learning or Team-Based Learning (TBL), need to incorporate classroom and grading policies that diminish the effect of students who wish to “slide by” on the knowledge and effort of hard working students. Instructors are also faced with how to set up teams and ensure students experience an improved learning environment. The purpose of this paper is to show that teams can be high functioning and high performing, yet have minimal instructor guidance and intervention when Team-Based Learning is used. Team-Based Learning is currently used successfully nationally and internationally in professional schools such as medical, pharmacy, law, and business schools, and is gaining a foot hold in undergraduate programs in the humanities, sciences, and engineering. TBL has been shown to improve the communication, team working, problem solving, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills of students in TBL taught courses more than in traditionally taught courses. The nature of TBL—such that the students solve problems in teams during class time, and then must report and defend their answers to the entire class—effectively gives students the opportunity to learn, practice and refine their communication, problem solving, critical thinking and team skills. Since these skills are critical to being successful in industry, it is our job to give students ample opportunity to develop these skills in their engineering student career, and using TBL as a teaching/learning technique in engineering courses is one option. Another benefit for the students is in-depth knowledge and understanding of topics that comes from solving complex problems. Students gain an appreciation for team work and learn to work as an effective team mate. The effectiveness of team work can also be demonstrated to the students—Michaelsen et al., has shown that in the past twenty years, over 99.95% of the teams have outperformed their best member by an average of almost 14%, and the worst team typically outperforms the best student in class. Page 26143.2 Benefits for instructors and administrators include: (1) minimal team facilitation because the groups tend to develop into self-managed learning teams. (2) TBL is cost effective since it can be used in large classes using the same instructor/TA costs as small classes. (3) There are fewer worries about students not being in class or failing to prepare for class. (4) Student-faculty interactions are more like working with colleagues when students are prepared for class and instructors have time to develop personally rewarding relationships with students. Description of Team-Based Learning Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a specific pedagogical tool that emphasizes collaborative learning and is distinct from other cooperative or collaborative pedagogies because it follows a prescribed sequence of individual work and group work, and includes immediate feedback as well as peer evaluation. TBL is similar to other flipped classroom approaches in the sense that students have to prepare, e.g. by reading a chapter of a textbook, before coming to class to be prepared for in-class discussions and activities. The uniqueness of TBL is that in class students work in permanent teams throughout the quarter, activities follow a prescribed process–first a reading assignment (or study material from other sources), then an in-class quiz, and finally problems solved interactively in class that require students to apply facts and concepts from the pre-reading. The framework of assuring that students come prepared to class is called the “Readiness Assurance Process'' (RAP), which is unique to TBL. The RAP consists of an individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) and a team Readiness Assurance Test (tRAT). Students first take the iRAT as an individual, and then take the tRAT, answering the same multiple choice questions from the iRAT as a team. During the tRAT, each team must come to a consensus for the answers to the questions, and they immediately check their answers using the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) form. The IF-AT form–shown in Figure 1–is a scratch off sheet in which a star is located under the correct answer. Teams receive points based on the number of scratches it takes to determine the correct answer. Using the IF-AT form during the tRAT is key to help students correct misconceptions in real time, and the points-scale gives the students motivation to learn to work together effectively as a team without direct instructor input. After all teams have completed the tRAT, the instructor can give a short—typically 5 to 10 minute—lecture clearing up any remaining confusion about the topic. Students are given an opportunity to submit a written appeal, as a team, of any RAT question they believe to be ambiguous. The applications–on which the most time is spent in class–are problems that the students must solve as a team. The applications follow a 4-S format: Same problem, Significant problem, Specific choice, and Simultaneous report. A class discussion accompanies each application, and mini-lectures are given throughout to clarify misconceptions and answer questions. The problems are related to the course content and are challenging and rich enough that one student alone could not solve the problem in the time given, requiring the students to work together if they want to be successful in answering the problem.