“Team-Based Learning to Facilitate Active Learning in Large-Size Online Courses” was the title of the presentation by Sarah Arrington from Appalachian State University. They spoke about using Team-Based Learning (TBL) and creating effective teams. They used InteDashboard, which I had never heard about. It seems that Arrington has been teaching online since 2011 and was worried about engaging students and supporting them online during the pandemic. Using PollEverywhere, Arrington asked: “What are some situational factors that you have had to consider when teaching your course online?” Responses varied, and the word cloud included big/frequent words like technology, access, engagement, and internet. Arrington came across the book entitled Getting Started with Team-Based Learning by Jim Sibley and Peter Ostafichuk. Arrington highly recommended this book and described the steps of TBL as:
- Pre-work
- Individual Readiness Assurance Test (in class: theory)
- Team Readiness Assurance Test (in class: theory)
- Clarify doubts (in class: theory)
- Team application (in class: apply)
With Intedashboard, Arrington was able to do peer and team evaluations. The system also allows instructors to be evaluated. Arrington explained that according to TBL, teams are larger and should be intentionally constructed by the instructor. Arrington constructed teams considering prior college experience, major, class year, socioeconomic status/background, race, gender, and extracurricular involvement. Team assignments happen within the first week, and Arrington uses a Google Form to gather initial information. Once teams are made by the instructor, Arrington has teams co-create team policies. Arrington mentioned that in traditional TBL there is no live lecture since students are assigned pre-recorded lectures and homework. Arrington instead did a live lecture on Zoom with supplemental pre-recorded lectures.
Arrington explained that the Readiness Assessment Tests are individual and then in teams with 10-15 multiple-choice questions. To increase connectedness and engagement, the IRAT was implemented using InteDash-board. Now I am really curious about this! Arrington mentioned that the learning curve is “pretty easy.” There is a cost of $26/per student. Arrington demonstrated how the system assigns a leader per team and has a field for student comments in case a student wants to justify a response and explain it to the instructor. While groups worked, the instructor (Arrington) was able to review scores in real-time. InteDashboard is neat! While I am not sure I am ready for TBL, it is certainly worth knowing about the setup and tools available for online TBL.
