Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a unique, powerful, and proven form of small-group learning that is being increasingly adopted in higher education. Teachers who use TBL report high levels of engagement, critical thinking, and retention among their students. TBL has been used successfully in both small and large classes, in computer- supported and online classes; and because it is group work that works, it has been implemented in nearly every discipline and in several countries around the world. This book introduces the elements of TBL and how to apply them in the social sciences and humanities. It.
Interaction that occurs while a group completes a cooperative task describes how the group works. Group members working cooperatively on complex intellective tasks completed open-ended questionnaires that described interaction behaviors that facilitated and behaviors that interfered with their group's performance over the life of the group (four months). After considerable screening, these descriptions were adapted into behavioral items that made up a group style instrument. This instrument was administered at two points in time to an independent sample of subjects participating in similar groups. Descriptions of the facilitating and interfering interaction behaviors are provided. Group interaction is examined in terms of changes in responses to the items over time. The instrument was sensitive to levels of group performance, and descriptions of interaction behaviors that discriminated between performance levels are discussed. Applications for group feedback are described and implications for future research are given.
ABSTRACTThis article describes an innovation called the Integrative Business Experience (IBE) that links a set of required core business courses to an entrepreneurial practicum course in which two things occur. One is that students are concurrently enrolled in the required core business courses and a practicum course while they create a start‐up business (based on an actual bank loan) and use the profits to finance a hands‐on community service project. The other is that the core courses are taught using the Team‐Based Learning (TBL) to shift the focus of class work from content delivery to content application, and promote the development of interpersonal and team skills.The wide acceptance of the value of active learning over the past 30 years has supported the foundation of Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, i.e., learning is transformed through experience. IBE provides students with a transformative experience that can engage them in every learning style in Kolb's model. IBE combined with TBL fosters development of the teamwork, interpersonal, and communication skills necessary for effective problem‐solving.This article uses Kolb's cycle of learning to describe how and why the real experience provided by IBE enables students to develop the ability to engage in analytical thinking through practical reasoning, reflective exploration of meaning, and multiple framing. Further, because students' experiences in IBE are real, they are able to reflect on their personal identities and values as they make decisions in both their business and service activities, and experience the consequences of their choices.
A number of authorities on management education believe that those who teach management should have managerial experience or have been in contact with real-world management practices. However, a significant number of management professors have had only minimal management experience. The authors make the case that this may be problematic. This shortcoming has an effect on the quality of the product we are providing to the business world. There is a need for a rethinking of the relationship between academia and practicing managers. A number of strategies that will help to remedy the shortcomings associated with the minimal managerial experience of management professors are offered.
This article is aimed at achieving two purposes: (a) challenging the common and often unrecognized assumption that the only way to ensure that students are exposed to course concepts is by personally going over the material in class and (b) describing how minitests (i.e., individual test -+ group test -+ appeals -- instructor input) can be used to ensure that students master basic content in a fraction of the class time that would normally be devoted to lectures. Other benefits of minitests are also described. These include increased focus on higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills, development of students' interpersonal and group interaction skills, and providing students with experience as a member of an effective team.
This study empirically investigates the use of the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) as an informational input mechanism into the formulation of a Solar Energy Plan for the state of Oklahoma. Data collected from a questionnaire administered to participants of an NGT solar energy planning workshop indicated that the NGT was rated as being a highly effective mechanism for providing input into the solar energy planning process. These results appear to support an increased use of NGT in problem-solving situations such as long- range planning where issues are highly complex and heterogeneous input is required.
