Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching (FIRST)

 

Date of this Version

Spring 2006

Document Type

Article

Comments

Course portfolio developed as part of the UNL Peer Review of Teaching Project (www.courseportfolio.org)

Abstract

Due to the critical nature of team-based learning in this course, I propose to study the learning aspects of team-based learning, as I envision it in this course. Not having formally investigated this issue previously, I am left with a sense that some teams perform much better than other teams. I am looking for those criteria that separate the good teams from underperforming teams. Some of the issues that occur to me as I start this process include the following: - Team size - Academic diversity - Discipline diversity - Gender diversity - Geographic diversity How students best learn in a team format is of great importance for a variety of reasons. From an academic standpoint, institutions are moving towards larger and larger classes in response to a reduction in funding and fewer professors available to teach. One way to overcome some of the problems inherent in large class instruction is to break the class down into smaller groups. Developing a methodology that allows for larger classes and still increases student learning would be of tremendous benefit to universities across the country.

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