Our Experience Adapting Team Based Learning (TBL) for Online Teaching: Our New Normal

Abstract

In response to COVID-19, we rapidly transitioned our three-hour sessions (comprising lecture, tutorial, and practical components) for ‘Human Body 1’ to an interactive online format from 20S2. We decided to adapt a TBL approach as it lends itself to Zoom delivery in combination with other platforms, is associated with high levels of active student participation, and incorporates many assessment touchpoints – creating new opportunities for feedback and longitudinal performance monitoring1. Our approach involved flipping and chunking lecture content, supplemented by knowledge-check activities with automated feedback as pre-work. Weekly Zoom sessions started with an individual readiness assurance test (RAT) comprising 10 multiple-choice-questions; immediately followed by the same RAT, completed by student teams in separate breakout rooms – all via Blackboard. Student performance was quickly analysed, with individual and team results presented back to the cohort in a ‘clarification’ session (that focussed on poorly answered questions with explanations of the most correct response and exploration of misconceptions). Teams returned to breakout rooms to complete focused application tasks (FAT) before debriefing as a cohort. In our approach, the FAT varied between teams – with each requiring students to work through a case scenario or interpret complex data. Student performance is enhanced following peer-teaching and learning in our TBL. Online TBL has been well-received, with internal course evaluations improved since introduction – in our student’s voice, “I really enjoyed the pre-work… it [was] really helpful in consolidating knowledge. I also really enjoyed the i[ndividual]RAT and t[eam]RAT quizzes and discussing the trickier questions afterwards in class. It encouraged us to keep on top of the large workload.” (SEC-21S1) The additional results and feedback generated through the pre-work, RAT and FAT have provided new ways to see how performance is developing from week to week. Courses interested in adopting a flipped online format may benefit from using this approach