Workshop 1: Team-Base Learning: How and Why It Works

Workshop 1: Team-Base Learning: How and Why It Works

Readiness Assurance Test

1. What is the most important objective that faculty may accomplish with team-based learning?

a. create an environment where students learn how to cooperatively function in teams

b. familiarize students with the most essential concepts in their discipline

c. transfer responsibility for mastery of knowledge from the teacher to the student

d. present course content in a logical sequence, progressing from elementary to difficult

e. design opportunities for students to use course content to solve problems

2. Dr. Larry Michaelsen believes that the power of team-based learning is most closely linked to which of the following aspects?

a. capacityto challenge students with in-depth application exercises

b. diversity of student background, skills, and knowledge within each team

c. capability of adaptation to a variety of teaching and learning styles

d. cohesiveness that can be developed within learning teams

e. facilitation skills of faculty who understand how to motivate and guide discussions

3. Before participating in team-based learning, most students will have had small group learning experiences that left them with which of the following conclusions?

a. All group members contribute equally toward the completion of group assignments.

b. The instructor could reliably identify which groups were working in a cooperative manner.

c. A few Individuals need to “carry the load” so the whole group can get a good grade.

d. The instructor could easily identify those individuals who were struggling to learn.

4. When forming TBL groups, a professor allowed the class to sort itself into groups of six students. After checking to make sure that no group consisted entirely of all men or all women, the professor accepted and recorded the membership roster for all teams. What would be the most likely outcome of this method of team formation?

a. high functioning teams, because communication is ofteneasier among students who know each other

b. low functioning teams, because self-sorting groups are likely to be less heterogeneous

c. high functioning teams, because team members will feel more accountable to people they already know.

e. noeffect on team function, because teams tend to function equally well regardless of the method of team formation

e. a bimodal distribution of high and low functioning teams, since students typically want to workwith those who have similar academic abilities.

5. What is the most importantpurpose of the group readiness assurance test?

a. itgives faculty an opportunity to teach finer points not covered in the advance assignment.

b. It provides faculty with feedback about how well theadvance assignment has been learned.

c. itgives students an opportunity to develop effective oral communication skills.

d. it improves each student’s knowledge as peers explain the reasons for choosing answers.

e. itinsuresthat all students can apply knowledge gained by studying the advance assignment.

6. Which two factors are most likely to enable the more reticent students in a class to become more engaged?

a. peer evaluation AND simultaneous reporting

b. keeping teams together long-term AND grade weighting that preferentially rewards team achievement.

c. peer evaluation AND grade weighting that preferentially rewards individual achievement.

d. keeping teams together long-term AND assignment of reticent students as team recorders

e. assignment of reticent students as team recorders AND grade weighting that preferentially rewards individual achievement.

7. A faculty member new to the TBL process decides to save time and deletes the GRAT (group readiness assurance test) portion of the TBL process. What will be the most likely effect on student learning?

a. decreased individual preparation, since less class time is spent assessing content mastery

b. improved individual preparation, since the IRAT grade will count more

c. decreased mastery of content, since there is less opportunity to learn from team members

d. improved higher learning skills, since there is more time available for application exercises

e. improved team cohesiveness, since there are fewer opportunities for team members to wrestle with differences of opinion about the correct answers.

8. A team has several quiet members whose opinions during the GRAT are often overlooked by more dominant team members. Which of the following strategies is most likely to help such teams recognize the abilities of quieter members and involve them in team decision-making?

a. assign a rotating group leader, ensuring that all students have a turn in this role.

b. schedule a formative peer feedback (ungraded) after 3 sessions of in-class TBL.

c. meet individually with the quieter students and encourage them to participate more.

d. meet individually with the dominant students and point out the effect(s) of their behavior .

e. useimmediate feedback assessment technique (IF-AT) to score answers during the GRAT.

9. Groups of 5-7 members are recommended for team-based learning because this number optimizes which two things?

a. individual accountability and adequacy of intellectual resources

b. individual accountability and heterogeneity of members

c. individual accountability and communication between members

d. adequacy of intellectual resources and heterogeneity of members

e. adequacy of intellectual resources and communication between members

f. communication between members and heterogeneity of members

10. Faculty members may be reluctant to implement team-based learning because they feel it requires too much class time, preventing them from “covering all the course content”. Which of the following statements best addresses this concern?

a. TBL diminishes the volume of content that may be learned, but is more likely to result in long term retention of that content.

b. TBL is most effective when it is added to already existing lectures that cover the content; it is not intended to replace class time devoted to lectures.

c. TBL puts responsibility on students to acquire content knowledge outside of class, utilizing class time to increase mastery and application of that content.

d. TBL does not encourage breadth of content learning, but rather emphasizes depth of learning.

e. TBL works better for courses being taught at an advanced level, after basic content knowledge has already been learned through teaching by lectures.

end of RAT