Pondering ways to improve students' participation in the MEM program's Entrepreneurship class, Dr. Colin Drummond recognized a fundamental block: Graduate engineering students have been trained for 16 years to find "the" correct answer to a problem, but in the business world, there usually isn't just one right answer. Introducing Team-based Learning (TBL) this semester has boosted the rate of participation from about 15-20% to 70% and has fostered the development of reasoning skills.
TBL is increasingly used in medical schools to help develop decision-making skills, and is being adopted in other disciplines such as biology and engineering, including some MEM peer schools. Although this is the first time TBL has been used with entrepreneurship, Colin believes it's a great fit, because situations in this realm don't have unique solutions. "Moving from individual, quantitative, directed thinking about a well-defined problem to unbounded, qualitative, self-directed decision-making as part of a team challenges many students, but these are the competencies needed for the 'New Economy' Engineer," he says. "Entrepreneurial ventures require the ability to make choices within a context of ambiguity and limited data."
TBL essentially involves working a problem with facilitated discussion. It is a disciplined, formalized process consisting of six segments. Colin begins by giving a mini-lecture on the theory and concepts of the lesson's topic, followed by a five-minute Individual Readiness test to measure the effectiveness of individual study. The class then breaks into eight teams of four or five students—providing a small group experience in an auditorium setting—and takes a Team Readiness test as a group. Next, Colin provides Supportive Teaching on the theory and concepts. During checking of the Team Readiness tests and Supportive Teaching, students comment on each other's remarks, questioning and referring to the concepts of the lesson. Colin then presents the Team Challenge. This is a scenario he has created that incorporates the elements of the lesson topic and has several outcome options. The teams apply the concepts in deciding the option they would select. Class discussions explain each team's choice and reasoning, with debate about what works or not.
TBL's structure incorporates key ideas of the critical thinking process as described in several well known business models. These include:
· Identifying critical assumptions or the situational context;
· Developing one's individual perspective, hypothesis, or position;
· Finding, assessing, and analyzing appropriate supporting data; and
· Integrating issues from other perspectives and positions.
Colin says the TBL approach transforms the class and energizes all of the students. "It provides a pathway to flush out participation that might not occur in a normal lecture," he says. "Students say it's a pleasure to hear what others are thinking." He notes this is one of the key values of attending a selective university—to benefit from discussions that reflect the quality of each other's backgrounds. "It's the difference between just buying a book and reading about a subject," he explains. "It's why the education at an institution like CWRU is of a higher caliber."
In addition to watching for students' increased use of evidenced-based statements, Colin uses a tool to manage peer reviews. The Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) is a Web-based survey that shows how well each member contributes to the team (www.CATME.org). Recent results show self-assessment scores have risen considerably, although he admits such assessments are typically overstated.
To test the approach this semester, Colin limited its use to four class sessions. He's already done three, and will use TBL for the last class of the semester. He notes that the preparation required is about three times the amount of work for a traditional class. He must carefully craft realistic scenarios with two or three plausible outcomes that are customized to extract students' reasoning skills. "But it's worth it if it benefits students in a measurable way," he says. "TBL teaches 'how,' not 'what;' it's a shift to life-long learning skills." In addition, he has found value in having observers in the classroom acting as co-facilitators, who can move around the room and assist in evaluating the team members' skills and the effectiveness of the TBL approach. Colin invites volunteers, and says it only takes three hours of time on one Tuesday morning.
Colin likes TBL's structure, which has the flexibility to adapt. In addition to continuing its use in the second semester of the MEM Entrepreneurship course, he plans to add it to his ethics section in an accounting class.
