Team-based Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Group Work That Works to Generate Critical Thinking and Engagement

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 describes the four essential elements of TBL – readiness assurance, design of application exercises, permanent teams, peer evaluation – and pays particular attention to the specification of learning outcomes, which can be a unique challenge in these fields.

The core of the book consists of examples of how TBL has been incorporated into the cultures of disciplines as varied as economics, education, literature, politics, psychology, and theatre. The authors explain why they felt a need to change how they taught, and why they chose TBL. Furthermore, each chapter provides examples of the assignments and exercises they use to help their students achieve the specific learning outcomes of their courses.

Michael Sweet is the Director of Instructional Development for the Center of Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of Texas, Austin. He holds a Ph.D. Educational Psychology from UT and a Master's degree in Group Communication from the University of California, Davis. Michael has been a college-level faculty developer since 1995, having worked at the University of Oregon and Portland Community College before joining UT Austin in 2004. Michael has published, edited and presented widely on group dynamics and collaborative learning and is currently President of the international Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC).

Larry K. Michaelsen is Professor of Management at Central Missouri State University and is David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, a Carnegie Scholar, a Fulbright Senior Scholar, and former Editor of the Journal of Management Education. He is active in faculty and staff development activities and has conducted workshops on teaching effectively with small groups in a wide variety of university and, corporate settings. Dr. Michaelsen has also received numerous college, university, and national awards for his outstanding teaching and for his pioneering work in two areas. One is the development of Team-Based Learning, a comprehensive small-group based instructional process that is now being used in over 80 academic disciplines and on over 200 campuses in the US and in eight foreign countries. The other is an Integrative Business Experience (IBE) program that links student learning in three core courses to their experience in creating and operating an actual start-up business whose profits are used to fund a hands-on community service project.