Team-Based Learning in Medical Education

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a format for small-group learning that complements a flipped classroom model. It provides a structured opportunity for educators to implement active learning, even with a large numbers of students. TBL is comprised of the following components (see Figure 1):

• Pre-session content
• Readiness assessment comprised of two parts: individual readiness assurance test (IRAT) and group readiness assurance test (GRAT).
• Application questions, e.g., clinical case study

While the learning objectives for a TBL activity is teacher-driven, the components of TBL focus on students as active learners assessing and reflecting on their knowledge through communication and collaboration with a team of students, shifting the teacher’s role to the “guide on the side”. The team interactions help to highlight individual student misconceptions and the problem-solving application questions help to promote deeper learning. TBL can be applied in both the preclinical and clinical settings of the medical school curriculum and many schools have adopted this approach. Further, a significant body of research has been conducted on TBL (a list of recent papers can be found here).

Figure 1. Team-Based Learning Components (Credit: Yale Medicine, http://tbl.med.yale.edu/guide/tbl_components.php)

To learn more about TBL, visit these resources:

Guide to Team-Based Learning (Yale Medicine)

Twelve Tips for Doing Effective Team-Based Learning (Access article from Medical Teacher via VPN if off-campus)

Team-Based Learning: From Principle to Application (UCF College of Medicine)

For more information or assistance on designing your TBL small-group learning, contact us using our iMedEd Service Request Form.

Reminder: Introducing Tools to Create Interactive Video Workshop

This workshop will introduce a series of tools that can allow educators to easily create interactive, animated and whiteboard-style videos on their own.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016, noon to 1 p.m., Conference Room A1000, Medical Education Building (Irvine)

Tuesday, June 21, 2016, noon to 1 p.m., ITC Classroom, Grunigen Medical Library (Orange)

To see the scheduled workshops for May-July 2016, visit: Summer iMedEd Workshop Schedule.

To sign up for any of our workshops, visit: iMedEd Workshop Sign-up.

Happy Memorial Day!