Team Based Learning: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
by Mallory B Taylor
Just like all things there are pros and cons, team based learning is no exception. Before I get too deep into the bad and the ugly of team based learning it is important to understand what it is and why it is used. Team based learning is sometimes interchanged with the term group learning-but it is important to note that these terms do NOT have the same meaning. The difference can be seen when groups develop into teams. Just like athletics, it is important to form these groups into strong, well-working teams that all want to achieve a common goal. Once groups evolve into teams many positive attributes come from this type of learning including: the enhanced quality of student learning, the restoration of teacher’s joy of teaching, etc. Team based learning also has some well known issues including: students receiving the same grade for different amounts of work and involvement, difficulty scheduling outside of class meeting times, some group members do not care about the success of the group, etc. I have had many experiences being apart of team based learning, with the majority of my experiences being great or neutral-but I also have experienced the bad and the ugly. I want to preface my story by saying that I do not believe in doing an average job, settling for an average grade, or not giving 100% towards anything. Thus, I believe I have high expectations for myself and my team partners. As I stated earlier, I have had some neutral and great experiences with team based learning and those should not be overlooked. When team based learning is implemented well the experiences students can have offer a lot of great learning possibilities and potential for great understanding of the topics discussed. But with that said, even the most well planned and implemented team based learning techniques can end poorly when students don’t care about their team, their grade, or completing assignments. My bad experience with team based learning involved a member just as I described, a student who wanted to do the minimum, wanted nothing to with the team, and didn’t own up to their lack of input and work. Yes, this was an issue but it never caused any real tension in the group until it came time to asses the group members. Where peer assessment can help alleviate issues such as the same grade being given to all participants regardless of work/effort put forth, it can also cause a rivet between members when this assessment is not taken well by a group member (my experience required mid-term and final evaluation of all group members by diving up a score between all participants-which resulted in some members receiving higher grades than others). I see the importance of students evaluating their peers and I also see the importance of doing that twice (and allowing students to change if need be) but this places a lot of stress on team members who see another team member slacking off. Now comes in the ethics, as a team member we all are a team and want to achieve the same goal-but one person didn’t work as hard as others, but do I want to cause a riff in the team? Do I want to be the person who gives them a lower grade? Personally for me this is no issue, I give the grade that is earned, but I believe that most students wouldn’t feel so comfortable in such situations. My experiences with team based learning have provided me with examples and information about what to expect if/when I work this technique into my classroom. I will be able to think back to when I was subjected to such environments and how I felt and better yet, I will be able to provide real examples that show my strengths and struggles with such techniques as they may arise.
-Mallory
Becoming The Giving Tree 
I don’t think I am going out on a limb when I say that many people could relate with your story. There seems to always be one person in the class who would prefer to sit back and let the group handle the heavy lifting. Although I have never implemented a PBL classroom I think that this issue can be mitigated or at least curtailed. Require the group assessment, but also build in a self assessment. Make the students describe their contribution to the group and the deliverables they were individually responsible for submitting. The responses to the self assessments will likely give insight into the work completed. Someone putting a lot of work into the project will likely have detailed contributions to write about, while the “weak link” will be vague and broad. Using the self and group assessments as a single metric will give you a stronger picture of individual involvement.
I agree with you that most people probably have experienced similar situations. I didn’t want to continue to rant in my post so I left out some (in my opinion critical) information. The first of that being the experience I described above was in a graduate class and secondly the peer assessment was a major portion of our final grade. Thus, the stress and riff that was caused was emphasized when one students grade was greatly affected by their peers and not the teacher. I also think it is important to note that I made a strong bond with my team members and learned a lot through the process-but it goes to show no matter how well we think we are implementing a new classroom design or teaching technique it can vary based on the make up of the class. You make a really great point, I think using open-ended question on the peer assessment would be super beneficial for all of the students. Instead of a student seeing that their peers assigned him/her an average of a D, but seeing why and their explanation behind their thoughts and assessment would go a long way. I think I would definitely employ this type of peer review if I ever (which I plan to) use a team based learning approach.