Team Leader
Michael Sweet begins tenure as president- elect of international group-learning organization.
Faculty Development Specialist Michael Sweet has been chosen president-elect of the international Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC), the network of scholars and practitioners of the instructional strategy pioneered by Larry Michaelsen.
For more than a decade, Sweet has been helping teachers across scholarly disciplines employ Team-Based Learning (TBL). Sweet teamed with Michaelsen to produce an article on the power of TBL for the June 2008 newsletter of the National Education Association: Thriving in Academe—Reflections on Helping Students Learn. Sweet, Michaelsen, and colleagues edited a special issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning, focused on the next big step for small group learning.
Rather than simply an instructional approach that employs groups, TBL features an integrated system whose elements serve to transform small groups into teams to support active and engaged learning. The instructional strategy rests on four defining elements: permanent, heterogeneous work groups; the Readiness Assurance Process (RAP) to begin each unit; peer evaluation; and in-class application of course material. As students assume greater responsibility for their learning and that of their peers, instructors are freed to design and assess meaningful classroom activities, informed by a clear notion of what they expect that students should be able to do with course material.
This spring, Sweet brought the eighth annual Team-Based Learning Conference to the Thompson Conference Center. Despite the economic uncertainty that has affected spending for travel and conferences, more than 125 participants from around the world attended the two-day event, surpassing the previous high of 100 for the 2007 conference at the University of British Columbia.
Participants’ comments conveyed high praise for their experience at UT Austin. “Fantastic! Best educational conference I’ve ever attended—and I’ve done/been to a lot of conferences.” “Wonderfully positive and enthusiastic. This is the best, most productive conference I have been to, and I am a basic scientist and I have been to many meetings.” “This conference was absolutely awesome—it saved my life as a teacher.”
Sweet began his term July 1, and he will succeed Ruth Levine, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UT Medical Branch, as TBLC president next year.