Implementing TBL in an online life science course
With our success using TBL in the evolution and biodiversity face-to-face course, we transferred materials to an online platform. We wanted to offer this online course opportunity for students that had schedule conflicts or that were studying abroad. Our initial online offering in the summer of 2019 was opened for up to 30 students with the vision of expanding to a larger course of 100 or more students. Thus, we were able to successfully scale up when switching the large face-to-face offering to online learning during the required social distancing period in the spring of 2020. We preserved all of the learning outcomes used in the face-to-face course and also made high-quality storylines, described below, appropriate for online delivery via the Canvas Course Management System. We pre-assigned teams, with four students per team, for the term using the same team building guidelines described in the face-to-face offering. We added two questions to the team survey about time zones and preferred work times to facilitate synchronous meetings among team members (see survey questions on Appendix 1). We also modified the face-to-face TBL structure by moving the tRATs after the lecture, to increase schedule flexibility by minimizing the number of team synchronous meetings each week (See Figure 2). Individual assignments (pre-lecture quizzes, iRATs, and lectures) were due mid-week and included pre-lecture and lecture materials. Sections and all team assignments associated with a lecture, including tRATs and Application & Analysis, were due after lecture on the weekend. Our goal was to create an engaging and inclusive course where students were accountable for their efforts.