Adapting Team-Based Learning to Early Engineering Courses

The purpose of this paper is to report progress made in adapting the learning strategy known as team-based learning for use in the required sophomore-level electric circuit theory sequence. The project is motivated by the desire to introduce students to self-directed independent learning and to learning in groups early in their programs, both of which concepts are, in theory, provided by team-based learning. Learning groups provide students with the opportunity to peer instruct, which has been shown to produce deeper conceptual learning than listening to a traditional lecture. Also, while observing the group learning, the instructor can identify and correct learning difficulties on the spot, which is usually not possible with the standard traditional lecturing method. Despite the potential benefits, several practical challenges have been encountered while attempting to implement the strategy. These include motivating students to study and learn new material outside of class and before encountering it in the classroom; and motivating them to engage in the formative/summative assessment processes used. The paper describes progress made over two semesters in overcoming these challenges. Although specifically adapted to the two-course electric circuit theory sequence, the results reported here can probably be applied to any sophomore level engineering course.