![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Team-based learning (TBL) is a theoretically based and evidence-grounded instructional strategy that utilizes active learning by fostering team decision-making skills in complex problem solving situations. It has been used successfully in educating various professional disciplines including business, law, engineering, medicine, and other healthcare fields, but has not been utilized at the authors’ school of nursing. TBL has the potential to improve academic performance and skills critical to the development of nursing leadership roles. The purpose of this project is to implement and determine the efficacy of TBL in a required, undergraduate nursing leadership course. Outcomes of concern are academic performance, critical thinking skills, leadership and management skills, overall course experience, accountability to learning, preference for lecture or team-based learning, and learner satisfaction with TBL.
Methods:
The undergraduate nursing leadership course will be revised; face-to-face classroom activity will be changed from traditional lecture classes to the TBL process. The TBL course will include pre-assigned class preparation, followed in class with a readiness assurance process that includes individual and team tests, and team-based analysis of case studies. The outcomes of TBL will be compared to the previous lecture-based course. The differences between the TBL and previous lecture-based course outcomes including students’ overall course experiences and perception of the course engaging critical thinking and developing leadership and management skills will be evaluated using psychometric instruments, including standardized and faculty-created exams, and compared statistically using the independent samples t-test (two-tailed) for each outcome individually. Accountability to learning, preference for lecture or team-based learning, and learner satisfaction with the TBL approach will be measured using the Team-Based Learning Student Assessment Instrument, a psychometric instrument that demonstrates acceptable levels of validity and reliability, and reported by the mean scores and standard errors. The authors secured institutional review board approval. It is anticipated that learners in the TBL course will perform significantly better than learners in the lecture-based course with higher exam scores, more engagement in critical thinking, development of leadership and management skills, and higher overall course experience. In addition, the authors anticipate that learners in the TBL course will report high levels of accountability, a preference for TBL, and satisfaction with the TBL approach.
Results:
Project will be accomplished during the spring 2015 semester; full results will be provided in the poster presentation at the conference. Results of the study will inform the application of TBL in future nursing courses.
Conclusion:
Project will be accomplished during the spring 2015 semester; conclusions and recommendations will be provided in the poster presentation at the conference.