Implementing a modified team-based learning strategy in the first phase of an outcome-based curriculum--challenges...

Team-based learning (TBL) is an innovative form of collaborative learning. The aim of TBL is to create a motivational context in which students become accountable for their learning.

Student attendance at didactic lecture sessions in our school is usually poor. A modified TBL approach in lieu of lectures was undertaken for the first time in a large class (150 students). This communication reports on the challenges of its implementation in our setting and preliminary data on its effects on student performance.

Using computer-based evaluation followed by an in-class activity, a modified TBL approach was implemented over two semesters during an introductory basic science course. Data on student performance, student motivation and faculty reflection were collected and analysed.

This strategy had significantly enhanced students' class attendance. They performed better on the built-in TBL assessment (IRAT) compared to standard in-course tests. Besides content mastery, TBL approach could also instill useful attitudinal outcomes such as self-directed learning.

The TBL strategy is a viable and refreshing alternative to the usual didactic faculty engagement with the teaching process. Students appear to do better in tests built-in within TBL as compared to stand-alone in-course tests.