Lessons learned: Assessing team creation by personality inventories in pharmacy students

Proper team formation is critical for team performance and dynamics in the setting of team-based learning (TBL). Faculty should stratify students to ensure an even allocation of learner resources; however, the ideal method of team creation for TBL in pharmacy education has yet to be determined. A study aimed to assess team formation stratified by personality strengths on student performance for graded team activities, peer evaluations, and student perceptions of team dynamics compared to randomization of teams the previous semester with the same cohort. This Live and Learn piece will describe lessons learned throughout this project and research considerations for future studies on TBL team creation.

The study design compared team stratification by strengths vs. randomization, which resulted in similar distribution of CliftonStrengths domains with a variation of two teams between the semesters. Due to homogeneity in student strengths and negligible difference in purposeful team creation by strengths vs. randomization, the study was limited in its methodology and findings.

Through the description of this experience, the authors have outlined suggestions for designing studies to explore team creation methods, specifically capturing preliminary data, including a control group, and recognizing the influence of randomization.

Future studies to identify the optimal method for team formation may include alternate stratification approaches and should be performed over multiple cohorts from varying institutions. It is equally plausible that randomization consistently generates teams with equitable resource distribution and team formation has no overall impact on TBL effectiveness.