Team Learning Activities Research Articles

New ways to teach neuroscience: integrating two teaching styles with two instructional technologies

This report describes an experiment in teaching neuroscience that integrates two teaching styles and two educational technologies: (1) Two-way digitally compressed televideo, used for lecture/discussion simultaneously with on-site and remote students; (2) Asynchronous computer conferencing, used to complement the class periods with student interactions and teacher feedback; (3) Team (collaborative) learning, conducted in the conferencing environment; (4) Assignment activities, both for individuals and learning teams. Each week, each student in a learning team submitted in the on-line conference two insightful questions (Q), based on the lecture and readings. The student then tried to provide a good answer (A) for each question. Then, each group member critiqued and ranked the Q&As from each other member of the group, with the aim of identifying a candidate 'Best Q&A of the Week', which the group members subsequently refined and submitted for a group grade. Students gave high ratings to the course in general and to the team learning, conferencing, and assignment activities. The experience improved the teacher's attitude and enthusiasm for teaching.

Action learning team ‐ building bridges within a local council

States that building bridges with political colleagues who do not share a common ideology can be difficult and that adopting a conciliatory approach without watering down one’s principles raises its own challenges. Reports that as both an elected representative and researcher, the author collaborated with a number of her colleagues in an action learning team to analyse the results of adopting a Heart Politics approach towards their political antagonists, using strategic questioning as a participatory tool. Reveals that in the process the action learning team learned a great deal about the importance of genuine listening and relationship building and about how to cultivate trust and respect among a diverse group of community representatives.