ABSTRACT
This article reflects what we have learned since the William H Bowen School of Law’s decision in 2014 to adopt team-based learning in its two real property first-year courses. Since 2014, every Bowen student has learned property in a team-based learning system. The purpose of this article is not to provide a treatise on team-based learning; those details are readily available in excellent articles, books, websites, and even an active, enthusiastic listserv. This article is a reflection on our process of implementation, and the choices (and missteps) we have made as we have worked to make this flexible learning strategy fit the needs of our curriculum, our faculty, and most importantly our students. Our decisions about how best to use this learning strategy have been and continue to be rooted in team-based learning’s essential elements and the core components that frame the experience for our students. Our experience with team-based learning has also forced us to become more expert in learning theory, as we have worked to anticipate and manage any increased social stress team-based learning may cause students, to ensure students use their experiences in a team to improve their individual capacity, and to accurately grade the property course while still motivating students to fully participate in teams.
Our own evidence that team-based learning has improved our students’ learning is preliminary, but positive. In 2017 – the first year students taught property with team-based learning were eligible to take the Arkansas Bar Exam – our students scored higher on the MBE property questions relative to the national average than they did in any other tested subject. Team-based learning has challenged our students and us, but our adoption of the learning system has energized our classrooms and reinvigorated our teaching.
Gustafson, Lindsey P, Reflections on Four Years of Team-Based Learning in First-Year Property (May 23, 2019).
First posted 2019-06-18 06:15:01
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