Team-Based Learning in the Political Science Classroom: Comparing In-person and Online Environments
By Holmsten Stephanie Seidel, University of Texas at Austin
Research suggests interactive classrooms enhance student engagement and improve comprehension. Team-based learning (TBL) is such an educational strategy that emphasizes small-group, active-learning, where most classroom time is devoted to team problem-solving. In this study I determine the effect of the pandemic-induced requirement to use TBL in a virtual environment on student attitudes towards teams. This study confirms TBL improves student attitudes towards teams during in-person semesters but has no significant impact on attitudes towards teams online. Exploring three possible explanations, I conclude that to capture the benefits of online TBL, new strategies are needed to maintain key elements of TBL.
The Journal of Political Science Education is an intellectually rigorous, path-breaking, agenda-setting journal that publishes the highest quality scholarship on teaching and pedagogical issues in political science. The journal aims to represent the full range of questions, issues and approaches regarding political science education, including teaching-related issues, methods and techniques, learning/teaching activities and devices, educational assessment in political science, graduate education, and curriculum development.