Teaching Economics the Collaborative Way: Unpacking student teachers’ experiences of structured online team-based learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63569/ajopac/08/01/10Keywords:
flipped instructional design, online team-based learning , Teaching Methodology Economics , mixed methods design, individual-Ready Assurance Test , team-Ready Assurance Test , Thematic analysisAbstract
Recently, interest in team-based learning (TBL) as a collaborative, flipped learning and teaching strategy has increased. TBL enables students to follow a structured process that enhances their engagement and collective accountability. The purpose of Teaching Methodology Economics is to expose student teachers to the online team-based learning (TBL) strategy to increase student engagement, accountability and collaboration in the course. An open distance e-learning (ODeL) environment can benefit from the active, structured small-group learning that TBL offers. An ODeL course at a College of Education employed TBL as an example of a flipped instructional design. The experiences of Teaching Methodology Economics student teachers who participated in an online TBL strategy served as the basis for the single-case study reported here, which employed a mixed-methods design. The study participants (n = 340) completed multiple-choice questions virtually via video conferencing, and 12 team representatives (TRs) were selected for interviews as the quota sample (n = 12). Transcripts were downloaded, and video recordings were uploaded into NVivo 14.0, an AI-enabled qualitative software package. Using this software, thematic analysis was employed to generate themes reflecting the participating student teachers’ experiences of the TBL strategy. The findings revealed that participants developed professional attributes, were motivated to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as team members, and recognised the value of working and collaborating in groups. The TBL strategy was applied within a flipped instructional design and was foregrounded within the social constructivist frame, which provided student teachers with online learning opportunities for active engagement, co-constructed new knowledge, facilitated the sharing of experiences, encouraged accountability, and supported reflection on prior learning in an online teaching practice course. Future research should adopt an evidence-based practice approach, which may yield different results regarding an online TBL strategy, even when applied to other fully online courses. Further experimental investigations are needed to compare the teaching methodologies for commerce subjects.
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