Project + Team-Based Teaching
One early and seismic shift in my teaching philosophy transpired when I became a Team-Based Learning (TBL) Fellow well over a decade ago. I have since taught all of my games and media classes using my own modified vision of a TBL and projects-based pedagogical model that includes assigning students to teams to work together on projects throughout the entire semester.
In adopting some of the practices of the blended or “flipped” classroom, I have learned that I still play a key and active role in sharing my expertise in the classroom and in facilitating discussion—only I weave these discursive moments around our work on small and large student projects, sometimes by sitting with one team and having a conversation while other teams work independently.
Some of these projects take only twenty minutes to create and showcase in class while other projects take an entire semester to complete. In adapting TBL and project-based models to suit my style and strengths, I have created a variety of ways to assess comprehension and to also ensure that students are both learning from and staying engaged with games and media criticism.
