This book has arisen from a Higher Education Academy funded workshop, held in October 2012, to bring together academics who regularly use team projects in their teaching in higher education. The attendees at the workshop were all devoted to using team projects in some form or other, and at the event they shared best practice. In closing the workshop there was agreement that the reported good practice and ideas could be shared more widely, so the concept of this book was born. Many ideas in the book may not be new, but this is the first time descriptions of a wide range of activities and effective practice has been put together in one volume, together with discussion of the issues that commonly arise, to offer suggestions for avoiding or reducing the impact of difficulties for learners. In making the volume free to read online, we hope to reach a wider readership, including those short of resources, who may obtain ideas and insights into the practice of using team projects in their discipline, from which they can develop new activities, with some justification. Contributions were sought from further afield than the workshop attendees to also allow for effective practice to be shared from those unable to attend the workshop. Many of us in higher education use team projects in our teaching, with varying degrees of success, in that the many issues that may arise often prevent the activity from being completely successful. Professionals in Higher Education, who teach or who support learning, often achieve success in some areas and can be said to be applying effective practice; it is by bringing together cases that present good or effective practice, that potential solutions to issues arising in others’ implementations may be found.

This book examines what collaboration means in practice, and the factors that enable effective team collaboration for learning and teaching in higher education. It explains how academics can work more collaboratively, and how universities can organise and govern themselves by means of collaboration. The book brings together current research and commentaries on collaboration in higher education to provide important guidance derived from a synthesis and evaluation of the existing empirical research and commentaries in the field. The book will benefit all readers who are interested in making their own teams and higher education organisations more collaborative. It will help them plan collaborative innovations in their organisations, identify priorities for professional capacity building, and design collaborative organisational structures.

The book is divided into five parts representing five key issues discussed at the workshop, with the call for contributions to this book framed around the following topic areas: 1. Organisation - team size and composition, supporting with sessions such as lectures and tutorials, sourcing projects, ways in which tutors monitor progress and provide guidance. 2. Management – strategies and tools for teams to use for project management, and ways in which students manage their project progress. 3. Assessment - issues of individual participation, how to assess learning, skills and personal development. Assessment of process and/or product, and fairness in group assessing. 4. Development of skills - using team projects to provide opportunities, getting students to recognise them, and reflection on learning and self development. 5. Differences from the workplace – preparing students for global team working.

Active blended learning (ABL) is a pedagogical approach that combines sensemaking activities with focused interactions in appropriate learning settings. ABL has become a great learning tool as it is easily accessible online, with digitally rich environments, close peer and tutor interactions, and accommodations per individual learner needs. It encompasses a variety of concepts, methods, and techniques, such as collaborative learning, experiential learning, problem-based learning, team-based learning, and flipped classrooms. ABL is a tool used by educators to develop learner autonomy, engaging students in knowledge construction, reflection, and critique. In the current educational climate, there is a strong case for the implementation of ABL. Cases on Active Blended Learning in Higher Education explores strategies and methods to implement ABL in higher education. It will provide insights into teaching practice by describing the experiences and reflections of academics from around the world. The chapters analyze enablers, barriers to engagement, outcomes, implications, and recommendations to benefit from ABL in different contexts, as well as associated concepts and models. While highlighting topics such as personalized university courses, remote service learning, team-based learning, and universal design, this book is ideal for in-service and preservice teachers, administrators, instructional designers, teacher educators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in pedagogical approaches aligned to ABL and how this works in higher education institutions.

In recent years, virtual teams have become a feature of most corporate workplaces, yet few academic programs prepare students to work in virtual teams, and few textbooks support the development of key skills for virtual teamwork. The primary purpose of this book is to enable higher education students to participate in virtual teams with students from other institutions, who potentially operate in different countries, time zones, and/or cultures. The book guides students through the process of working in virtual team projects for their classes, and helps them to engage with the learning experiences, and to respond to potential challenges. The book is directed towards students within any of the following disciplines: Business; Information Technology; Communication Studies; and Engineering. One section of the book also guides teachers through the process of organizing virtual team projects, and explores the teacher/teacher collaboration that is an inevitable consequence of organizing inter-institutional student virtual team projects. It provides advice for teachers on how to manage administrative challenges such as conflicting institutional schedules and grading mechanisms. In addition, it discusses research themes and data gathering and analysis techniques for teachers who wish to publish findings about the virtual team process and outcomes. As well as students and teachers, the book is also useful for researchers exploring any of the following themes: Technology use in virtual teams; Communication strategies and international communication in virtual teams; Communities of learning, e-learning, and virtual teams; Challenges of virtual teamwork; Planning a virtual team collaboration project; and Gathering and analyzing data about virtual collaboration.

This book describes team-based learning (TBL), an unusually powerful and versatile teaching strategy that enables teachers to take small group learning to a whole new level of effectiveness. It is the only pedagogical use of small groups that is based on a recognition of the critical difference between "groups" and "teams", and intentionally employs specific procedures to transform newly-formed groups into high performance learning teams.This book is a complete guide to implementing TBL in a way that will promote the deep learning all teachers strive for. This is a teaching strategy that promotes critical thinking, collaboration, mastery of discipline knowledge, and the ability to apply it.Part I covers the basics, beginning with an analysis of the relative merits and limitations of small groups and teams. It then sets out the processes, with much practical advice, for transforming small groups into cohesive teams, for creating effective assignments and thinking through the implications of team-based learning.In Part II teachers from disciplines as varied as accounting, biology, business, ecology, chemistry, health education and law describe their use of team-based learning. They also demonstrate how this teaching strategy can be applied equally effectively in environments such as large classes, mixed traditional and on-line classes, and with highly diverse student populations.Part III offers a synopsis of the major lessons to be learned from the experiences of the teachers who have used TBL, as described in Part II. For teachers contemplating the use of TBL, this section provides answers to key questions, e.g., whether to use team-based learning, what it takes to make it work effectively, and what benefits one can expect from it–for the teacher as well as for the learners.The appendices answer frequently asked questions, include useful forms and exercises, and offer advice on peer evaluations and grading. A related Web site that allows readers to “continue the conversation,” view video material, access indexed descriptions of applications in various disciplines and post questions further enriches the book. The editors’ claim that team-based instruction can transform the quality of student learning is fully supported by the empirical evidence and examples they present. An important book for all teachers in higher education.