Team-based learning (TBL) has been widely used in a synchronous face-to-face setting where students and teachers are all in the same room at the same time. But with an increasing shift towards remote and hybrid modalities, more and more educators are now delivering TBL classes in online and hybrid settings.
Today, with TBL platforms like InteDashboard, you can easily conduct TBL in synchronous or asynchronous settings in face-to-face, online, and hybrid modalities. In asynchronous classes, students and teachers interact at different times and almost do not meet live. These types of courses are more in line with self-paced courses where students can do their pre-work and answer RATs / application cases in their own time.

Every situation will be different and depend on faculty, students, technology and other factors but an illustration of how TBL could be implemented in an asynchronous online modality follows below.
Online Asynchronous TBL Timeline
As you can see, asynchronous online TBL can be conducted in a three-weeks-per-topic format or in a one-week-per-topic format. We will focus on elaborating on the latter example in this article.
Pre-work and IRAT on Day 1-2
Students complete pre-work on their own along with an online Individual Readiness Assurance Test (“IRAT”). Students may start the test anytime during Day 1 or Day 2. Instructors can choose to set a duration for the IRAT or not set at any time limit.
Without time limit
With time limit
TRAT and Clarification Request on Day 3-4
Teams complete the online Team Readiness Assurance Test (“TRAT”) over a few days time. Like in a face-to-face course, one member of the team is the official reporter and submits answers on behalf of the team. If you are using InteDashboard, teams receive immediate feedback after each submission.

Other team members can view the immediate feedback as well. Teams have the option to meet at their convenience to do the TRAT all at one time together or use online communication tools of their choice to complete the TRAT at their own pace. Immediately following the TRAT, teams can request clarification on specific questions that they have not completely understood despite team discussion.
Faculty Can Analyze The Data
Before proceeding to the clarification session, faculty can visualize the following with InteDashboard:
- Item Analysis: Comparing individual and team performance
- Clarification Requests
Item Analysis: Comparing individual and team performance
Faculty can use the "Item Analysis" feature on InteDashboard to see trends on students' results. For instance, a big portion of the class might have gotten one or two questions wrong. If they get those questions wrong even during the TRAT, the faculty might want to consider focusing on clarifying those specific questions.
Faculty can also analyze the data to uncover the questions that presented more difficulty for teams during the TRAT and then decide to focus on explaining those during the clarification session.
Performance Data From The TRAT
Clarification Requests
Finally, instructors can also consider the questions for which students are explicitly asking for further clarification as seen below.

Clarification and Applications on Day 5-6
Clarifications
To address clarification requests, faculty could choose to provide an explanation directly to teams themselves or assign other teams in the course to provide explanations. Here are some ways to facilitate this asynchronously:
Faculty can record themselves explaining the topic and share the video with the teams. This allows students to rewatch the explanation at their convenience, ensuring they fully understand the content. It also saves instructors time by avoiding repeated explanations.
Another effective method is for faculty to post the questions on a forum or a class group chat and ask teams to provide a rationale within a certain amount of time. This encourages collaborative learning as teams engage in discussions to formulate their responses. Additionally, it enables instructors to see different perspectives and identify common misconceptions that may need further clarification.
Teams Work on Applications
By using InteDashboard, applications could be released for teams to work on and respond to. Teams can submit responses to multiple choice or free response application cases. Faculty can also require teams to submit a rationale along with their response to applications.
Instructors have the ability to provide narrative feedback to teams within the platform. By seamlessly integrating narrative feedback, InteDashboard enhances the feedback loop between instructors and students, fostering a constructive learning environment that promotes growth and deepens understanding.
Narrative feedback feature on InteDashboard
Application Reporting and Discussion Day 7
After the applications are submitted, faculty can reveal the answers to all the teams simultaneously and facilitate discussion with messages and feedback on application responses by using InteDashboard, or by using any other communication platform of their choice. For instance, using Microsoft teams or Slack to facilitate asynchronous discussion.
Another technique, only available within InteDashboard, is the “e-gallery walk” which is used with free response applications. This feature allows teams to vote on the best application response other than their own team. This is a way to have teams learn by reviewing other team responses and critically evaluating what makes a good response.

For more information on how to use InteDashboard to conduct an E-gallery walk, refer to this article.
Unlock the Potential of Asynchronous TBL
By allowing students and instructors to interact at different times, asynchronous TBL accommodates diverse schedules and promotes self-paced learning. Asynchronous TBL is a flexible and effective way to conduct team-based activities in face-to-face, online, and hybrid settings.
Asynchronous TBL is also particularly useful in various contexts such as nurse training, where shift work often makes synchronous sessions challenging. Some of the institutions that we know about are teaching asynchronous hybrid or online TBL, including Augusta University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Nevada Las Vegas to conduct nursing classes.
It is also ideal for adult training programs, where participants may need to balance education with work and personal commitments.
By leveraging asynchronous TBL, educators can ensure that learning is continuous and inclusive, catering to the needs of all students.
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