Team-based learning: A collaborative learning and teaching strategy

Dr Rajalingam originally trained as an engineer, but his passion is higher education. He has been a teacher and scholar of higher education since 2004. He received his Ph.D. in Education Psychology from Monash University Australia in 2011. In 2012, he joined the Lee Kong Chain School of Medicine, a joint school of Nanyang Technological University Singapore and Imperial College London. Part of the pioneering team, he took on various faculty and management positions culminating in the role of Assistant Dean for Educational Development.

Today he continues to be actively involved with the medical school as a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education. In 2020, Dr. Rajalingam took on leadership of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Pedagogy at Nanyang Technological University, which is charged with academic development across the University. He is a sought-after speaker and consults widely on educational innovation. In 2022, he was appointed Honorary Reader at Brunel Medical School in Brunel University London, where he is consulting on the large-scale implementation of Team-Based Learning.

Larry K. Michaelsen (Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from The University of Michigan) David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, Professor of Management at Central Missouri State University, a Carnegie Scholar, a Fulbright Senior Scholar and, former Editor of the Journal of Management Education. He is active in faculty and staff development activities and has conducted workshops on teaching effectively with small groups in a wide variety of university and, corporate settings. Dr. Michaelsen has also received numerous college, university and national awards for his outstanding teaching and for his pioneering work in two areas. One is the development of Team-Based Learning, a comprehensive small-group based instructional process that is now being used in over 100 academic disciplines and on over 200 campuses in the US and in eight foreign countries.

Professor Ferenczi is currently Director of Academic Affairs, Head of Admissions and Head of Assessment at Brunel Medical School which he joined in October 2020. Brunel Medical School opened its doors to the first Cohort of students a few weeks ago. Professor Ferenczi spent the previous 8 years setting up the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University and Imperial College London. Prior to this, Ferenczi was Professor of Physiological Sciences in the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial. Apart from Medical Education, his scientific interests focus on the molecular mechanisms of cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction which he investigated using a range of pioneering biophysical techniques, from caged-compound photolysis to time-resolved, low angle x-ray diffraction.

Professor Naomi Low-Beer is the Founding Dean of Brunel Medical School. She is an Obstetrician – Gynaecologist by background, having previously worked as a consultant at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust. Naomi combined her clinical role with medical education at Imperial College and as Vice Dean for Education subsequently oversaw the development and delivery of a new undergraduate medical programme at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) in Singapore, a partnership between Imperial College London and Nanyang Technological University. One of the defining features of this programme was the implementation of TBL on a large scale, with TBL completely replacing face-to-face lectures. During her 7 years at in Singapore, Naomi led the LKCMedicine Medical Education Research & Scholarship Unit, co-authoring a number of publications on TBL during this time. In her current role, Naomi leads the UK’s newest Medical School, with an international pioneer cohort of medical students from more than 30 countries. Brunel Medical School’s brand new medical programme includes a number of innovative features, including TBL, programmatic assessment, early patient experience, and a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.