About Jim
Jim Sibley is Director of the Centre for Instructional Support at the Faculty of Applied Science at University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. As a faculty developer, he has led a 20-year implementation of Team-Based Learning in Engineering at UBC with a focus on large classroom facilitation. Jim has 40 years of experience in faculty development, support, and training at UBC. Jim has written two books Getting Started with Team-Based Learning published by Stylus, and a Guide to Teaching for New Faculty at UBC published at Lulu. He is an international TBL consultant, having worked at schools in Australia, Canada, Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Uruguay, Kenya, and the United States. Jim has in the past been an active member of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative and has served on its board and many of its sub-committees. He has mentored colleagues from around the world in the Team-Based Learning Collaborative’s Train the Trainer mentorship program. He now hosts and runs the most complete Team-Based-Learning website in the world – learntbl.ca. He has run and administered the free Team-based Learning listerv for many years. The Listserv serves almost 1000 TBL teachers from around the world.
Jim has served on various editorial boards – most recently the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (term 2014-2017), as a guest editor for a special issue of JECT on “Coaching and Leadership”, as an invited reviewer for the Teaching and Learning Inquiry journal, and a past editorial board member of the Canadian Alpine Journal.
Jim has a long history of volunteerism – having served on the Executive of the Vancouver Alpine Club, Whitewater Kayak Association of BC, Federation of BC Mountain Clubs, and Vancouver Kayak Club. He served as a volunteer instructor for FMCBC Avalanche and Mountaineering courses, Jericho Ocean Kayak Club, and the Vancouver Whitewater Kayak Club. He served on the board of the Vancouver Fringe Festival for 8 years. Currently, his volunteer time is split between kitchen duties and Union Gospel Mission (275,000+ free meals served a year!) and the Vancouver Shambhala Buddhist meditation centre. He is also currently president of his condominium strata council.
Awards
2023 – UBC Recognition for 40 years of Service
2021 – Dean’s Medal of Distinction for Service to UBC Applied Science
2013 – Vancouver Fringe Theatre Festival – Volunteer of the Year
2011 – Faculty Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
2010 – Profile in University of British Columbia Annual Report
2010 – Inaugural Winner of Applied Science Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service – Staff Member
2010 – Nominated for University of British Columbia President’s Service Award
2009 – University of British Columbia Richard Spencer Award for IT Innovation
Selected Publications
- Constrained Choice Activities: A Simple Way to Improve Critical Thinking – Bryan O’Dwyer, Bill Roberson and Jim Sibley, EDUCAUSE Review, January 2023.
- Guide to Teaching for New Faculty at UBC – 2nd Edition (book) – December 2022
- Team-Based Learning Revisited – Bill Roberson and Jim Sibley, EDUCAUSE Review, June 2019.
- Self-Bias and Gender-Bias in Student Peer Evaluation: An Expanded Study
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
Authors: Peter M. Ostafichuk and Jim Sibley – 2019 - A Model to Develop Peer Feedback Skills in First-Year Engineering Students
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
Authors: Stephen Mattucci, Jim Sibley, Jonathan Nakane, and Peter Ostafichuk – 2018 - Redesigning the UBC First-Year Introduction to Engineering: Successes and Challenges
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
Authors: Peter M. Ostafichuk, Carol P. Jaeger, Jon Nakane, Susan Nesbit, and Jim Sibley – 2017 - Special Issue on Coaching and Leadership – Journal of Excellence in College Teaching – Guest Editor – 2016
- Getting Started with Team-Based Learning (book) – 2013
- Team-Based Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities (book)– Invited Chapter – 2011
- Guide to Teaching for New Faculty at UBC (book) – 2010
- Team-Based Learning: Fundamentals, Implementation and Research (Webcast Audio Seminar Series) – 2010
Authors: N. El-Sawi, Larry Michaelsen, E. E. McKee, Brenda Roman, Ruth E Levine, P. G. Koles, Jim Sibley, Dean Parmelee, Paul Haidet, and Sandy Cook - Knowledge is No Longer Enough in New Directions in Teaching and Learning Special Issue – Team-Based Learning: Small-Group Learning’s Next Big Step – Authors: Jim Sibley, Dean Parmelee – Invited Chapter – 2009
My Philosophy
Leading by Listening. Faculty development puts you in a powerful position outside of the classroom experience to connect stories and see patterns that a single faculty member might not be able to see. Only by listening carefully to these stories can I better understand the educational world around us and see patterns and connections that are easier for someone on the “outside” to see. When a teacher comes to me, I am in a position to gather wisdom and share the gathered wisdom imparted to me through many long-standing conversations and listening to many teachers stories of how we teach, how we learn, and how our students experience their education. In the words of Proust, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.”
Listening to people into their own wisdom is at the centre of my practice. Inspiring people take well thought out instructional “chances” in the safest way possible is at the heart of my practice. My primary task as a faculty developer is to help develop faculty members understanding of the connections between pedagogic possibility and their own practical, authentic, and meaningful instruction. I believe in creating an environment where faculty can make well informed decisions based both on ideas presented in workshops and consultations, and their own particular context. To find solutions that work for them and their students.
Current Position
Director
Centre for Instructional Support
Faculty of Applied Science
University of British Columbia
1214-6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
V6T 1Z4
My 2019 resume
My 2014 teaching dossier
This is simply the single best teaching method available (the focus is college teaching). It guarantees deeper learning, the development of critical thinking skills, collaborative skills, social skills. Moreover, class becomes a fun, extremely engaging experience. Everyone should consider teaching with TBL, in any discipline.
Workshop Participant
Very thought provoking workshop – an unexpected pleasure!
I found it to be inspiring.
Thank you for your time and generosity.
This was the missing piece for me in my teaching practice.
It was very rich, fulfilling, inspiring and helpful.
To be effective for the complex task facing us, one also need a high level of teaching and learning expertise and that is impossible for most faculty to achieve. It requires a collaboration with someone like Jim Sibley who has the discipline expertise and a passion for teaching and learning that, quite frankly, I found to be inspiring.
I have never met someone so helpful. Always trying to find ways to help others succeed. As they say down here – good on ya mate!
I would say if you’re motivated to have fun in the classroom and want to enjoy every class, and you want the students to leave energized about your subject, this is for you. Now I will not teach a course without Team-Based Learning.
The rewards are incredible. The energy in the classroom is phenomenal, and the feedback we’ve gotten from faculty is sky-high in terms of preference for TBL and not wanting to go back to lectures.
When I adopted this, it was a turning point in my career, and I became a much happier professor, and I think students became happier, and they learned more in my classes.
I love the enthusiasm and energy of students. It’s just so much more fun.
It means fun! I don’t have to lecture, which I hated. I get to know my students. TBL is a heck of a lot more work than lecturing, but it’s also a lot more fun.
What do I see when TBL is implemented well? Students excited about learning, and faculty falling in love with teaching. Lots of energy in the room. Lots of engagement. The way learning should be.