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The Wisconsin Experience is UW-Madison’s vision for the total student experience

The Wisconsin Experience combines learning in and out of the classroom & promotes empathy and humility, intellectual curiosity and confidence, and the ability to apply knowledge and skills to solve problems. Tied to the Wisconsin Idea and steeped in long-standing institutional values – the commitment to the truth, shared participation in decision-making, and service to local and global communities – the Wisconsin Experience describes how students develop and integrate these core values across their educational experience. Team work is an essential element of the Wisconsin Experience.

What makes teams successful? New research (Duhigg, 2016) reveals surprising truths about why some work groups thrive and others falter. Google's Project Aristotle concludes that behaviors that create psychological safety, such as conversational equality (taking turns speaking and listening to each other) and social sensitivity (skilled interpretation of feelings and needs of team members), increase a team's collective intelligence.

Learning objectives

After completing this module, you will have enhanced your abilities to:

Apply knowledge and skills to solve problems in collaboration with others.
Share examples and critiques with others.
Learn from others’ examples and experiences.
Participate in shared decision making.
Contribute to community.
Develop and demonstrate cultural understanding of self and others.

Readings and resources

Wisconsin Experience, Office of the Provost, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin Idea, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Duhigg, Charles (2016). What Google learned from Its quest to build the perfect team. New York Times (Feb 26, 2016). | PDF
Hrynchak, P., and H. Batty. 2012. 'The educational theory basis of team-based learning', Medical Teacher, 34: 796-801. | PDF
Team-Based Learning Collaborative