Amber Seidel (assistant professor of human development and family studies at Penn State York) and Joe Seidel (part-time instructor of physics and engineering at Penn State Harrisburg and Elizabethtown College) completed the flipped classroom cohort on our campus last summer. Both worked to integrate the methodology into their courses in the fall and spring of this academic year. Yesterday they presented their findings and recommendations to the campus.
Both felt the re-design efforts/time required were well worth it in terms of improved student outcomes and evidence of students taking more responsibility for their own learning. Both also saw an increase in study habits and witnessed improved conversations about the content and improved quality of work. Some of their suggestions follow:
- Consider carefully how flipping a class fits your content, students, context. Don’t simply follow the general description of “flipping” (recording lectures and working on problems in class), but carefully tailor it to make sense for your learning outcomes. For some courses, putting content into video format makes sense, for others, it will mean something else. In all cases, work outside of class preps students for more in-depth work during class time.
- Avoid the course and a half syndrome – Don’t create a scenario where you expect students to spend more time than is appropriate for a 3-credit course. Carefully monitor student time and faculty time both in and out of class.
- Choose to do things during class time that are enhanced by the faculty member’s presence. For example, if students understand the concepts, but struggle with application, then consider working on application activities during class time.
- Use the opportunity to extend the depth of learning. Ex. – out of class, students prep by learning concepts and terms – in class, they apply the concepts in problems and activities. HDFS – students worked on longer writing projects during class to get help with expressing their ideas and the statistical elements of the course. Physics – students worked on problem sets in class after watching videos of examples of similar problems.
- Super Office Hours – Amber and Joe both felt that the in class sessions were like Super Office Hours – opportunities to see students in action and the opportunity to help with just-in-time feedback as students struggled.
- Don’t put things online just for the sake of it. If in-class discussions are fruitful, then keep them live.
- Consider creating videos that explain homework assignments as a first video project – Amber felt this saved her a lot of time over the course of the semester not having to explain the same thing many times.
- A challenge continues to be holding students accountable for the work required out of class time – they are experimenting with different ideas such as quizzing, homework checks, work in class that requires out of class work be completed – Set the standard early on and explain the new model and why both out of class and in class time are vital to their learning. Create structures that make it more likely that students do the work AND come to class.
- Remember ADA compliance with accessibility – that all videos need to be captioned to comply with ADA law. YouTube has an automatic captioner – it isn’t perfect, but it is a start. Better perhaps is to create your script before you record the video, and that can be uploaded into captioning software and also used as an alternative for those needing captioning.
- Be aware of the “Question Hogs” – those very engaged students, who want the faculty member’s time all the time, for every step…spread out the help and feedback around all students.
- Joe mentioned Dr. Eric Mazur (Harvard) who was the TLT Symposium keynote speaker this year who has been using a flipped model for years with good results in his physics class.
Not all aspects of a class need to be flipped – start slowly and discover what makes sense in your own context. Prepare students for the “new” process and build in accountability to improve your chances of success.
Thanks Amber and Joe for sharing your efforts and lessons learned about a promising model!!!
Other Resources
Edudemic – http://www.edudemic.com/guides/flipped-classrooms-guide/
U. of Washington – http://www.washington.edu/teaching/teaching-resources/engaging-students-in-learning/flipping-the-classroom/
U. of Texas CTL http://ctl.utexas.edu/teaching/flipping-a-class
Research – Flipping or active learning approach = same results – http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/03/03/research-using-active-learning-more-important-than-flipping-the-classroom.aspx
