IMPACT Live!

 View Only
Expand all | Collapse all

IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

  • 1.  IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-05-2022 19:20:00

    Have you tried flipping a lesson, or perhaps an entire unit or course?  Have you participated in a flipped lesson or course as a student?  What advice do you have for a math instructor who is preparing to Flip a lesson, unit or course?  Or, if you are on the fence hoping to flip soon, what questions do you have for the community about what has worked or has not worked?

     



    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-06-2022 09:01:00
    Thanks much for addressing this topic, Kim.

    I'm flipping an entire course, a new course for our school, which starts in two days.  It's Quantitative Reasoning (a.k.a. Math for Liberal Arts).  I am hopeful that the flipped classroom environment will be a good fit for a course that focuses on contextualizing math in the wider world, so that I can guide conversations according to the directions that the students care about.

    I am so thankful that you have provided some resources, in the blog post.  The K. Patricia Cross Academy has a wonderful selection and helpful organization of material.  I welcome any ideas from the community about what works and what doesn't work in the real-life application of the flipped classroom.

    ------------------------------
    Rick Powers
    Instructor
    Western Technical College
    La Crosse WI
    powersr@westerntc.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 3.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-09-2022 11:47:00
    Rick Powers, How fun to hear that you are flipping a QR class.  We should share some of our activities with one another; I am always looking for better activities to use!  I taught a QR course in a flipped format as a Synchronized Online Class (uggh....during C-19 shut-down days) and also in person (went MUCH better in person!).  Students were very receptive to the format and reported liking the way we were using class time. 

    I don't think my activities are GREAT (yet!) but some of them were good at getting to some of the critical thinking we are always shooting for in QR.

    Regarding your Question about what WORKS, here is the best thing I learned the hard way:  I have found that there must be an assessment of the out-of-class videos or reading requirements.  Even if it is counting toward the grade, there are far too many students who won't do the video/notes/reading/ etc before class because it feels "optional".  When there was an assessment Every. Single. Class at the Start of Class, they were far more likely to come prepared.

    Thanks so much for the discussion!

    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-07-2022 12:50:00
    All of my classes have a degree of flipping. Students may have to watch videos and answer questions or complete some basic information sheets. I want students to have an idea of what is going to be taught in class before we talk about it. It is a scary thing to try but has worked well for me.

    ------------------------------
    Vicki Todd
    Southwestern CC
    Sylva NC
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-07-2022 14:14:00

    I suggest having a goal and starting small.  My goal was to flip my class once per week.  Having the students doing some of the learning outside of class gave me time to group work and small projects in class.
    Also, have some way of ensuring that the students do the work outside of class and assign a grade to it.  If you just say "watch this video" they won't do it.  Have a set of questions based on the video they have to submit.  Creating the questions and grading them adds more work for you, but there are online systems you can use for that.  Setting up the online systems takes time, but probably saves time in the long run, especially if it's a class you'll teach year after year.

     

    George

     

    George Hurlburt
    Professor of Mathematics
    Corning Community College
    1 Academic Drive
    Corning, NY  14830
    607-962-9324

     






  • 6.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-09-2022 11:52:00
    George Hurlburt, I agree with the idea to starting small and having a goal.  Even one class per week is a GREAT step forward for students.  Like you said, it can be a little more work to start, but I have also found (like you mentioned) that you can build on it each semester.  SO, if you flipped one session per week and then each semester added a new session each week....you would have all the materials you needed for a fully flipped course in just 2 or there semesters.  I really like that idea!

    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-08-2022 12:46:00
    There are numerous keys to a quality flip.  

    Outside of Class:

    1. High quality videos that serve as a lecture for the students.  The videos must develop the mathematics/statistics as well as provide a wide variety of examples.  The videos could be those supplied by your course materials, but should be supplemented with videos of the instructor. 
    2. A guided notebook that requires students to take notes from the video lectures. Check that these are filled in by doing a quick check at the start of class. 
    3. Ideally, there would also be interactive/engaging explorations that require students to engage the mathematics/statistics. 

    In Class: 


    Key to a high-quality flip are the types of activities one does during class.  After all, the students have just received your lecture outside of class. Here are some options: 

    1. Bare minimum -- have students complete their "homework" in class.  Require students to work together so that peer-to-peer instruction takes place.  Students have already heard explanations from the instructor's point of view.  Peer tutoring allows students to hear information from a different point of view (and not a person of authority).  The students doing the instruction develops a better understanding of the material too.  We all know that we learn by teaching. 
    2. Use quality group explorations/activities.  This is what I have done.  Randomly break students into small groups.  Develop explorations/activities that develop the concepts to be learned.  Often, these can go beyond the typical lecture.  Students use Google Docs to create a single report of their results.  This gets graded by the instructor.  
    3. Use classroom clicker systems to electronically deliver questions to students to assess their understanding of materials learned at home.  When students struggle with these questions, the instructor targets a mini-lecture to address the topics students are struggling with.  I also use these as an opportunity for peer-to-peer instruction.  The clicker system I use allows me to deliver the same question a second time after assigning the students to small groups.  I tend to pair students who get different answers.  This strikes a discussion among the students and promotes better understanding.

    ------------------------------
    Michael Sullivan
    Sullivan Texts; Joliet Junior College
    Joliet IL
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-09-2022 12:05:00
    Michael Sullivan, Thank you for sharing these AWESOME points. I use the Guided Notes, too.
    (I started using guided notes back in the day of "Self-Paced Lab" classes where students were watching videos in class and working through developmental level courses with some date flexibility.  Students were asked to "take notes" but those notes would be "lost", "left out in the truck", "someone at home threw them away", etc.....and braver students started to say, "I just don't need to take notes to learn from the video.  I don't like it".  SO....I created Guided Notes and student success rates went up, as a result of having a deliverable item to submit in class.
    So for me, when I moved to Flipped Teaching, Guided Notes were a natural resource for me to gravitate towards.  It is refreshing to hear others using that approach, too. 

    Regarding with your #3:  I have not been using the clicker system, but that would be a really good "next step" for me.  I am going to take George Hurlburt's advice (a few posts above)  and "start small" with a goal....my goal is going to be to try one similar assessment (I will probably use Kahoot!) in each class each unit.  I think I will end up finding it so beneficial that I will want to use it weekly.  Maybe I will look for you and George in Toronto and give you an update on whether I met the goal, ha ha...

    Thanks for sharing, Michael!​

    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-10-2022 11:01:00
    Thanks Michael and Kim:

    I have two contributions, thanks to our faculty support people:

    1) It is important to have some way to measure the out-of-class engagement of students.  As an alternative to checking notebooks, our support person recommended using Google Forms (forms.google.com), which can be embedded in an LMS such as Blackboard. (To embed, click the "Send" button, and use the < > symbol)  A question asking for a quick summary statement of the material, or some simple multiple choice questions, can be used.  We have just recently gone back to in-person classes, and I am in favor of physical notebooks for better engagement, so I might try your approach instead.

    An idea for that start-of-class info:  have students rate their understanding as "I will need help from others during class" on one end, and "I will be able to help others during class", to put them in the mindset of peer collaboration.

    2) I have not used the clicker method.  My technique is to have a Google shared document, with editing privileges for students, which I project on the screen in class.  The responses are anonymous, though, so I don't have the ability to connect students who have different answers.  That's a good idea -- there may be a way to incorporate that with my method, or maybe next year I'll explore using clickers.

    Thanks again for the great ideas!

    ------------------------------
    Rick Powers
    Instructor
    Western Technical College
    La Crosse WI
    powersr@westerntc.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 10.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-13-2022 13:21:00
    Rick, I really like your idea of using Google Forms.  I think that Microsoft has a similar tool (Smartsheet), too, but I am more familar with Google Forms.  I am going to consider how to use that in class.  Thank you for the great idea.

    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-09-2022 14:49:00
    Flipped Classroom Logistics

    How do you score student work in a flipped classroom? What percentage do you weight lessons, homework, etc. since lessons are now "homework" and homework and group work is now "classwork"?

    Also, what do you do for students who come to class without having done the prep work? Do you have them engage in class activities still (including group work) or do you ask them to use class time to catch up on the prep work they should have done? Neither seems like an ideal option but I can't think of other ideas.

    A colleague and I are considering making the change to Flipped for one of our Dev Ed sequences but we are still thinking through logistics, any input you have is appreciated.

    ------------------------------
    Jessica Hoppe
    Spokane Falls Community College
    Spokane WA
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-09-2022 11:49:00
    Vicki Todd, do you use some of your class time for Active and Collaborative Learning as a result of "flipping", or are you using the out-of-class videos / questions as additional lecture material to supplement the time you use in class for lecture?

    ------------------------------
    Kim Granger
    Professor
    St. Louis CC - Wildwood
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-11-2022 09:41:00
    I will actually be flipping a 7 week Pre-Algebra course this October and am terrified - it only meets 2x a week for 3 hours each time (which isn't great for anyone, let alone pre-Algebra).  I already know getting them to do anything outside of class is a challenge, so if anyone has done this at such a low level, please share!

    ------------------------------
    Lisa Feinman
    Project ACCCESS Coordinator
    CC of Baltimore County
    Catonsville MD
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-11-2022 11:06:00
    Lisa

    I do something similar in the summer. 

    I tell students to consider the class an online class with face to face support. There is no way to have the amount of time in class to be able to lecture all the topics. I give a fly by every week. 


    ------------------------------
    Vicki Todd
    Southwestern CC
    Sylva NC
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-11-2022 11:59:00
    Vicki, I like that idea!  I'll try to see if I can get them to buy in.

    ------------------------------
    Lisa Feinman
    Project ACCCESS Coordinator
    CC of Baltimore County
    Catonsville MD
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: IMPACT in Action - Lessons from Flipping

    Posted 09-12-2022 14:48:00
    Lisa,

    I don't teach an express pre-algebra course, but at the algebra level, I do. To encourage them to come to class prepared, I have guided notes that students can fill out while watching videos. They upload these videos to the LMS and I grade them based on a completion score. In class, we spend the entire time working on problems together. I am lucky to have a room with several whiteboards, so I have students work in groups of 2 or 3 and I walk around the room giving guidance and advice. I find this really works with the algebra students - they definitely appreciate the active classroom as opposed to 3 hours listening to me ramble on. The students also really like learning from each other, knowing that I'm there to help catch any mistakes that might sneak in. 

    I've played with several strategies regarding the values of the guided notes. I've seen the most success when I've counted the assignment toward an extra credit score on the exams. This way, students that don't think they need to come to class prepared don't get frustrated with "busy" work. But most students love extra credit - so are willing to do a little extra busy work. I get a largest number of students coming to class prepared this way as compared to them being a homework or participation grade - two other strategies I've tried.

    ------------------------------
    Dustin Potter
    Professor Mathematics
    Collin College
    Wylie TX
    ------------------------------