Flipped Classroom Success Stories
Sponsored by NISOD and SoftChalk
SoftChalk’s Innovators in Online Learning initiative provided a four-part Flipped Classroom Success Stories webinar series February 27, 2013 – April 10, 2013. This series showcased four educators that have successfully flipped their classrooms. The series included a nationwide college/industry collaboration as well as discussions on a competency-based approach to teaching, the effective use of media, and what research says about why it should succeed.
The four webinars were recorded and are available in the Innovator’s in Online Learning archive. Links to the archives are provided along with the webinar descriptions below.
Flipping a High School Level Chemistry Course—All about the media
February 27, 2013
In the fall of 2012, after teaching Introduction to Chemistry for over 20 years, it was, for the first time, taught as a flipped course. At Southern State, Introduction to Chemistry is a high school level course designed for those students who either did not take high school chemistry, or took it so long ago they need a refresher. The course lessons were short video lectures which include animations, simulations, and a variety of video clips. These video lectures, with follow-up questions, are incorporated into SoftChalk which allows the lessons to be interactive. Students are also provided with handouts of the PowerPoint slides with QR codes linked to the video lectures. If the students have smart phones, they can access the video lessons on their phones using the QR codes. During class time the students do the usual problem solving, laboratory activities, etc. They also are asked to use clickers to respond to a series of questions tied to the course objectives. This formative assessment is compared with their responses to test questions related to the same course objectives..
Presenter: Don Storer, Professor, Chemistry and Division Coordinator for Life Sciences, Southern State Community College (OH)
Flipping a Public Speaking Course—a competency-based approach
March 13, 2013
In this Public Speaking course flipping helps the student be “emerged” into the content. This is accomplished using ‘Learning Modules’ to gain competency along with WorkPacs for practice, and ComPacs to develop their own content (speeches in this case).
The ‘Learning Modules’ were created with SoftChalk and include auto-graded assessments and activities. The SoftChalk ‘Certificate’ feature is used to motivate and document! Thus, both student and teacher know the content has been learned. The student is pleased with the Certificate and earns points for it, and there’s no hand-grading for the teacher. WorkPacs (Work Packages) are created for student practice. They are imbedded in the Learning Module and use Bloom’s Taxonomy levels to indicate the expected learning level. These ‘Practice’ WorkPacs are automatically graded, and students earn Participation Points with successful completion. ComPacs (Competency Packages) align with the WorkPacs, but now students enter content related to their own projects. This requires some teacher-review and hand-comments. However, after students learned the content and application through Learning Module, Self-Assessments, and WorkPacs, the ComPacs are submitted in good shape.
In this webinar you will learn how this process can make student work ‘stellar,’ as opposed to simply meeting expectations. (A true joy for both teacher and student.)
Presenter: Dr. Virginia Gregg, Professor, Communication Studies, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Flipping the Classroom for a Nationwide Community College/Industry Collaboration
March 27, 2013
This flipped classroom program is used to both teach current community college students and to re-train auto industry employees. This NSF funded National Center for Excellence, the Automotive Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative (AMTEC), involves 30 community colleges and virtually every automobile manufacturer in the USA. SoftChalk was used to shift the “lecture” to digital lessons students complete on their own so that the time they spend with their instructors can be better spent solving real-world problems. AMTEC subject matter experts and instructional designers developed a hybrid online associate’s degree program in general mechatronic maintenance composed of 12 courses, sorted into 90 stand-alone modules, each aligned to validated industry skill standards.
In this presentation we will discuss how AMTEC, this unique collaboration of colleges and industry partners, developed hybrid online lectures and in person labs to contextualize instruction so that students are more engaged and gain valuable experience in maintaining and troubleshooting complex integrated manufacturing systems. Discussion will include how AMTEC’s use of SoftChalk has been integral in developing a mechatronics maintenance curriculum that drives cost down, better aligns to industry skill standards, and helps instructors to target instruction based on student needs. In addition, we will discuss AMTEC’s current work using SoftChalk Cloud to create fault-based scenarios to further improve student learning and better analyze student performance against critical skill standards.
Presenter: Walt Barlow, AMTEC Curriculum Director, Workforce Education Specialist, Kentucky Community & Technical College System
Flipping the Classroom—How brain research, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Chickering & Gamson’s Principles say it works
April 10, 2013
What does the research show about teachers actively engaging students in problem solving (i.e. homework) in the classroom and leveraging the power of technology to receive more traditional work (lecturing) at home via computer/smart pad/or smartphone?
In this presentation we will discuss the research and reasoning behind the approach. How does the approach work with what we know as best practices for teaching millennial students? How does flip teaching fit Bloom’s Taxonomy? How does the approach hold up to Chickering and Gamson’s Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education? How is the growing field of brain-based research better informing this student-centered approach? Just what exactly does the research say about Flip Teaching? This will be a fast paced and highly visual discussion that summarizes and reviews the research and reasoning. You will also most likely pick up a Teacher Trick or two on how to better utilize SoftChalk to flip activities in your own classrooms.
Presenter: James May, Professor ESL, Faculty Fellow for Innovation and Technology, Valencia College.