Flipping in study skills: ICT Literacies for Science Students

The following describes the latest iteration in our flipped classroom approach for the effective deployment of study skills within curriculum. This outlines the need to ensure students had the skills and competencies to create flow diagrams (decision trees), as they need to apply them in an assessed piece of work on Biology of Disease (Level 5 module).

In the previous year, this session was run as a two hour computer based Microsoft Visio workshop for around 40 students.

However, we have been challenging this traditional model, on a number of issues;

1. is this really the most effective way to teach some one how to create a flow diagram?
2. it doesn't account for their previous knowledge and skills. Why does a person need to attend a teaching session if they already have the skills, and can demonstrate them? Surely, we should focus our limited resources on those who need the greatest help?
3. in the increasingly fluid, cloud based, "world of software", should we be so prescriptive about the software they have to use? Surely, we should develop their digital literacies to enable them to make appropriate and informed choices which align with their needs.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Tom Ranson (e-Learning, UCS Science & Technology) for co-developing this implementation.

What did we do and why?

The following learning design outlines the workflow. The embedded video walks through the online aspect.

How did the online learners find the learning experience?

Very encouragingly, 29 completed the pre-session activity, and eight attended the face to face workshop (13 students were invited to attend given they'd not submitted).

A short follow up survey was undertaken for those who submitted online. There was a response rate of 28% (8 out of 29), so the caveat holds, take the following with a pinch of salt. The survey results indicated "their knowledge and skills of using the software to create flow diagrams has improved since completing the online activity" (3 strongly agreed, 5 agreed). This was against a backdrop of 6 out of 8 respondents never having created a flow diagram using software (such as visio, powerpoint etc).

Overall, when asked, having completed the online activity, how would you prefer to learn the skills,

• seven opted for completing the online activity to cover the skills
• one opted for attending a one hour workshop to cover the skills

When asked to justify their answers, the majority of responses can be summed up as;

• "I feel the online activity was sufficient for me personally, as I felt the background learning (self-study) helped me to understand the process"
• "I don't feel I need to attend the workshop as I have learnt independently enough to use visio to my requirements"

The response which would have preferred the workshop was the need to ask questions and address any difficulties faced. This theme was mirrored in discussions with those who attended the face to face workshop. Where (2 out of 8) made reference to broader ICT digital literacies, so preferred to have the safety net of a facilitated session to gain the required skills.

How can we improve it?

The current position has been an iterative development of implementations in other subject areas. Therefore, the overarching learning design is fine. On reflection, areas of further improvement would include;

1. clearer instructions on the choice they need to make in terms of the delivery style. When we discussed with the group who attended the workshop, a common theme was they were not aware of the online option (2 out of 8), while some thought the face to face would best because they might have questions which need answering (2 out of 8). More effective communication and expectation management at the start of the activity might have meant these people would have completed online.
2. encourage more flexibility in terms of the flow diagram they can create. Our expectations where they'd submit a flow diagram which looked like the one we provided, plus some personalisation. Interestingly, very few actually submitted the suggest flow diagram, and either an iteration of their assignment or topics aligned to their decisions. However, these all meet the requirements. Therefore, for next year, we will relax the conditions, and allow them to submit a decision flow diagram on any topic.
3. feedback from the online survey indicated some people spent a significant time researching the meanings of the different shapes used in a decision tree / flow diagram. For next year we'll explore the inclusion of FAQs around what do the different boxes mean.

If you have any questions, about how Learning Services at UCS can help include study skills into your course, please email us.

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With thanks - Image - http://reviseomatic.org/help/g-flow-charts/Flow_charts_xkcd.GIF

We have improved the way you borrow clickers: Now in the Library

For your information, we are changing where you collect and return the clickers you've booked. This has been driven by the previous process starting to creak a little given the higher demand for clickers by staff and students. This new model will allow better monitoring of returns, and ensure the packs are complete.

The new process is as follows:

1. Book the clickers and support through the web form (as previously)
2. Collect and Return the clickers and dongles at UCS Ipswich Library Reception. You scan your set out as you would a book.

Therefore, you can not collect the Clickers from the Infozone, Waterfront Building

If you have any questions, please contact the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk)

Helping students understand assessment criteria: Approach #2

The Elevate Team as part of Learning Services provide a number of in curriculum study skills sessions. One module is Scientific Study Skills. This module also requires us to set and mark a formative assessment activity. This is delivered within a flipped classroom model; pre session (one hour, online), the session (one hour, group work) and the post session (two hours, individual formative assessment).

The focus of the formative assessment is two fold; to engage with the content, and engage with the marking criteria. For instance, the classroom based learning activity is group work, where the have to plan their formative assessment, drawing on information provided (pre-session and during the lecture) to answer the question set, given the marking criteria. The plan is generated on a flip chart which is discussed with the tutor.

Given the transparency of the formative assignment within the marking criteria, it is very straight forward to mark using the Rubrics tool within the Assignment (inline grading).

The following videos walk through the learning activity from two perspectives.

What does the student do?


What does the member of staff do?

Flip, Flip and Away: An example of a blended learning model

The intention of this post is to share a learning design which employs a flipped classroom model. We (Learning Services at UCS) are currently implementing this approach when designing our in curriculum delivery of study skills.

The learning designs is based upon Bloom's (revised) Taxonomy, where the pre-session activities are around the the provision of information and the student building up key information and knowledge around the topic. This is used as the building blocks for the face to face workshop, where the tasks are around applying, analyzing and creating. The face to face tasks are designed around group collaboration, with enable peer learning opportunities and support. The face to face session focusses on active and collaborative learning activities. The post session task is their formative assessment which further builds upon the previous learning activities.

As the learning activity is spread over three weeks, with the largest proportion being delivered online, their includes a number of monitoring points and a communication plan.

If you'd like to know more about how you might use similar approaches within your teaching, learning and assessment designs, please contact the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk) within Learning Services. I would be interested to hear about perceived barriers to stop you deploying this within your curriculum.



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Image - With thanks - http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/fx_Bloom_New.jpg

Screencastify Update

A few weeks back we blogged about an excellent extension to the Chrome browser which allowed you to capture what was happening in your browser tab or on your desktop. You can read that blog post here -> http://ucselevate.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/screencastify-google-chrome-screen.html

However there have been some important developments we would like to share since our last post.

Firstly, we felt after a bit of use that the storage options were a bit limiting, you could only upload to YouTube for instance. So we decided to head over to the developers support page and we requested that an option to upload to Google Drive would be handy, as we all use Google Drive as our main tool for storage. Low and behold a week later we received an email saying this had been implemented!

Secondly, there has been a new feature that has recently cropped up, one that we were eager to see implemented. Picture in picture webcam mode. This basically, if selected, will record your webcam and put it in the bottom right hand corner of what you are recording.

This is an amazing addition to Screencastify, this will help us promote it's use as a 'voice over presentation' capturing tool.

And thirdly, but more importantly. Screencastify works on the UCS networked machines! You will need to find one with Google Chrome installed then install the extension from the web store
--> Screencastify on Chrome Web Store

Getting started with the flipped classroom teaching model

Background

The aim of this discussion is to help teaching staff at UCS contextualise a flipped classroom teaching model and identify what tools might facilitate ‘flipped classroom” within their learning designs. Therefore, it is not intended to be a definitive introduction to this fluid topic, and after reading this you are encouraged to contact the Elevate Team to discuss your ideas further.

The Elevate Team encourage staff to think about a flipped classroom teaching and learning model. This includes supporting and developing individuals and course teams to achieve their objectives.

The discussion addresses the following questions;

• what is a flipped classroom?
• what educational context underpins a flipped classroom?
• what technologies might facilitate the flipped classroom at UCS?
• how might it work in practice?

What is the flipped classroom?

Educase (2012) suggest the “flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed.

Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions. The video lecture is often seen as the key ingredient in the flipped approach, such lectures being either created by the instructor and posted online or selected from an online repository.

While a prerecorded lecture could certainly be a podcast or other audio format, the ease with which video can be accessed and viewed today has made it so ubiquitous that the flipped model has come to be identified with it.

The notion of a flipped classroom draws on such concepts as active learning, student engagement, hybrid course design, and course podcasting. The value of a flipped class is in the repurposing of class time into a workshop where students can inquire about lecture content, test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact with one another in hands-on activities. During class sessions, instructors function as coaches or advisors, encouraging students in individual inquiry and collaborative effort”.

This definition is useful, however, you might question if the pre-session activity has to be a video. You might not want to follow this very prescriptive model. For instance, the pre-session activity could be journal review, short MCQ, social bookmarking activity or discussion board activity. The important aspect is the learner is able to draw on the pre-session activity within your classroom session.

The Centre for Teaching, at Vanderbilt University suggest there are four key elements to a flipped classroom which need to be incorporated within the learning design.

• Provide an opportunity for students to gain first exposure prior to class
• Provide an incentive for students to prepare for class
• Provide a mechanism to assess student understanding
• Provide in-class activities that focus on higher level cognitive activities

A cautionary word is highlighted in the image at the start of this post.

What is the underpinning educational context of its use?

The educational context of its use can be explored through a number of different routes. The following is not a definitive list.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

In the context of Bloom’s revised taxonomy (2001), it means students are undertaking the lower levels of cognitive work (gaining knowledge and comprehension) outside of class, and focusing on the higher forms of cognitive work (application, analysis, synthesis, and/or evaluation) in class, where they have the support of their peers and instructor. (from Vanderbilt University)



Constructivist Learning Models

The constructivist learning models are often referenced when designing approaches for students to acquire higher order learning skills.

“As long as there were people asking each other questions, we have had constructivist classrooms." (Brooks, 1999 from UCD Teaching and Learning Team)

Constructivism theory can be broadly divided into:

• Cognitive (individual) constructivism: ideas are constructed by the student through a personal process
• Social (group) constructivism: ideas are constructed by the student through interactions with others (peers, lecturers and others)

It could be suggested these two easily transfer to a flipped classroom context with the learning design incorporating the strengths of both. The Table illustrates the relative importance of the learning model with the mode of delivery.

Pre-Session	Session	Post Session
Cognitive	Cognitive	Cognitive
Social	Social	Social

The relative strength of the learning model in terms of implementation within the modes of delivery can be weaved into the learning designs. For instance, the learning design should focus on cognitive processes within the online components (pre and post), as these are more readily implemented to online learning spaces. While, the social learning processes are readily suited to the face to face teaching context.

What technologies at UCS might facilitate the flipped classroom?

There are a number of technologies available at UCS which will help facilitate a flipped classroom;

Before the session (Online)

This should encourage students to access knowledge for understanding and applying before they attend the session. This would involve completing learning tasks and activities. In terms of motivation it is useful to design the learning activity to enable monitoring. This might be through including discussion board activities or short MCQs.

• Video (including talk over powerpoints, and open education resources)
• Readings (including links, articles or student generated content)

During the Session (Classroom)

The face to face time is used for creating, evaluating and analyzing the knowledge gained from the Pre-Session Activity. The following technologies should enable discourse and debate.

• Audience Response Systems (Clickers)
• Text Walls (Twitter, Poll Everywhere)
• Bring your own devices (Student Smartphones to take and share photo or video evidence)
• Flip charts and write on walls (depending in your teaching room)
• Visualiser

After the session (Online)

This should cement the learning outcomes and bring some form of closure. This might involve you or the student making summaries.

• Course blog
• Summary recordings
• Links to further reading

How might it work in practice? Reflections on IMDSCF003

The following is based on a lecture in IMDSCF003-13S1D (Communication and Study Skills).
The assessment model is a peer assessed formative assessment task (500 words). However, given a large proportion of the students are unlikely to have any previous experienced of peer assessment the learning model needed to provide opportunities for students to apply the marking scheme to example work. This required dedicating a large proportion of the lecture to this task. To create time, the session was flipped.

Pre-Session Activity

The pre-session activity was designed to take about 1 hour. The screenshot for LearnUCS illustrates the adopted process.

There were four tasks which needed to be completed, Including, knowledge transfer tasks (video), gathering information from students (quiz) and scaffolded reading (journal articles). The emphasis of the learning model was around cognitive constructivism.

The quiz task was an open question which aimed to gather information from the student. It also acted as a monitoring tool for the lecturer.

When reflecting on the activities it could have been enhanced with more thoughtful questions around the videos. This would have provided individuals with some scaffolding in terms of what they should take from the video.

Classroom Session

A key point within a flipped classroom model is to use the material in the pre-session activity within the lecture. This is strongly associated with the need to provide feedback and motivation.

Therefore, the lecturer applied a number of approaches to encourage (sign post) the pre-session activities within their assignment and motivate engagement. For instance;

• on one slide I included the names of those who had completed the pre-activity quiz (reference a big hands up), and on the same slide the percentage of the students who hadn’t logged in (easily identified using the LearnUCS Retention Centre).
• the next slide was a selection of response to the quiz question which I discussed within the framework of the question.
• I encouraged all students to re-visit the LearnUCS module where I’d added an item which listed all the quiz responses.
• I made reference to the pre-session reading when discussing a framework for effective implementation
• It also created a significant amount of time in the lecture session for the peer assessment activity. This included, talking through the marking criteria, and group work to mark a number of exemplars (using the clickers to quantify the discussion).

Post Session

The post-session activity was to include an item in LearnUCS which summarised the group peer assessment grades and the model the grades from the lecturer.

This is a simple learning design which re-enforces the elements of an effectively flipped classroom;

• Provide an opportunity for students to gain first exposure prior to class - video and scaffold readings
• Provide an incentive for students to prepare for class - motivation through communications
• Provide a mechanism to assess student understanding - clickers and class discussion
• Provide in-class activities that focus on higher level cognitive activities - clickers and class discussion

There is also the opportunity to add a fifth element

• Provide an opportunity for activities to be closed: closed down with summary of class outcomes to allow the individual student to reflect upon

Where next for you?

You are strongly recommended to contact the Elevate Team at UCS to discuss your ideas further, and ensure you have all you need to ensure you can effectively flip your classroom. Alternatively, the Elevate Team will be running an online course around flipping your classroom, see: http://ucsdigitalliteracy.blogspot.co.uk/

References

• Educase (2012) Seven things you should know about the … Flipped Classroom, available from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7081.pdf (accessed on 28th January, 2014)
• Centre for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, Flipping the Classroom, available from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/teaching-activities/flipping-the-classroom/ (accessed on 28th January, 2014)
• Teaching and Learning Team, University Campus Dublin, Educational Theory: Constructivism and Social Constructivism, available from: http://www.ucdoer.ie/index.php/Education_Theory/Constructivism_and_Social_Constructivism (accessed on 28th January, 2014)
• The Elevate Team, University Campus Suffolk (2012), An illustration of why and how you might flip your classroom, available from http://ucselevate.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/illustration-of-why-and-how-you-might.html (accessed on 28th January, 2014)

With Thanks

• Flipped Classroom Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ransomtech/7112676365/
• Blooms Revised Taxonomy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Bloom_taxonomy.jpg