Practical approaches aimed at freeing up precious lecture time

David Read

Alternative title…

“Adventures in pursuit of the‘Flipped Classroom’”

My frustration and my

philosophy

Getting lectures online

Some flipped teaching

Student engagement with online resources

What to do with freed up lecture

time…

Final thought: Socratic lectures

▪ Appointed as School Teacher Fellow in May 2007 with funding from Chemistry for our Future (RSC).

▪ Part of role was to work with academics to support students in transition/ acclimatisation.

▪ Academics (and recently TFs) are in charge of courses and teaching approaches.

= Frustration!

Context of my role at Southampton

Moving lecture content online

“Anything that can

go online should go online!”

Didactic lecturing

Worked examples

Generic feedback on assessments

Outline of course/module

Tutorial on using Blackboard

Introduction to exam system

Recap of course/module

Safety lecture

Baby steps: Recorded lectures

Andrews, C. J., Brown, R. C., Harrison, C. K., Read, D. and Roach, P. L., New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 2010, 6,

p.56.

Baby steps: Recorded lectures

▪ 18 Organic chemistry lectures were recorded in Semester 1.

▪ 5 students were unable to attend lectures full stop.

▪ All students were given access for revision.

What we did in 2009/10

~ 20 lectures received >2000 hits from ~100

students

Do recorded lectures foster independent learning?

vs

▪ 18 Organic chemistry lectures were recorded in Semester 1.

▪ 5 students were unable to attend lectures full stop.

▪ All students were given access for revision.

▪ Conclusion: “recorded lectures are a viable substitute for the real thing”

▪ Excellent! Let’s start flipping…

What we did in 2009/10

~ 20 lectures received >2000 hits from ~100

studentsPanopto system now

adopted by the university

Is lecture capture software used at your institution?

A. B. C. D.

25% 25%25%25%A. I use itB. Yes – in my deptC. Yes – in other deptsD. No

112-11

“How do you know they’ll look

at it?”“I’m not confident

enough to do ‘just in time’ teaching.”

“They won’t turn

up to classes.”

“I spent the whole summer preparing my

lecture slides!”

“What do you do if they don’t

understand the work?”

“The students are too lazy!”

“I’m too much of a control freak.”

“I haven’t got time to plan anything

new.”

“Students can’t learn independently!”

Are you flippin’ mad? You can’t do that!

The flipped classroom needs to be populated by independent learners

If you flipped your teaching, what % of students do you think would engage

effectively?

A. B. C. D. E.

20% 20% 20%20%20%

A. ~100%B. >75%C. >50%D. >25%E. <25%

Actually, evidence from local schools and colleges suggests that engagement levels are very high when teaching is flipped.

A case study in flipped teaching• Prof Phil Gale found that his

3rd year lecture course was not popular in 11/12 (students didn’t engage with the research element).

• Phil recorded his lectures for 12/13 and made them available prior to the timetabled slots.

• The timetabled slots were then used as workshop sessions (class of ~40).

• ~50% of students watched the videos the night before or earlier.

Do students really engage with online material?

• Worked example videos produced as part of an initiative aimed at boosting performance in organic chem.

• To ensure active engagement by students, the videos were produced as video mark schemes for a vacation ‘homework’ exercise.

• Students completed self-assessment of their own work, and reported feedback and reflections back to us.

A case study: Turning worked examples into self-assessment exercises

This part of the display is captured from the

screen of a Tablet PC

The tutor is captured using a camcorder or

webcam.

The tutor models the process of constructing an

answer to the problem, explaining the key concepts

along the way.

An index aids navigation

Students manage the pace of delivery using these controls

Semi-quantitative analysis

Comment on usefulness:

Very positive e.g. “very useful”,

“excellent”

Positive e.g. “useful”, “good”

Neutral e.g. “OK”

Negative

Occurrences in responses

to Q143 10 4 0

Occurrences in responses

to Q227 27 2 2

Question 1: “How useful were the resources that we made available over the Easter? We need your feedback to help us decide if we should produce more of these resources.” Question 2: “Has this been a useful exercise for you? Please explain why you think this (whether you have a positive view or a negative one). We need your feedback so we can decide if we should do more of this sort of thing.”

Evidence of success, and of reflection

“…it is good to be able to think about where the electrons are going rather than just trying to memorise arrow positions.” “…explanation of the mechanisms…is invaluable in that we can also see the ’train of thought’ we should practise in approaching mechanisms.” “Learning the method of approaching the mechanism is just as valuable as knowing the chemistry outright.”

“…the reasons why (the mechanism) happened a certain way were explained so I understood more clearly what my mistakes were.”

Some positive feedback

“A brilliant exercise in covering things I had already understood, whilst simultaneously highlighting things I'd clearly managed to remember or even learn wrong in the first place.”  “This has been a brilliant exercise, if I’m honest…a good insight into how exams will be marked.”

“I wholeheartedly look forward to doing more of these sorts of exercises.” “I believe that this type of exercise will make a significant difference to the overall score of the class.”

Impact on attainment

CohortAverage net change

in organic exam score Jan June

Students completing the exercise* +6.1%

Students not completing the exercise -0.6%

http://www.chemistryvignettes.net/

Read, D. and Lancaster, S. J., Education in Chemistry, 2012, 49,

p.13.

What could you do with the time you’ve freed up?

Making better use of precious contact time

Voting pads

Debates

Demonstrations

Open Q & APeer assessment

activities

PBL/CBL activities

Presentations

Which of the following are used in timetabled teaching slots in your

department?

A. B. C. D. E. F. G.

14% 14% 14% 14%14%14%14%

A. Voting padsB. PBL/CBL activitiesC. DebatesD. DemonstrationsE. Student

PresentationsF. Open Q&AG. Peer assessment

activities

▪ I’ve been giving talks on biofuels in local schools and colleges since 2007.

▪ At Farnborough College, they got the students to watch a video I’d produced for homework prior to the session.

▪ I then introduced an element of debate into the talk.

▪ Plus a few demos...

The biofuels debate

And finally… The Socratic Method

Obenland, C. A., Munson, A. H. and

Hutchinson, J. S., Chem. Educ. Res.

Pract., 2012, 33,

DOI10.1039/c2rp20055d

.. a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with

opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering

questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas.

▪ There’s plenty in the literature on active learning

▪ In this study, students were given reading assignments prior to lectures.

▪ In a 50 min lecture, ~40 questions were posed to students.

▪ Students verbally express logic and reasoning.

▪ Concepts and models are built via reasoning and discussion.

Active learning in the lecture hall

Obenland, C. A., Munson, A. H. and

Hutchinson, J. S., Chem. Educ. Res.

Pract., 2012, 33,

DOI10.1039/c2rp20055d

Electrophilic substitution of phenolThe …………………… group strongly activates the benzene ring, as one of

the ……….. pairs of electrons on the oxygen atom can be donated into

the delocalised electron system. This makes the benzene ring more

susceptible to attack by ………………………….. .

Bromination of phenol

Benzene will not undergo electrophilic substitution reactions with halogens in the absence of

a …………………………… . However, the ……………………… effect of the O-H group means that

phenol will undergo such reactions e.g. with bromine:

The use of phenol as a precursor in synthetic chemistry:

Chlorination: Nitration: Sulphonation:

Video

a) Cyclohexene reacts readily with bromine, but benzene will only undergo reaction with bromine in the presence of a catalyst. Explain why this is the case. (3)

b) Under what conditions will benzene react with bromine? Write a mechanism to show the different steps of the reaction, including the generation of the electrophile. (4)

Thanks for your attention!

“Adventures in pursuit of the‘Flipped Classroom’”

My frustration and my

philosophy

Getting lectures online

Some flipped teaching

Student engagement with online resources

What to do with freed up lecture

time…

Final thought: Socratic lectures