Improving the Flipped Classroom

Through the Use of a Backchannel and Unlimited Quiz Attempts

Ryan Banow, GMCTETiffany Banow, St. Peter’s College

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Outline

1. What are the concerns with flipped classrooms?

2. Course design decisions.

3. Instructor experiences.

4. Student perceptions survey.• Videos• Backchannel• Quizzes

5. Recommendations.

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Common Concerns with Flipped Classrooms

1. Students cannot ask questions “in the moment” while viewing lectures.

2. Students may not complete the pre-class activities.

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Course Design - Videos

• Nutrition 120 course meets once a week for 3 hours.

• Students view lecture videos at home.• Lectures are chunked• Hosted on Usask’s ShareStream within

BBLearn• CenterClass backchannel tool available for

asking anonymous questions

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Course Design - Quizzes

• Students complete mandatory pre-class quizzes.• Multiple choice• 15 minute time limit• Randomized questions• Unlimited attempts• Weighted at 10%• Reviewed in class

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Course Design – In-Class

• Engage in learner-centred activities.• Case studies• Student presentations• Discussions• Demonstrations• Practice problems

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Instructor Perceptions

• Improved student engagement.

• Need to “go through” the quizzes to solidify the content.

• Time for interactive demonstrations, games and videos along with debrief in class.

• Real-time feedback within each class.

• Increased student confidence and competence.

• Student ownership of learning.

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Student Perceptions - Survey

• Methodology• Administered an online survey one week prior to the end

of the course• Closed ended questions

• Demographics• Small class• 10 students and 9 respondents

• All students under the age of 20• Either in first or second year of post-secondary• All students in sciences• All students either comfortable or very comfortable with

“computers and the internet”

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Student Perceptions - Videos

• How many weeks did you view the lecture videos?

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Student Perceptions - Videos

• How effective were the lecture videos at “teaching” you the basic concepts compared to standard in-class lectures?

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Student Perceptions – Questions’ Backchannel

• On average, how many questions did you have each week while viewing the lecture videos?

• On average, how many questions did you ask on CenterClass each week?

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Student Perceptions – Questions’ Backchannel

• Why did you not use CenterClass?

Other = “didn’t have questions”

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Student Perceptions – Questions’ Backchannel

• What method would you rather use to ask questions that arise from the video lectures?

Other = “CenterClass is fine”, “in class”

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Student Perceptions – Questions’ Backchannel

• Did the anonymity of CenterClass make you more or less likely to ask questions?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz• The students completed all of the quizzes

save for two incomplete quizzes from one student.

• How effective were the quizzes at supporting your learning?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz

• On average, how many times did you attempt each quiz?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz

• If you scored poorly on a quiz, how often did you go back and “re-learn” the content?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz

• How often did you “game” the quiz system?

• Do you think you learned from “gaming” the quiz system?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz

• In terms of learning, what would be the ideal number of allowed quiz attempts?

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Student Perceptions – Unlimited Attempts at Quiz

• How effective was the unlimited attempts feature in supporting your learning?

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Student Perceptions – Closing Thoughts

• 66% of students found the “flipped classroom” model to be “somewhat effective” or “effective”.

• 78% of students found this class to be the “same” or “less” work than other courses.

• 67% of students would “like to take another flipped class”.

• All of the students would “recommend this class to friends”.

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Recommendations

• Use a backchannel tool along with lecture videos.• Discuss with students which backchannel tool

to use• Stress the benefit of using a backchannel

instead of emails or waiting until class to ask questions

• Remind students of the backchannel often• Integrate into class

• Employ randomized quizzes with at least three attempts to prepare students for in-class application.

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Future Directions

• Employ similar course designs.• Larger classes• Upper year classes• Different subject areas

• Please, contact me if you have a course that you would like a similar design in!• ryan.banow@usask.ca• Gwenna Moss Centre, U of S