3C: Testing Out Active Engagement Strategies

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Module 3A : Intro to Active Student Engagement | Module 3B: Designing for Engagement | Module 3C: Test Out Active Engagement

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Expected Time for Module 3C: 1-2 hours

Module 3C Description: Now that you have read about, designed and discussed active learning strategies with your peers, how would you plan to implement your flipped lecture/learning activity designs in your classroom or context? In this module, 3C, you will work on an implementation plan for your course or instructional situation. If you want to try it out in your class now, that would be great! You have a whole course of peers and instructors here to support you and provide feedback if you want to try it out! Don't have time to implement a complete flipped activity, that is ok, sharing teaching and learning strategies you have already tried out will be a great way to disseminate best practices with peers too!

Module 3C Objectives: At the end of this module, participants will have:

Planned to implement a flipped classroom unit, session or course
Tried out a flipped or active learning strategy in your classroom

Flipped Instruction Implementation

There are several approaches you could use to implement flipping in your classroom. Depending on your comfort level and previous experience, you can chose from a variety of approaches. You do not have to think about flipping as an all or nothing endeavor. You can ease into flipping if you just want to try it out on a small scale to you can redesign a whole semester course and jump into the deep end. However, no matter what approach you take, since this will probably be a new teaching/learning approach for you, please consider collecting data on how the approach works for both you and your students.

Baby Steps Approach
Try just using an online video or an active learning activity to supplement what you already do and see how that goes before dedicating a lot of time to rethink all of your lectures and course materials.
- Online videos can help students review for exams, and revisit traditional lecture material when they still have questions.
- Using an active learning activity to see if students can apply content from a traditional lecture will help you understand where students are getting stuck.
- Advantage - get to try out a new approach (either online or in a F2F classroom) and see how it goes for you before dedicating a lot time to redesigning on a larger scale. You can learn how it will go and then make adjustments as you go.
- Disadvantage - Students may experience disjointed course material if they do not understand the purpose of this new video or classroom activity or not see the connections between traditional methods and flipped methods
Trail and Error Approach
Try out one or two full flipped component (video lecture with related in-class learning activity) for just one topic/content area of your course
- Designing a full flipped component on a single topic will give you a better idea of how students will react to a full flipped course. However, plan the 'flipped' experience near the end of the semester so students do not come to expect that all course content will be flipped
- Make sure you explain what a flipped activity is and why you are doing it (better for student buy in)
- Advantage - you can test out a full flipped component and see how it works for your students. If you explain what flipping means, and then collect feedback from them, students can help you improve the design and provide feedback for improvement. A full flipped component (online video/engaged learning activity) may be more successful since the two parts were designed together.
- Disadvantage - If done too early in the course, or just randomly across the course, students may be confused about flipping and the benefits of flipping.
Jumping into the Deep End - Just Do It Approach
Plan a full semester flip where all the content is presented in an online lecture format and all in-class sessions involve engaging students in active learning activities
- A full flipped course will help condition students to the course expectations and will provide continuity across the full course
- Designing a full flipped course may help you develop a more coherent and holistic approach to your course instead of just pockets of design
- Advantage - students will know the expectations up front and learn to adapt to the new strategy as the semester goes along
- Disadvantage - It will require a lot of time on your part to design a full flipped course and it may be better to try it out and learn from mistakes instead of designing it all one way and then having to go back and redesign if there is a problem. Students who do not the flipped format will have a full semester of flipping and may resist the new strategy.

Evaluating Flipped Instruction

In addition to documenting if students are learning in your course (assessment) which you normally do; you should also consider collecting data/evidence to evaluate how the flipped approach is working in your context for both you and your students.

Think about what "Assessment" really means to you. How do you define assessment of student learning? What do you think are good measures of measuring student learning and/or evaluating a course? Here are some open source assessment links available on the web to help to think about defining, designing, implementing and integrating assessment/evaluation

First, think about assessment as a continuous cycle, not something that is once and done. The diagram to the right is a concise representation of what an assessment cycle is.

Second, when doing assessment think multiple measures - you should not just use one measure or type of assessment and you should decide what type of assessment to use based on your objectives/outcomes

Download this chartthat describes different ways of measuring learning and may help you select the right assessment tool for the job (From the University of Connecticut)

Visit the University of Connecticut Assessment Primer website (see graphic to the right) and read about direct and indirect measures of assessment, qualitative and quantitative assessment measures, and everything you always wanted to know about using rubrics for assessment

Read about the Nine principles of best practice for assessing student learning (AAHE) that are seminal best practices for assessing student learning

1. Get a feel for assessment and evaluation by providing feedback at 3 different levels for this Teach Flipped course:

Assessing your Learning Perceptions: Complete the end of course survey based on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) you took at the beginning of this course that will demonstrate how your thinking has changed about flipping courses across the time frame of this course. After you complete the end of course CBAM survey we will send you your before and after profile.
Evaluating the Teach Flipped Course for Course Improvement: Please think about the value of this Teaching Flipped Course and provide anonymous feedback so we can use that for redesigning and adapting this course for future Teaching Flipped courses. We also would appreciate any feedback you can provide in our exit survey about your experience of learning how to flip your course.
Evaluating the Online Learning Environment: Complete the Canvas Instructure End of the Course Canvas Survey so that Canvas Instructure can evaluate your online Canvas experience.

INTERACT WITH PEERS!

Use the 3C Discussion Forum to discuss which flipping approach you might consider using. Share your ideas about which approach (baby steps, trial and error or jumping into the deep end) will work best for you! What do you consider the advantages and disadvantages of each and which one looks more appealing to you at this point. Share your idea for a plan for flipping with your peers, this is your last chance to get feedback on your ideas from this awesome pool of experts and creative teachers!

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