flipped classroom does not automatically result in higher pass rates a case study for the course Applied Mechanics part 1, 1 st Bachelor, Engineering Science Evert Vanecht student counselor Faculty of Engineering Science KU Leuven

content higher education in Belgium? what is flipped teaching? how is this put into practice? were the students activated? what is the impact on learning outcomes? what is the perception of the students? what does literature say? how to proceed? 2

higher education in Flanders?

Flanders o 5 universities and 22 university colleges o we have a bachelor and master structure (Bologna) o the general admission requirement for Bachelor Programmes is the Flemish secondary education diploma o No entrance exams 4

higher KU Leuven ? heart of Western Europe founded in 1425 Belgium's largest and highest-ranked university one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe caters to more than 40,000 students spread out over 16 faculties Faculty of Engineering Science has a total of 1,600 students 523 new first year bachelor students started at our faculty 5

what is flipped teaching?

flipped teaching o flipped classroom, backwards classroom, Thayer method o “blended learning” students study new content online (usually at home) former homework is done in class o in the classroom: coaching and interaction instead of passive one-way information transfer 7 source:

what is flipped teaching? 8 source:

what is flipped teaching? 9 why flip? o increase learning outcomes by beter use of face-to-face time by activating students during alle phases (before, during, and after class) o technology easily available Many options for recording videos Many options for streaming videolab – Toledo youtube

how is this put into practice?

11 bachelor Engineering Science Applied Mechanics – part 1 (5 ECTS) o when: 1 st bachelor, 1 st semester o teaching team: Prof. Jos Vander Sloten, Prof. Dirk Vandepitte, Riet Callens, Tinne De Laet, Evert Vanecht o number of students: 638 (2 groups) implemented for the first time this academic year

how is this put into practice? 12 traditional? lectures, practice sessions, exam limited theory! exercise exam! goal: students make exercises during the semester (active/independent) how did we flip? before each lesson (except 1 st ), watch one or more short video’s (max. 15 minutes) in class: o brief summary o exercise on blackboard by teacher o solve problem under guidance of teacher and assistent

how is this put into practice? 13 web clips recorded via tablet-screencasts: digital recording of tablet screen output, including audio recording (ExplainEverything-app) combining ‘development by hand’ (cfr. chalkboard) and pieces of prepared text, graphics and voice recording streamed via virtual learning platform (videolab and Toledo)

were the students activated?

15 during interactive lecture: Yes … o students made excercises and asked questions 15 student representatives (hearing 13 November 2013) o were very enthusiastic about the approach o suggested to implement in other courses o web lectures are a good preparation for the lessons o web clips should not last much longer than 10 minutes

were the students activated? before interaction college: #stud =

were the students activated? before interaction college: No 16% 35% 42% 52% 66% 60% 71% #stud = 257 percentage of students that did not watch 17

what is the impact on learning outcomes?

19 Score /20 # students distribution exam scores all students

what is the impact on learning outcomes? 20 Score /20 # students distribution exam scores all students

what is the impact on learning outcomes? correlation between activity level and exam score 21

contradiction! student representatives perceive ‘flipped classroom’ as more activating many students are not activated before the interactive lecture learning outcomes are not better  survey did students got more activated? were they better prepared for class? did they study more efficient/effective? 22

what is the perception of the students?

25% participated in survey 35% of these students gave additional feedback 17% engineer-architect/ 83% engineer all students 24

what is the perception of the students? - flipped teaching I’m enthusiastic about the current approach (flipped teaching) this approach suits me because it forces me to make exercises in class this approach is not good for me because I could not keep up 25

what is the perception of the students? - web clips I found the web clips usefulI did not look at the webclips I prepared myself well for the interactive lectures viewing the web clips before class should be mandatory 26

what is the perception of the students? - interactive lectures I made excercises in an independent manner during the interactive lectures I could not keep up during the interactive lectures because I did not master the new concepts yet 27

what is the perception of the students? – making excercises I have made exercises actively and independently during the semester 28

what is the perception of the students? – suggestions for us webclips should be shorter (boring, too slow) - 27% slides should be available (to study at own pace) - 11% content of web clips was repeated at start of class (web clips redundant and/or first 15 min of interactive lecture of little interest) - 16% 29

what is the perception of the students? – suggestions for themselves "I should have made ​​ a lot of exercises on a regular basis and not all exercises at the end of the semester" “you just have to make enough exercises" “just do a lot of exercises and start early!" "I obviously need to practice more during the semester" "exercises are much more important than theory. I would make more exercises and then go back to theory when something is unclear. Now I wanted to first understand the theory, and then make exercises. However, this strategy was not correct" 30

what does literature say?

Freeman et al. - a meta-analysis of 225 studies that reported data on traditional lectures versus active learning in undergraduate STEM courses - average examination scores raised by 6% - average failure rate decreased from 34% to 22% - less effective for large class sizes (>110) Kettle - watching videos = least enjoyable part for the students - weaker, less diligent students were not equipped for the problem-solving lesson after watching a video lecture Freeman et al, PNAS, 2014 M. Kettle, Physics Eduction,

what does literature say? Toto and Nguyen suggest the use of a ‘door check’ quiz - 1 to 3 question quiz to encourage the students to view the web clips Lucke et al. suggest the use of a Class Response System (CRS) - allows students to use their mobile devices to respond to a variety of (graded) questions during class - encourages student engagement and participation - providing immediate feedback to both students and instructors - particularly in large classes R, Toto and H. Nguyen, Frontiers in Education Conference, 2009 Lucke et al, Frontiers in Education Conference,

how to proceed?

how will we proceed? we keep on flipping! interactive lectures o no summary of the web clip content at the start of class web colleges o emphasize importance of preparation o where possible shorter and more powerful o mandatory o activating questions during web lecture (grade) o monitor viewing habits and send warnings 35

acknowledgement thanks to o Dirk Vandepitte, Jos Vander Sloten, Riet Callens, Kathleen Geraedts, Tinne De Laet 36

questions? suggestions? Evert Vanecht student counselor Faculty of Engineering Science 37