Textbook Lecture Online Homework Discussion Section Peer Instruction JiTT Interactive Examples Collaborative Group Learning How Important is this Component in Helping You Understand the Material? Not Very Useful Useful Very Useful What’s Wrong With This Picture? 70% of students say that they “rarely” or “never” read the textbook before class. Building effective tools for “flipping” a course (How we flipped our phys intro courses at IL) Collaborators: G. Gladding, D. Brookes, T. Stelzer

At the time of the previous slide… Lectures were twice a week, 80 minutes each Lectures “covered” textbook (since students didn’t read it) A few (~3) clicker questions sprinkled in A survey was administered at the end of the course—that’s how we knew stats from previous slide

Coulomb’s Law Test Electric Fields Test N=16 in each group

Coulomb’s Law Test Electric Fields Test Field Lines/Flux Test Gauss’ Law Test

5 Coulomb’s Law Test Electric Fields Test Field Lines/Flux Test Gauss’ Law Test Retention Test

6 MLM’s more effective than text! Effect size = 0.7 p < 0.01

7 MLM’s Made Learning Easier! How difficult was this physics course, compared with other courses you have taken at UIUC? ( ) One of the most difficult. … ( ) One of the easiest courses.

8 MLM’s Made Learning Easier! How difficult was this physics course, compared with other courses you have taken at UIUC? ( ) One of the most difficult. … ( ) One of the easiest courses.

9

10 Which statement reflects your attitude toward physics now?

11 Overall, how important were the lectures in helping you understand the course material? ( ) Essential … ( ) Useless.

After we flipped course… (Got NSF grant and spent 3 yrs flipping) Lectures were twice a week, 50 minutes each (reduced 1 hr/week of lectures!) Students came to class much better prepared to engage with the material, having viewed the MLM (we now call them pre-lectures) Class time is spent largely doing conceptual clicker questions (~8/lecture) plus one challenging worked out example at the end

Take home messages You don’t have to recite what is in the textbook when you teach –Offload coverage of basic content to technology (if designed well) or to textbooks if you can get students to read them (good luck!) –Spend classtime coaching students’ learning, refining their understanding, and developing their problem solving skills –Lecturing is effective for a minority of students (those who become professors like yourselves) –Helping students become actively engaged improves learning

Questions?