{"292411":{"#nid":"292411","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Flip This Class: Tech Professors Pioneer New Learning Models","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDiscarding an age-old and widely accepted teaching model \u2014 the classic lecture format \u2014 is not for the academically faint of heart.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENor is designing and implementing a new, wholly innovative teaching model with which to replace it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYet increasingly, that is what faculty members on Tech\u2019s campus are choosing to do, specifically by adopting what\u2019s called an \u0022inverted\u0022 \u2014 or \u0022flipped\u0022 \u2014 classroom model. This model asks students to view pre-filmed lectures at home, then treats class time as a dedicated problem-solving workshop.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDonald Webster, associate chair and professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, began teaching the inverted course concept back in the fall of 2012.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEven as a professor with a lot of experience, [it was] a little terrifying, definitely a leap of faith,\u201d Webster said. \u201cBut problem-solving \u2014 that\u2019s how students learn.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEncouraged by fellow faculty members, Webster spent six months planning the design and schedule of his new model. In spring 2013, he launched his first inverted course, a fluid mechanics class, known as CEE 3040.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt was a learning experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of things went really well, some things changed,\u201d Webster said. But from the start, he said, it was \u201cvital that as an instructor, I was thoughtful about the setup of the course and how students accessed information.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, at first, his class sessions relied purely on group work. But in his second iteration of the fluid mechanics course, he began to work example problems at the start of the class.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EClassroom Environs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe dynamic of Webster\u2019s fluid mechanics classroom looks something like this:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore coming to class, students view a handful of short lecture videos, which typically average eight to 11 minutes in length. Once in class, Webster begins by demonstrating a practice problem, after which the students work in groups of two to tackle additional problem sets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents can raise their hands for help, and either Webster or a teaching assistant will come over to help demystify the problem area.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETables designed for two people reflect the course\u2019s emphasis on paired learning. Limiting group size to two students encourages engagement and openness because, as Webster said, \u201cThere\u2019s nowhere for a third student to hide or sit on the sideline.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheeled chairs, however, allow groups the flexibility to maneuver around and collaborate with students at other tables. When this happens, students effectively become one another\u2019s learning resources, acting as teaching assistants to their peers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStudent Experience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudent feedback on this model has been overwhelmingly positive. Webster attributes this to two factors: the active problem solving, which lets students see if they\u2019ve truly grasped the concept; and the control enabled by the videos, which students can pause, rewind or rewatch.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDiane Jlelaty, a third-year civil engineering student, agrees with that assessment. She has taken two inverted courses taught by Webster, a dynamics course and, this semester, a fluid mechanics class.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn her view, any technically heavy course can benefit from the inverted format, specifically for the increased opportunity to practice problem solving.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOn exams, we\u2019re not asked to describe theory, we\u2019re asked to perform question problems,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of difference producing a solution yourself, since it has to come from your own understanding of the materials, and learning via lecture.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJlelaty, who will work in an applied computing mechanics lab in Switzerland this summer, recommends the inverted course model to all students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf it\u2019s ever even a question, take it without a second of hesitation,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt so good about a course as I do this one.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf the less positive feedback from students, most seems to stem from surprise that they had enrolled in a flipped course. Currently, the OSCAR registration system lacks indicators to denote which teaching model a class will follow. Instructors using the inverted model generally announce their intentions on the first day of class. To find out ahead of time if a class will follow the inverted model, students can email the professor of the course in question.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther challenges for students have been related to class format, grading, and the level of engagement from the professor, all of which varied based on the class and instructor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELessons Learned\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt hasn\u2019t all been smooth sailing. In Webster\u2019s third semester teaching the inverted course, student results on the midterm didn\u2019t meet expectations \u2014 which, he said, could have shaken his faith in the whole model.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut after a firm talk with the class, he readministered the exam, and scores were remarkably better than those earned by students in a regular lecture format.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow in his fourth iteration of the inverted fluid mechanics course, Webster continues to refine his design. He has begun to require attendance, having seen that students who come to class perform remarkably better on exams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWendy Newstetter, director of Learning Sciences Research for the College of Engineering, said the situated feedback enabled by the inverted model allows for just-in-time teaching tailored to student needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen you first flip, the classroom setting becomes a window on the problems students are having on a grand scale, and that\u2019s a moment we\u2019ve never had before,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s eye-opening.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents and professors are jointly exploring new territory when it comes to inverted, or flipped, classes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students and professors are jointly exploring new territory when it comes to inverted, or flipped, classes."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2014-04-24 10:51:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:15","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"292351":{"id":"292351","type":"image","title":"The \u0022Flipped\u0022 Classroom","body":null,"created":"1449244313","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:51:53","changed":"1475894991","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:51","alt":"The \u0022Flipped\u0022 Classroom","file":{"fid":"199276","name":"162275301-a.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/162275301-a_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/162275301-a_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1828554,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/162275301-a_0.jpg?itok=jm1ti2eN"}}},"media_ids":["292351"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"91991","name":"flipped classroom"},{"id":"3823","name":"learning"},{"id":"166847","name":"students"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stucomm@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EElana Burton\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}