Student time spent on flipped classes

[the_geneticist]

Students would rather have the instructor explain the material first, and then do any practice problems at home (or not at all).  Instructors would rather the students do the reading first and be able to do more interesting and in-depth activities in class.  It's a really tough sell a lot of places to convince students that it would be worth their time to learn the basics outside of class.  I tried a semi-flipped approach in a majors class at a SLAC and had to stop.  The epic whining from asking them to do work outside of class was ridiculous (but we have sports & clubs & friends!).  They hated that it was obvious if they were unprepared for class (you are making me feel bad!  no fair!).  I switched to a "mini lecture" followed by "practice problems" during class.
No way I'd do a flipped classroom unless the students were expected to do it in most of their classes.

It would be nice if faculty could present the data on how effective studying outside of class is associated with academic performance in a way that students would accept. I have tried to use the "how many hours of practice each week does it take to become a good soccer player?" analogy without success.

Well, the analogy assumes that they want to become good at this.  Or they don't realize that even the best athletes spend hours and hours drilling/training/lifting/etc.  They probably think that mastering a skill takes inborn talent and not hard work.

[Liquidambar]

Thank you, everyone, for the comments.  This helped me realize I need to think hard about my pedagogical goals and what my current approach is/isn't already accomplishing.  If I don't know what I'm trying to do, I won't be able to sell it to students.

The upper level classes I taught remotely this semester, which I thought would be fun to flip because these are strong students that I'd enjoy engaging with more, probably aren't the highest priority for that.  Students already do well and learn a good amount.

However, I could envision benefits to flipping two of my lower level courses.  They are foundational, and more students struggle in them.

Rather than quizzes on readings, I use this reading response writing assignment. Compared to quizzes, the upside is that students practice argumentative reasoning and produce material they can use/refer to during discussions in class (they are forced to think harder and fear looking stupid in front of peers). Downside is that quizzes, if multiple choice or true/false, can be machine graded by the LMS.

Interesting.  Do you think that type of writing assignment would work in a course that involves solving fairly basic quantitative problems?  I'd like to get the students to think more instead of just manipulating symbols, but that feels like a pretty advanced thing to do before the material has even been discussed in class.

My classes usually have weekly homework assignments.  Those of you who talked about flipped classes having a lot more assessment (mainly Aster, I think), would you replace the weekly assignment with daily smaller assignments?  I had in mind that students could work on some parts of the weekly assignment during class time.

[mamselle]

Reviving this thread because

   a) the topic just came up in another thread, and
   b) I might be aiming towards something like this in a couple of the areas I work in going forward.
   c) no other thread seems to have appeared with the topic since then.

I was particularly struck by Puget's comment about the difference between 'just recording a lecture' and preparing a filmed presentation that worked for a flipped class to study from.

I tried (last fall, I think) doing an experimental first-try tape on a tiny bit of a presentation I was thinking about, and realized the problem, but got stuck trying to figure out what would work to fix it.

Any input, helps, critical points to consider would be useful.

Thanks in advance.

M.

[Puget]

I was particularly struck by Puget's comment about the difference between 'just recording a lecture' and preparing a filmed presentation that worked for a flipped class to study from.

It is all about language pragmatics--

When you're teaching live, it is more of a conversation-- in a conversation, we don't expect perfect fluency, verbal fillers (um, you know, etc) are less noticeable and more accepted, and digressions are OK. You can also assess understanding and backtrack, slow down etc. as needed.

A recorded lecture is held to a much different standard. The viewer expects a certain level of polish and fluency, and it needs to be super clear in order to stand alone. Things that would be fine when teaching live are super annoying in a recording-- just watch some online videos and you'll see what I mean.

For recorded lectures, PowerPoint will let you record narration and animation timing directly on each slide as you go through it, then export a video file of the result.

My tips:
-- Script everything. Yes, it will sound scripted, but unlike live teaching, that is what people expect from a video. It will help you be much clearer and more concise.
--Practice before recording. You will find things that you need to change in the script.
-- Keep segments really short, no more than 15 min., 10 is better.
--  Put learning checks between segments to reinforce what they were supposed to have learned (I use multiple choice questions with instant feedback and the opportunity to try again-- these have some points associated with them so students actually do them).
-- Use slides with the key points in short bullet points and images. Keep the design clean and simple, with high contrast, and verbally describe everything of importance on the screen (e.g., "this graph shows. . .", this is an accessibility issue). Animate slides to have each point appear as you talk about it, but do NOT use pointless flashy animations and transitions, which are just distracting.
-- Think about whether you actually need video or just audio. I decided video of me talking next to my slides really adds nothing and is potentially distracting-- I want them looking at the slides not me. No video also means I don't have to worry about how I look, the background, or looking directly at the camera (rather than the script) while recording-- much easier!

[mamselle]

Wow!

Gold.

Thank you.

M.

[poiuy]

That is a great summary, Puget.  I agree with all your suggestions.
As someone who does a lot of asynchronous online teaching, the only thing I will add to your point about keeping your lecture videos short, is: keep each video confined to one topic, or spread one topic across 2 videos maximum.
There are many reasons:
1. it is easier to update discrete modules with new information, rather than going strictly by time and have topics split across videos.
2. Can embed learning goals / mini reviews for each topic more logically and consistently. 
3. It's easier for the instructor and the student to have discrete topics.

[Puget]

That is a great summary, Puget.  I agree with all your suggestions.
As someone who does a lot of asynchronous online teaching, the only thing I will add to your point about keeping your lecture videos short, is: keep each video confined to one topic, or spread one topic across 2 videos maximum.
There are many reasons:
1. it is easier to update discrete modules with new information, rather than going strictly by time and have topics split across videos.
2. Can embed learning goals / mini reviews for each topic more logically and consistently. 
3. It's easier for the instructor and the student to have discrete topics.

Yes, each of my segments is on a specific topic, with learning checks in between. Each ends with an "up next" slide telling them what the next topic is, and there is a navigation bar that lists everything. They seem to like knowing exactly what they need to do, and it makes it easy for them to go back and review particular topics when studying for exams.