Student exam performance in flipped classroom sections is similar to that in active learning sections,and satisfaction with the flipped classroom hinges on attitudes toward learning from videos

ABSTRACT

The flipped classroom is a teaching innovation in which instructional content is delivered out of the classroom, often via videos, and the class period is used for application of the course material. While the popularity of the flipped classroom is growing exponentially, its benefits have not been extensively studied. In this study we compared three semesters of an undergraduate Genetics course that was non-flipped, but included a significant amount of active learning, to three semesters of a flipped course with the same content. Student exam performance was not statistically different between the active non-flipped and the flipped courses, suggesting that the benefits of the flipped environment may be similar to those achieved via active learning. We also examined student attitudes toward the flipped classroom, and found 56% of students were satisfied, 39% were dissatisfied, and 5% were neutral toward the flipped classroom. Our survey revealed that the clearest defining characteristic of dissatisfied students was not a dislike of classroom active learning activities. Rather, dissatisfied students disproportionately disliked, and had difficulty learning the course material, from videos.     

微课和翻转课堂在生理学实验教学中的应用

目的:探讨微课(Microlecture)结合翻转课堂(Flipped Classroom)在生理学实验教学中的应用及效果。方法:以第四军医大学2010级临床医学专业五年制学员作为研究对象,随机分为对照组(A班,42人)和试验组(B班,42人),A班(7组,6人/组)接受传统方式的授课,B班(7组,6人/组)接受微课和翻转课堂模式的授课。课程结束后,以试卷考试,统计分析考试分数,同时用问卷调查评价教学效果。结果:试验组的总成绩明显高于对照组(P0.05)。学员对微课和翻转课堂教学法的效果评价明显优于传统的授课方式,微课结合翻转课堂在生理学实验教学中的应用明显提高了学员的实验兴趣、独立思考能力、动手能力、团队协作能力及自主学习能力。结论:微课结合翻转课堂在实验教学中的应用不但可以加深理论知识的理解,提高学员的各种技能,而且可推广应用到其他实验课程。     

The Greatest Learning Return on Your Pedagogical Investment: Alignment,Assessment or In-Class Instruction?

Critical thinking is often considered an essential learning outcome of institutions in higher education. Previous work has proposed three pedagogical strategies to address this goal: more active, student-centered in-class instruction, assessments which contain higher-order cognitive questions, and greater alignment within a classroom (i.e., high agreement of the cognitive level of learning objectives, assessments, and in-class instruction). Our goals were to determine which of these factors, individually or the interactions therein, contributed most to improvements in university students’ critical thinking. We assessed students’ higher-order cognitive skills in introductory non-majors biology courses the first and last week of instruction. For each of the fifteen sections observed, we also measured the cognitive level of assessments and learning objectives, evaluated the learner-centeredness of each classroom, and calculated an alignment score for each class. The best model to explain improvements in students’ high-order cognitive skills contained the measure of learner-centeredness of the class and pre-quiz scores as a covariate. The cognitive level of assessments, learning objectives, nor alignment explained improvements in students’ critical thinking. In accordance with much of the current literature, our findings support that more student-centered classes had greater improvements in student learning. However, more research is needed to clarify the role of assessment and alignment in student learning.     

Increasing student involvement in lectures: (very) low tech innovations in a biochemistry lecture class

The inherent passivity of the traditional lecture format makes this a poor mode for learning. In this paper I outline a simple but effective approach for eliciting student participation in the intermediate size lecture course (50–100 students). Two types of question are employed to increase student involvement. Each lecture ends with a set of questions directly related to concepts that will be covered in the next session. At the following lecture, specific students, chosen at random from the class list, are called on to answer these questions. Classroom participation is also elicited by calling on students to answer questions which focus on the major points during each lecture. Finally, students are invited to submit questions for inclusion on each exam. These devices make the lecture a more active and participatory experience.     

Hybrid lecture-online format increases student grades in an undergraduate exercise physiology course at a large urban university

Hybrid courses allow students additional exposure to course content that is not possible in a traditional classroom environment. This exposure may lead to an improvement in academic performance. In this report, I describe the transition of a large undergraduate exercise physiology course from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid lecture-online format. A total of 658 final grades (traditional = 346, hybrid = 312) was used to evaluate the effect of course format on academic performance. The hybrid online portion was delivered using WebCT Vista, enhanced with various instructional technologies. The hybrid lecture portion was enhanced with an in-class response system. PowerPoint files were used to distribute in-class lectures in both formats of the course. Final student grades were 9.9% higher (83% of the increase due to an increase in the exam grade) when the course was administered in a hybrid format (P = 0.01), which translated to a one letter grade increase on a standard grading scale. Transition from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid format significantly enhanced student learning; presumably, this increase is due to the fact that students were able to increase their exposure to course content via access to material on WebCT.     

情景模拟在“医学微生物学”翻转课堂教学中的应用

翻转课堂是实现以学生为中心、提升学生自主学习能力的重要教学方法。随着线上课程的开展和学习平台技术的成熟,学生已能在课前获得足够的资源。然而,习惯于灌输式教育的学生仍缺乏自主学习的动力和方法。为此,我们教研团队尝试采用情景模拟的课堂活动设计来突破翻转环节实施的难点。研究发现,参考临床案例撰写剧本的过程能有效提升学生的自学兴趣和能力。学生课前在线预习时长和章节访问次数,以及参考资料阅读率和小组讨论时长均显著增加。课堂上,学生将课前所学知识在模拟实践中进行练习,促进了师生互动,帮助学生加深对知识的理解,提升学习成绩和满意度,同时也培养了学生的团队合作精神,建立临床思维,提升职业兴趣和能力。因此,情景模拟的融入实现了翻转课堂教学中“课前学”和“课上习”的教学闭环,为进一步推进翻转课堂的开展提供参考。     

How much structuring is beneficial with regard to examination scores? A prospective study of three forms of active learning

Many studies have demonstrated a superiority of active learning forms compared with traditional lecture. However, there is still debate as to what degree structuring is necessary with regard to high exam outcomes. Seventy-five students from a premedical school were randomly attributed to an active lecture group, a cooperative group, or a collaborative learning group. The active lecture group received lectures with questions to resolve at the end of the lecture. At the same time, the cooperative group and the collaborative group had to work on a problem and prepare presentations for their answers. The collaborative group worked in a mostly self-directed manner; the cooperative group had to follow a time schedule. For the additional work of preparing the poster presentation, the collaborative and cooperative groups were allowed 50% more working time. In part 1, all groups worked on the citric acid cycle, and in part 2, all groups worked on molecular genetics. Collaborative groups had to work on tasks and prepare presentations for their answers. At the end of each part, all three groups were subjected to the same exam. Additionally, in the collaborative and cooperative groups, the presentations were marked. All evaluations were performed by two independent examiners. Exam results of the active lecture groups were highest. Results of the cooperative group were nonsignificantly lower than the active lecture group and significantly higher than the collaborative group. The presentation quality was nonsignificantly higher in the collaborative group compared with the cooperative group. This study shows that active lecturing produced the highest exam results, which significantly differed from collaborative learning results. The additional elaboration in the cooperative and collaborative learning setting yielded the high presentation quality but apparently could not contribute further to exam scores. Cooperative learning seems to be a good compromise if high exam and presentation scores are expected.     

Formative assessment in physiology teaching using a wireless classroom communication system

Systems physiology, studied by biomedical engineers, is an analytical way to approach the homeostatic foundations of basic physiology. In many systems physiology courses, students attend lectures and are given homework and reading assignments to complete outside of class. The effectiveness of this traditional approach was compared with an approach in which a wireless classroom communication system was used to provide instant feedback on in-class learning activities and reading assignment quizzes. Homework was eliminated in this approach. The feedback system used stimulated 100% participation in class and facilitated rapid formative assessment. The results of this study indicate that learning of systems physiology concepts including physiology is at least, as if not more, effective when in-class quizzes and activities with instant feedback are used in place of traditional learning activities including homework. When results of this study are interpreted in light of possible effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on student learning in the test group, it appears that the modified instruction may be more effective than the traditional instruction.     

Teaching more by lecturing less

We carried out an experiment to determine whether student learning gains in a large, traditionally taught, upper-division lecture course in developmental biology could be increased by partially changing to a more interactive classroom format. In two successive semesters, we presented the same course syllabus using different teaching styles: in fall 2003, the traditional lecture format; and in spring 2004, decreased lecturing and addition of student participation and cooperative problem solving during class time, including frequent in-class assessment of understanding. We used performance on pretests and posttests, and on homework problems to estimate and compare student learning gains between the two semesters. Our results indicated significantly higher learning gains and better conceptual understanding in the more interactive course. To assess reproducibility of these effects, we repeated the interactive course in spring 2005 with similar results. Our findings parallel results of similar teaching-style comparisons made in other disciplines. On the basis of this evidence, we propose a general model for teaching large biology courses that incorporates interactive engagement and cooperative work in place of some lecturing, while retaining course content by demanding greater student responsibility for learning outside of class.     

Using online lectures to make time for active learning

To make time in class for group activities devoted to critical thinking, we integrated a series of short online lectures into the homework assignments of a large, introductory biology course at a research university. The majority of students viewed the online lectures before coming to class and reported that the online lectures helped them to complete the in-class activity and did not increase the amount of time they devoted to the course. In addition, students who viewed the online lecture performed better on clicker questions designed to test lower-order cognitive skills. The in-class activities then gave the students practice analyzing the information in groups and provided the instructor with feedback about the students' understanding of the material. On the basis of the results of this study, we support creating hybrid course models that allow students to learn the fundamental information outside of class time, thereby creating time during the class period to be dedicated toward the conceptual understanding of the material.     

“分子与细胞”翻转课堂教学模式在临床专业教学中的探究

提高医学创新人才培养手段是医学教育改革的重点内容之一。"分子与细胞"是临床医学教育改革的重点专业基础课,也是一门全新的整合课程,具有学时多、难度大且要求和临床专业紧密结合的特点。如何转变临床专业课程的传统教学模式,是临床专业课程改革创新的焦点。该研究通过基于嵌入式文献阅读和临床案例式的翻转课堂教学模式,将传统的面对面授课转化为以学生为中心的授课方式,将课堂主阵地由线下转移至线上,为线下课堂提供了更多创新融合的方式,同时增强了医学生对于生命学基本原理的理解,为培养具有精准医学专业背景的医学生提供了理论基础。通过三年的翻转课堂实施,临床专业卓越医生试点班学生对教学满意度以及学生成绩显著提升,说明在临床专业整合课程开展翻转课堂教学具有积极意义。     

翻转课堂在免疫学教学中的探索与实践

近年来翻转课堂作为以学生为主体、教师为主导的教学方式逐渐被应用于大学本科教学。本文介绍了翻转课堂在"免疫学"教学中的探索与实践,包括课程内容设计、知识点提取、课前自主学习资源的制作与发布、高效课堂教学活动设计与实施、评价方式及教学反思等六方面内容。翻转课堂的教学模式实现了教学由"单向传授"向"双向互动"、"被动学习"向"自主探索"的转变,学生不仅掌握了免疫学的基础知识,而且自主学习能力得以提升。     

Assessment outcome is weakly correlated with lecture attendance: influence of learning style and use of alternative materials

The relation between lecture attendance and learning is surprisingly weak, and the role of learning styles in this is poorly understood. We hypothesized that 1) academic performance is related to lecture attendance and 2) learning style influences lecture attendance and, consequently, affects performance. We also speculated that the availability of alternative resources would affect this relationship. Second-year Bachelor of Science physiology students (n = 120) self-reported their lecture attendance in a block of 21 lectures (attendance not compulsory) and use of alternative resources. Overall self-reported lecture attendance was 73 ± 2%. Female students (n = 71) attended more lectures (16.4 ± 0.6) than male students (14.3 ± 0.08, n = 49) and achieved a higher composite mark in all assessments (73.6% vs. 69.3%, P < 0.02). Marks in the final exam were not statistically different between the sexes and correlated only weakly with lecture attendance (r = 0.29, n = 49, P < 0.04 for male students; r = 0.10, n = 71, P = not significant for female students; and r =0.21, n = 120, P < 0.02 for the whole class). Of the students who passed the exam, poor attenders (<11 lectures) reported significantly more use of lecture recordings (37 ± 8%, n = 15, vs. 10 ± 1%, n = 85, P < 0.001). In a VARK learning style assessment (where V is visual, A is auditory, R is reading/writing, and K is kinesthetic), students were multimodal, although female students had a slightly higher average percentage of the R learning style (preferred read/write) compared with male students (28.9 ± 0.9%, n = 63, vs. 25.3 ± 1.3%, n = 32, P < 0.03). Lecture attendance was not correlated with measured learning style. We concluded that lecture attendance is only weakly correlated with academic performance and is not related to learning style. The substitution of alternative materials for lecture attendance appears to have a greater role than learning style in determining academic outcomes.     

Student retention of course content is improved by collaborative-group testing

We recently reported that collaborative testing (i.e., group test taking) increased student performance on quizzes. It is unknown, however, whether collaborative testing improves student retention of course content. Therefore, this study was designed to test the hypotheses that collaborative-group testing improves student retention of course content. To test this hypothesis, our undergraduate exercise physiology class of 38 students was randomly divided into two groups: group A (n = 19) and group B (n = 19). During exam 1, students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals. Immediately after completing the exam as individuals, students from group A answered a randomly selected subset of questions from exam 1 in groups of two (1 group had 3 students) to test the effectiveness of collaborative-group testing on test performance and level of student retention. On the next exam (exam 2, 4 wk later), students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals and responded to the same subset of questions from exam 1. The subset of questions was analyzed to determine the level of retention of the original test material. In addition, immediately after completing the exam as individuals, students from group B answered a randomly selected subset of questions from exam 2 in groups of two (1 group had 3 students). Finally, on the next exam (exam 3, 4 wk later), students from both groups answered questions in the traditional format as individuals and responded to the same subset of questions from exam 2. This protocol followed a randomized crossover design to control for time and order effects. Student retention of course content was reduced when students completed the original examinations individually. In sharp contrast, student retention was improved (P < 0.05) when students completed the original examinations in groups. Results suggest that collaborative testing is an effective strategy to enhance learning and increase student retention of course content.     

Human clay models versus cat dissection: how the similarity between the classroom and the exam affects student performance

This study examined the effect of different anatomic representations on student learning in a human anatomy class studying the muscular system. Specifically, we examined the efficacy of using dissected cats (with and without handouts) compared with clay sculpting of human structures. Ten undergraduate laboratory sections were assigned to three treatment groups: cat dissection only, cat dissection with handouts, and human clay sculpting with handouts. Exams included higher-order questions that presented novel anatomic images and scenarios that the students did not practice in class. The higher-order anatomy exam questions varied the degree to which students in the different treatments had to transform the anatomic representation studied during laboratory activities to match the representation used in the exam questions. In this respect, exam questions manipulated the similarity between the surface features of the anatomic representations used in the classroom versus the exam. When identifying anatomic structures presented in a photograph or diagram, student performance improved significantly when transformation demands decreased, i.e., students in the human clay sculpting treatment group performed best on human anatomy questions and students in the cat dissection treatment group performed better on cat anatomy questions (independent of the use of handouts). There were similar, but nonsignificant, trends when students were asked functional anatomy questions presented in human and cat contexts. On survey questions designed to measure student attitudes about dissection versus nonanimal alternatives, students typically preferred the method used in their treatment group, suggesting that student preference is too fluid to factor into curricular decisions. When designing curricula, instructors must choose anatomic representations that support their course goals. Human representations are most effective when teaching the human muscular system.     

Use of the web to provide learning support for a large metabolism and nutrition class

To support student learning in a large Metabolism and Nutrition class, we have introduced a web-based package, using a commercially available program, WebCT. The package was developed at a minimal cost and with limited resources. In addition to downloadable (PDF) versions of lecture Powerpoint presentations, tutorial outlines and a practical class exercise, web-based self-directed learning exercises were included to reinforce and extend lecture material in an active learning environment. The web-site also contained a variety of formative and summative assessment tasks that examined both factual recall and higher order thinking. Detailed course information, timetables and a bulletin board were also readily accessible. Student usage of the site was generally high, but varied widely between individual students. Students who achieved a high overall score for the course completed on average three times as many formative assessment items and achieved a higher score for all tests than students who did poorly. Student feedback about the site was very positive with the majority of students reporting that the course material and assessment items that were available were useful to their learning. Administration of the course was also facilitated.     

Audio-visual materials for genetics

This paper describes the use of hypermedia technology in an innovative manner to produce a tutorial on ceil ultrastructure for first-year undergraduate students with little or no experience of formal biology tuition. This replaced human tutorial support but was used in conjunction with traditional lecture and practical teaching. The study aimed to ascertain if there was any enhancement of the students' learning experience. Whilst interviews with students revealed that the tutorial had been stimulating and worthwhile, a multiple-choice assessment test used to compare these students' performances with those of students who received a traditional form of tutorial indicated that the computer-mediated tutorial did not provide any enhancement to learning. The findings raise questions regarding the use of multiple-choice methods of assessment which are discussed in terms of implications for student-centred learning strategies.     

多方位教学模式在植物生物学及实验教学中的探索北大核心CSCD

植物生物学是生物科学专业的专业基础课程。在发育生物学思想的指导下我们已构建了全面、系统、动态的植物生物学新教学体系。针对目前课程教学模式中存在的实体课堂教学模式单一、传授式教学学生听课不认真,理论课和实验课在内容和时间上的不匹配,野外实习时间短、认识植物片面、难以学以致用等问题,作者进行了教学模式改革和实践,提出了适合生物科学专业的教学新策略:实体课堂讲授与精品慕课(massive open online courses, MOOC)相结合,增加翻转课堂;理论课与实验课相结合,边讲边看;利用校园和植物园分别在早春、初夏和夏秋进行多次植物认知实习,野外实习中关注不同生境下的植物类型及其适应环境的特点。经两轮的教学实践表明,改革后在理论教学中提高了学生的学习兴趣,在实验教学中加强了能力训练,在认知实习中让学生对植物有了全面认识。该教学模式满足了素质教育的要求,进一步提高了植物生物学教学的质量,为学生后续学习其他基础课程和专业课程奠定基础。     

翻转课堂结合学生小讲课在临床微生物学检验技术实习教学中的探索

探讨翻转课堂结合学生小讲课在临床微生物学检验技术实习教学中的应用价值.选择在中南大学湘雅三医院检验科实习的2018年医学检验技术专业实习生48名为对照组,2019年的42名实习生为实验组.对照组采用传统的实习带教模式,实验组采用翻转课堂结合学生小讲课的教学模式.两组实习生均接受出科考试及满意度调查问卷填写,比较两组教学...     

Students' studying and approaches to learning in introductory biology

This exploratory study was conducted in an introductory biology course to determine 1) how students used the large lecture environment to create their own learning tasks during studying and 2) whether meaningful learning resulted from the students' efforts. Academic task research from the K-12 education literature and student approaches to learning research from the postsecondary education literature provided the theoretical framework for the mixed methods study. The subject topic was cell division. Findings showed that students 1) valued lectures to develop what they believed to be their own understanding of the topic; 2) deliberately created and engaged in learning tasks for themselves only in preparation for the unit exam; 3) used course resources, cognitive operations, and study strategies that were compatible with surface and strategic, rather than deep, approaches to learning; 4) successfully demonstrated competence in answering familiar test questions aligned with their surface and strategic approaches to studying and learning; and 5) demonstrated limited meaningful understanding of the significance of cell division processes. Implications for introductory biology education are discussed.