Dr. Beason-Abmayr as she interactively discusses material with BIOC 335 students
While many flipped and SCAL@R courses have proved successful, some Rice faculty members remain hesitant to use SCAL@R spaces or flip their classes because they fear it means changing everything about their teaching. What is the payoff of flipping a class, and will it outweigh the costs of changing?
Biochemistry and Cell Biology lecturer Beth Beason-Abmayr is passionate about flipping her classes. “I would teach every class this way if I could,” declared Beason-Abmayr. “There are still misconceptions out there about the amount of work to flip a class or use a SCAL@R space. Flipping may take a little more time investment in the beginning, but like traditional lectures, you only need to tweak the video clips a little after the first year.”
“It [time investment to flip a lecture] really pays off in terms of what students get out of the class when they aren’t spending most of the class time taking notes on the lecture, “Beason-Abmayr continued. “Active learning during class time helps students achieve affective goals, which are goals that address attitude, motivation, interest, confidence, enthusiasm, etc. and are difficult to measure.” Beason-Abmayr said the use of flipped lectures and SCAL@R teaching spaces has enhanced her teaching experience and she has also received positive feedback from her students, but where does an instructor begin if they want to try either of the tools?
Flipping One Lecture at a Time
When Beason-Abmayr started experimenting with SCAL@R in the fall of 2011, she had no Thursday classes, so she began flipping her lectures for BIOC 311 (Advanced Experimental Biosciences) on those days. Thursdays were “when I prepared the videos. I stayed about a week ahead of the students. Thursdays, I would stay late – it is more quiet in the evening, less background noise – and create 3-5 short videos,” she explained.
Although using Panopto to record her videos was very time consuming, Beason-Abmayr emphasized, “It is so much easier now, working with videos on Camtasia and Ensemble.” (Note: simple recording instructions are published on the EdTech web site: http://edtech.blogs.rice.edu/how-to-videos/).
Once her videos are created, Beason-Abmayr tweaks her lectures each semester, but, for the most part, the technology aspect of Beason-Abmayr’s course extends no farther than OWL-Space. “Each semester,” Beason-Abmayr says, “I just select the appropriate videos for the current topic and post the links in OWL-Space.”
Beason-Abmayr uses OWL-space to collect student feedback about her class and incorporates modifications based on their input. In one course, students write brief reflections every few weeks. “I love reading about what stood out the most, interested them, challenged them,” she explained, “but I also use the feedback to shape the course.” She plans to continue using this activity in the upcoming semester.
Incorporating Primary Literature for SCAL@R Activities
A BIOC 335 collaborates to solve some follow-up problems on their homework article posted on OWL-space
Flipping a class does not require a SCAL@R space, and using a SCAL@R space does not require recording video lectures. SCAL@R spaces can be used by any instructor who wants to incorporate group activities within their class time, and flipping a class, Beason-Abmayr explains, means, “Students study, read, or work with the basic content and background information before coming to class.” Thus, a flipped class can involve more active learning such as discussions or group problem solving along with shorter, in-class lectures.
One of Beason-Abmayr’s SCAL@R activities includes the exploration of primary literature in her lecture course on Cellular and Molecular Animal Physiology (Biochemistry 335). With students in this course ranging from freshmen to seniors and working toward various majors, Beason-Abmayr divides her students into diverse teams, which collaborate in and out of her classroom. She utilizes OWL-Space to assign supplemental reading: “One of the best things about OWL-Space is linking to journal articles for my class. If Fondren has a subscription for the journal, I just post the link in OWL-Space. Any student on the Rice network can use the journals. By posting the link in OWL-Space, students in my class can go directly to the article, straight from the OWL-Space site and they don’t have to search for it on their own.”
Dr. Beason-Abmayr keeps her students engaged and active in her SCAL@R classes!
Off-campus students can use VPN (virtual private network) to connect to the campus network and access the restricted articles. “Linking to journal articles on OWL-Space is such an easy way to get real-world articles to my students,” said Beason-Abmayr, “and I don’t have to worry about copyright infringement or making paper copies.” After students have read the journal articles, they are encouraged to discuss the author’s findings in their next class. Through follow-up questions about these articles on her exams, Beason-Abmayr noted that the group discussions successfully helped students grasp the material. Students, including freshmen, became more actively involved in class discussions during the semester, which suggests that SCAL@R spaces and activities encourage small group discussions and help build student confidence through their contributions to the group!