Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners: International Perspectives [1st ed.] 9789811541704, 9789811541711

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Springer Texts in Education

Zachary Walker Desiree Tan Noi Keng Koh   Editors

Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners International Perspectives

Springer Texts in Education

Springer Texts in Education delivers high-quality instructional content for graduates and advanced graduates in all areas of Education and Educational Research. The textbook series is comprised of self-contained books with a broad and comprehensive coverage that are suitable for class as well as for individual self-study. All texts are authored by established experts in their fields and offer a solid methodological background, accompanied by pedagogical materials to serve students such as practical examples, exercises, case studies etc. Textbooks published in the Springer Texts in Education series are addressed to graduate and advanced graduate students, but also to researchers as important resources for their education, knowledge and teaching. Please contact Natalie Rieborn at textbooks. [email protected] for queries or to submit your book proposal.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13812

Zachary Walker • Desiree Tan Noi Keng Koh

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Editors

Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners International Perspectives

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Editors Zachary Walker University of London London, UK

Desiree Tan National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore

Noi Keng Koh Curtin University Singapore, Singapore

ISSN 2366-7672 ISSN 2366-7680 (electronic) Springer Texts in Education ISBN 978-981-15-4170-4 ISBN 978-981-15-4171-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

In 2007, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, two high school chemistry teachers from Colorado, USA, began video recording their lectures and sharing those videos with students before the students came to class. This was the forerunner to the flipped model of education, which capitalizes on the use of technology to increase time spent face-to-face between educators and students. In the past decade, flipping the classroom has grown in popularity. From K-12 to university settings, across content areas, and with different populations of students culturally and developmentally, flipped lessons have become a more common and accepted pedagogical practice. There is a paucity of research on flipped learning due to its nascent state; however, by coupling existing research with the learning sciences, cognitive education, and practical cases from the classroom, educators are beginning to understand how flipping can aid in delivering educational content. In fact, it has been asserted that flipping the classroom can increase student motivation for students in different content areas. Furthermore, flipping allows educators to recognize low performing students as well as cater to different ability group students. Most importantly, we are also starting to understand how to flip lessons most effectively and why flipping is a pedagogical practice that should be considered in most learning environments. This book demonstrates a variety of contexts and uses in which flipped learning can be utilized. As flipping has become increasingly popular, it is important to have a handbook of success stories from diverse settings that can lay the foundation for those who are embarking on using flipped instruction as a pedagogical tool as well as further encourage and stimulate experienced flippers. This handbook addresses the background of classroom flipping, explores the theoretical underpinnings for why flipping works, and shares current success stories in practice. The chapters provide readers with diverse international examples of classroom flipping, include discussions of the authors’ studies in the context of the existing research, and illustrate the impact classroom flipping has had across a spectrum of educational settings instead of focusing on a specific domain or learner context. Intended as a handbook for researchers and practitioners, the analysis of commonly used, effective techniques across a wide range of learner ages fills a gap in the literature.

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Written by authors from seven countries across three continents, it is hoped that this book inspires educators to experiment with flipping their own classrooms, provides insight about promising techniques that are well-suited to universal or particular settings, and offers new perspectives from other contexts and domains to experienced flippers. This book will serve as a valuable resource for educators and aid them in making the flipped learning experience an impactful and meaningful one for their learners. London, UK Singapore, Singapore Singapore, Singapore

Zachary Walker Desiree Tan Noi Keng Koh

Contents

Part I

Primary and Secondary Learning

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An Introduction to Flipping the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zachary Walker, Desiree Tan, Lenka Klimplová, and Huseyin Bicen

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Instructional Design: Evidence-Based Practices in the Flipped Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy Arner

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Flipping the Mathematics Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laura Leveridge Stapleton

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Flipping the English Language Arts and Literacy Classroom . . . . . Lisa A. Finnegan and Katie M. Miller

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A Flipped English Class in a Korean Middle School: Changes in English Language Teaching, Classroom Interaction, and Learning Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Byungmin Lee and Sung Hee Lim

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Flipping Physical Education Classrooms for Grades K–12 . . . . . . . 105 Amanda K. McMahon and Donald D. McMahon

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Flipping for Diverse Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Kara Rosenblatt

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The Flipped Computer Science Classroom: A Modern Approach to Programmed Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Jilian L. Reynolds and Desiree Tan

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Flipping the Secondary Classroom in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Xin Yang and Jian Wang

Part II

Higher Education and Adult Learning

10 Flipped Learning at the University Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Patrick M. O’Shea

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11 Improved Learning Performance Based on a Flipped Classroom Concept—A Case Study Based on the Course Introduction to Management Accounting for Business Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Soeren Dressler and Thomas Rachfall 12 Flipping the Business Administration Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Lenka Klimplová 13 Flipping the Classroom in Teacher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Matt Smith and Paul Gurton 14 Flipping Biomedical Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Sara Smith and Martin Khechara 15 Why Flip the Medical Resident Classroom? A Pilot Study in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Maleena Suppiah Cavert 16 Flipped Instruction Among Medical Students in Singapore . . . . . . 269 Noi Keng Koh, Barry J. Fraser, and Wai-Han Hoi 17 Current Issues and Future Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Patrick M. O’Shea

Part I

Primary and Secondary Learning

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An Introduction to Flipping the Classroom Zachary Walker, Desiree Tan, Lenka Klimplová, and Huseyin Bicen

Introduction In 2007, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, two secondary school chemistry teachers from Colorado, USA, began video recording their lectures and sharing those videos with students before the students came to class. Although Bergmann and Sams have stated the theory behind their practice predates their work in 2007, it is commonly understood that the use of flipped learning in K–12 settings began with Bergman and Sams (Noonoo, 2012). In the last decade, “flipping the classroom” has grown in popularity. From K–12 to university settings, across content areas, and with different populations of students culturally and developmentally, flipped lessons have become a more consistent and accepted pedagogical practice. This book is intended to provide examples from around the world as authors from eight countries share original research and synthesize others’ research to explain the impact flipping the classroom has had across a wide variety of educational settings and with a spectrum of learners. We will highlight how flipping is being used with a wide variety of students including those with special needs and second language learners; we will showcase how it is being used with medical professionals and business school students; we will highlight tools that are currently being used in educational settings as well as future implications for the flipped Z. Walker (&) University College London Institute of Education, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] D. Tan National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore L. Klimplová Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden H. Bicen Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_1

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classroom. Flipped instruction has been tried and tested and the evidence suggests that this method increases student motivation in different types of courses. Furthermore, with this new approach, the professor/teacher is able to recognize low-performing students as well as cater to different ability group students more easily than through traditional instruction. Although there is still a paucity of research on flipped learning due to its nascent state, coupling existing research with the learning sciences, cognitive education, and practical cases from the classroom, we are beginning to understand why flipping can be beneficial for learning. In addition, we are also starting to understand how to flip lessons most effectively and why flipping the classroom should be considered a pedagogical practice in most learning environments. While we have a lot to learn, the following chapters from both researchers and practitioners provide us with examples to consider as we plan impactful, meaningful learning experiences for learners.

Book Organization The table below shows the organization of the book and may be helpful as you are starting to read. This book highlights the theoretical and practical successes of flipping the classroom for the twenty-first century. We have deliberately chosen a wide variety of countries, topics, and age levels so that you are able to pull ideas from a wide range of teacher experiences. It is not necessary to read the book cover to cover—instead, we encourage readers to find chapters that are most appropriate for their own purposes. That being said, we have found that some of our best learning has come when we have explored strategies and techniques outside our own subject area. We encourage you to explore the entire book after you have dug deep into the chapters that are aligned with your own subject matter. The book is split into three main sections. The first section comprises of Chaps. 1, 2, and 17. Chapters 1 and 2 explore what flipping the classroom is and the evidence-based practices on how to flip. Chapter 17 will look at the future of flipping and what may be coming next in the field. The second section, Chaps. 3–9 discuss flipping the classroom in different subjects at the primary and secondary levels. This section may be especially helpful for teachers or teacher trainers. Finally, Chaps. 10–16 look at flipping the classroom for adult learners in both educational and professional development settings. There are two types of chapters—Synthesis (S) chapters and Research Report chapters (RR). Synthesis chapters include highly comprehensive literature reviews combined with data from the authors to support best practices and share practical tips. Research report chapters follow usual journal article guidelines, reporting the process and outcomes of studies on the use of flipped learning in the authors’ classrooms. Chapter

Country

Topic

Primary and secondary learning 1 USA What is flipping? 2 USA Instructional support: how to flip 3 USA Math classroom

Type S S RR (continued)

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(continued) Chapter

Country

Topic

Type

4 USA English and language arts 5 South Korea Korean english language classroom 6 USA Physical ed 7 USA Diverse learners 8 USA Computer science classroom 9 China Secondary classroom Higher education and adult learning 10 USA Flipping at university level 11 Germany Accounting 12 Sweden Business administration 13 England Teacher training 14 England Biomedical sciences 15 Singapore Ethics and communication for medical doctors 16 Singapore Flipping medical education 17 USA The future of flipping

S RR S S S RR S RR S S RR RR RR

In every chapter except for Chaps. 2 and 17, you will see the following figure which should help explain the process for flipping the classroom for that particular content and context. Pre-meeting I This will explain the materials, processes, directions given before students come to class.

This box is essentially the most basic use of flipping as defined and described in this chapter.

In-Class This will include what actually happens in class.

This may include some minor variations or additions that authors have tried or researched in their contexts.

Start of Class This will describe what students are asked to do after they have completed reviewing the Pre-Meeting content.

This may include anything special that the authors believe will help take flipping to the next level!

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Definition of Flipping the Classroom The Flipped Learning Network (2014) defined flipped learning as: “A pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.” (p. 1). The vast majority of examples from flipped learning classrooms indicate that direct instruction usually takes the form of videos that are reviewed outside of class followed by traditional “homework” that is completed during class time with the teacher present. However, it is important to understand that the definition does not require that particular approach. Moran and Milsom (2015) expand on the Flipped Learning Network’s definition by stating that: (a)lthough there is no one particular model to the flipped classroom, Pearson and the Flipped Learning Network (2014) described a few key characteristics of flipped learning. First, instructors must be selective in what they require the students to learn on their own and what is best processed within the classroom through active learning strategies. Another characteristic is a shift from a culture that is teacher centered to one that is student centered. In essence, the instructor is focused on best meeting the needs of each individual student. A final characteristic is the importance of a flexible environment that allows instructors to address various student learning styles (p. 33).

The essential components, therefore, entail content being delivered before class begins, while application exercises, in-depth discussions, problem clarification, questioning, and collaborative exercises focusing on the content presented are practiced in class (Mikkelsen, 2015). Bergman and Sams (2012) said that “the concept of a flipped class is this: that which is traditionally done in class is now done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class” (p. 13). Flipped lessons, “in which students gain first-exposure learning prior to class and focus on the processing part of learning (synthesizing, analyzing, problem-solving, etc.) in class” (Brame, 2013, n.p.), increases the active learning of students if teachers use in-class time for that purpose. Face-to-face interactions through class discussions, group projects, and other types of active learning are reported to be most beneficial for students. This active learning can be a critical component, especially when students struggle with concepts or content. When at home by themselves, students are more likely to quit or give up if they face a particularly tough challenge. When students struggle in a classroom setting, they can simply ask a peer or raise their hand and ask the teacher. By reversing the nature and timing of the activities, class time is freed up for learning activities focused on training and supporting students as they apply the course material (Schwartz, 2014). Bergman and Sams (2012), the creators of the flipped method of instruction, established the flipped method to focus on individual student needs by asking the question “What is the best use of face-to-face class time?”. While activities completed out-of-class focus on foundational knowledge such as definitions, historical

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data, etc., Kemp and Grieve (2014) note that students prefer to complete traditional homework activities face-to-face rather than online or at home as engagement, immediate feedback, and interactivity is naturally more present. It is important to note that proper flipped implementation goes well beyond simply changing the order of our class delivery. If we want to truly engage our students and create an authentic flipped experience, it is important to understand how to design the entire course as pre-class and in-class activities need to be carefully integrated and aligned with the intended learning outcomes (cf. Biggs & Tang, 2011). Results from past studies suggest that the flipped classroom approach has a variety of positive impacts on students participating in this pedagogical approach. Galway et al. (2014) and Crews and Butterfield (2014) mentioned factors such as the interactivity between students and the instructor, a class structure which supports flexibility, organization, and a format that has clear expectations all positively influencing the learning experience for students. Using the flipped model, social interaction among students is encouraged, making it easier to learn from each other and support peers (EDUCAUSE, 2012). Students also feel more empowered and responsible for the learning process as they work toward the mastery of the material (O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). Other researchers have found several factors that are key in aiding student’s retention such as the ability for students to transfer knowledge, consistency throughout the activity/course, social presence of faculty and peers (Boston & Ice, 2011), small-group assignments, having a strong instructor who is able carry out different facilitating roles, and interactive face-to-face meetings (Wegener & Leimeister, 2012). Each of these factors is evident in a well-designed flipped classroom. The next section will further discuss how flipping the classroom works.

Flipping the Classroom Pre-meeting When flipping, the first exposure to new material or new theory-based content outside of class is usually done via short pre-recorded video lectures or via required readings. Bishop and Verleger (2013), among others, claim that video lectures are one of the key ingredients of the flipped classroom. These authors do not consider designs without video lectures to be a true “flipped classroom.” Video lectures allow flexibility with regard to student learning—students learn at their own pace (O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015), lectures are under their own control and can be re-watched as many times necessary. This can be especially beneficial for students with disabilities (e.g., dyslexia) or for students studying in a second or foreign language (EDUCAUSE, 2012; Klimplová & Barcik, 2015). Lectures, though sometimes criticized for simply transmitting information to students without promoting deep learning (cf. Ramsden, 2003), still seem to be the primary form of direct instruction in situations where the students have little or no prior knowledge (Gilboy, Heinerichs, & Pazzaglia, 2015). While it is tempting to

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simply record lectures and place them online for students as part of the pre-meeting material, it is important to note that a boring lecture online is still boring. Therefore, it is important to consider the length of the video, the style of video, and the willingness of the lecturer to be creative with video production. The most popular forms of flipped videos seem to be screencasts or voiceovers on traditional PowerPoint slides. Research is inconclusive on the best format for these videos but it is recommended that videos do not last more than 15 min as students prefer shorter video lectures (Beatty & Albert, 2016). Video lectures that are between 3 and 12 min have also been used to provide effective flipped lessons (Klimplová & Barcik, 2015; Lancellotti, Thomas, & Kohli, 2016). In addition to video lectures, traditional flipped learning also includes supplying the students with course readings. If reading the course literature is regarded as essential, then the video lectures should not cover all of the concepts, models, and theories presented in course literature, because students seem to prefer learning by watching over learning by reading (Bishop & Verleger, 2013; Klimplová & Barcik, 2015). Therefore, video lectures should be designed more as a guide for reading and increasing curiosity rather than as explanations of everything stated in the literature (Klimplová, 2016). An equally important but often overlooked feature for deeper learning to occur is to make the purpose of the pre-content clear to the audience. Educators who champion the flipped methodology tout its unique marrying of behaviorist (Skinner, 1974) and constructivist ideologies, which augur well with the desire to translate “didactic education” to “clinical practice performance” (Hawks, 2014, p. 264). However, in order for these ideologies to converge, it is important that the instructional intent is clear. This is especially true when utilizing video, readings, or other activities since the teacher is not there to answer questions in person about the relevance. The content must be explained but it is equally important that the teacher explains why the content is important. In addition to learning content, there may be other pre-class activities that students are required to do before coming to class. They may be required to participate in online discussions, post questions or comments regarding the content, case studies to be analyzed, or quizzes to be completed (Klimplová, 2016; Butt, 2014). Quizzes can be used to hold students accountable for watching the video, reading the course material, or learning the content presented. Short quizzes used as a pre-assessment can test their understanding (Zappe, Leicht, Messner, Litzinger, & Woo Lee, 2009) as well provide the teacher with additional information to deliver more relevant content to students during class time.

In-class Whether in traditional formats or a flipped learning method of delivery, in-class activities should always be steered by the intended learning outcomes, reflect students’ studying needs, and promote active learning focused on key course concepts (cf. Albert & Beatty, 2014).

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In-class time in the flipped classroom is often devoted to applying the concepts/model/theories that students have learned through the materials provided before class. Activities which allow for problem-solving or case analysis, group discussions, peer-learning, and student-led activity are critical to the learning experience. The role of the teacher is to help students clarify content and monitor their progress and level of understanding. The teacher’s role is to be a “guide on the side” instead of a traditional “sage on the stage” (King, 1993). During in-class time, social interaction among students should be encouraged, making it easier to learn from each other and support peers. While circulating and facilitating the lesson, teachers can spend more time with each student individually and provide guidance, detect errors, provide individualized instruction, update content, and offer extension learning opportunities for those who are working “beyond the content.” Classroom time can, thus, be used more effectively and creatively (Fulton, 2012). Results from various studies show that the implementation of the flipped classroom leads to increased levels of student understanding of the relevant concepts (Zappe, Leicht, Messner, Litzinger, & Woo Lee, 2009; Strayer, 2012), increased interest and engagement, improved communication skills, critical thinking, and increased preferences for working in teams (O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015 for the scoping review of recent research on the flipped classroom). Participation in class is important for achieving intended learning outcomes, but students also need to prepare before the class for in-class activities. Zappe et al. (2009) point out “[s]tudent success in active learning examples in flipped classes depends on students’ level of preparation for class” (p. 5). Students must have the background knowledge if they are going to participate in deeper class discussions and activities. Lack of preparation by some students can be a challenge for teachers as they organize activities and manage group work while engaging diversely prepared students. Butt (2014) recommends to have “informal extension activities available in-class to those who feel they are being held back by those who haven’t done sufficient pre-preparation” (p. 41). Therefore, it is important to both offer incentives and hold students accountable for pre-class activities.

Best Practices for Flipping the Classroom One of the main reasons that flipping has become so popular in the last decade is due to the accessibility and usability of technology. Flipping the classroom encompasses the basic transmission of information asynchronously (often online) so that learning in class or on the ground (in work-based settings) is contextually relevant. It is not uncommon to encounter real and lasting challenges with regards to the use and management of technology (Moraros, Islam, Yu, Banow, & Schindelka 2015). Teachers need to make sure they are offering lessons via technology that are accessible and understandable by students. Students need to learn to voice their own concerns if they are unable to access online lessons due to varying availability of infrastructure, resources, access, and training for the use of

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technology. Not all individuals are able to operate at levels of ease in order to harness technology for teaching and learning. It is important that students are taught self-advocacy skills as part of the flipped curriculum and then provided ample opportunities to practice those skills. In addition to struggling with technology, there are other considerations as well. As with all disruptive paradigms, the learning curve for flipping the classroom can be steep for students and faculty. Time management is of concern as learners have to learn how to discipline themselves to be knowledgeable about the subject matter and well prepared before going to class. As with self-advocacy, self-discipline must be taught and practiced while both students and faculty need to display flexibility and adapt behaviors for optimal results. Time, effort, money, and motivation are recurring obstacles in effecting any change in behavior. However, if we create a safe and supportive blended learning environment and provide rationale behind the change in pedagogy, we can often help students accept this new format of instruction. Bergman and Sams (2012) make it very clearly that flipped learning is not only about using video to provide direct instruction; flipped learning is about maximizing the amount of time spent actively learning for deeper engagement and understanding. Teachers using the flipped model move away from teacher-led instruction where learners spend the majority of their time note-taking to a format where the assimilation and processing of new information before lessons allows for sense-making and application of the content with a teacher-facilitator present to assist. Providing learners with content beforehand allows them to reflect on the learning in their own space and time. Allowing time in class to question, consider, discuss, and apply is deeper learning and can be useful with all ages and content.

Tools to Consider One of the key components to flipping the classroom is the use of technology. The multitude of tools available can provide powerful learning experiences if used correctly but can also be intimidating for both teachers and students. While you were learn more about general instructional design in Chap. 2, in this section we will highlight 15 different tools popular among educators as they flip lessons for their students. There are multiple other great tools as well and some will be highlighted in the following chapters. However, if you are considering flipping your classroom and are unsure how to get started, these tools can provide a starting point and they offer features that are beneficial while you flip the classroom. Brainpop is a series of educational websites with thousands of animated movies combined with quizzes and related materials for multiple subjects. The student watches the required video first on Brainpop, then takes an accompanying quiz or learns from mind maps about the topic. Brainpop also provides possibilities for students to create their own games which may help increase their creativity as well as their understanding of the topic (Brainpop, 2018).

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Edmodo is a learning and teaching platform on which the teachers can share lesson notes in digital format, with the help of its social network format. Both parents and students can access Edmodo. Apart from sharing lesson materials, teachers can also use the Edmodo platform to distribute assignments. Also, parents can create accounts to follow their children’s progress. Students are able to upload their assignments independent from time and place, group discussions, and add comments on the lessons added previously (Edmodo, 2018). Edpuzzle is an easy-to-use platform that allows teachers to make any video of their lesson. You can find video lessons created by other teachers with formative assessments included, adjust videos by embedding your own questions or audio during the video, and assign it to your students. When viewing the videos, students are not allowed to proceed unless they have answered the questions correctly. With Edpuzzle, you also get analytics: who watched the video, who didn’t understand the lesson, and who completed the assessments successfully. Students can re-watch the video as many times as they need, at their own pace. You can comfortably check their progress from your account. By adding questions to videos or YouTube videos, you can have a good grasp of which sections might be problematic for students based on the answers collected. In this way the student is encouraged to watch the video more carefully, paving the way to greater progress (Edpuzzle, 2018). Educreations is an application that allows each device to have their own whiteboard. On these whiteboards, teachers and students are able to create lesson materials. The created materials can be audio, video, or still images that are saved and shared as effective materials. Students can thus learn in entertaining ways as well as share their own information. In addition, Educreations has an interactive whiteboard function that allows electronic note taking in class via tablets; these notes can then be shared on social media or uploaded to other sharing platforms (Educreations, 2018). Emaze allows users to incorporate video, audio, and text, offering unique potential for student engagement. Teachers and students can collaborate and share their work, convert their old presentations to an Emaze template, and make learning experiences can be viewed on multiple platforms. Apart from presentations, Emaze also facilitates the creation of websites, e-cards, blogs, and photo albums. It can also scaffold challenging activities through the incorporation of useful visual representations (Emaze, 2018). Flipgrid is a tool through which teachers can create interactive video quizzes for their students. In return, students can answer their teachers’ questions by making videos with the help of Flipgrid. As a result, students’ can practice self-expression and communicate their understanding verbally (Flipgrid, 2018). GoClass is a particularly useful platform for making lesson plans. Teachers can use the GoClass framework of Show, Describe, and Ask a Question, and videos, documents, and lesson materials can be shared easily via the tool. Apart from sharing their created questions with their students, teachers can provide students with immediate feedback by answering their questions individually or as a collective. GoClass provides functions for classroom management as well as showing

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student status on completion of assignments, current work on the platform, etc. (GoClass, 2018). Google Classroom integrates various Google tools like Documents, Sheets, and Slides. Through the use of Google Classroom, students can enjoy the benefits of cloud sharing and prepare documents, presentations, and graphics without any subscription fees. Teachers can assign homework for students via Google Classroom. Both teachers and learners can communicate without using paper and, while at a distance, paving the way for students to experience cooperative learning. It is a medium that can be integrated into a perfect flipped classroom through the use of smart phones, tablets, and laptops (Google Classroom, 2018). If teachers are not quite ready for Google Classroom, Google Drive can provide teachers and learners a place to store and share files of various formats through the cloud. Therefore, students can access materials wherever they are, and can work on collaborative projects simultaneously. Google Drive allows files to be created through tablets, smart phones, and laptops, and constantly accessible via any of these platforms. Students can prepare before the lessons and also participate in online discussions and information sharing (Google Drive, 2018). Padlet allows teachers to prepare digital “boards” for students. Boards are essentially blank digital spaces which can be interactive or private. On these boards videos, texts, visuals, and files can be shared. Padlet can also be used in many lessons and fields such as social sciences, literature, foreign language learning, and technology (Padlet, 2018). Pearltrees is a visual and collaborative curation tool that allows users to organize, explore, and share any URL they find online as well as to upload personal photos, files, and notes. The product features a unique visual interface that allows users to drag and organize collected URLs, and other digital objects. With Pearltrees, students and teachers can combine all the information related to a lesson on an online medium that can be accessed freely and via multiple platforms (Pearltrees, 2018). Quizizz allows teachers to create quizzes or search through a database of previously created quizzes. Through these quizzes, students can compete with each other. This gamification approach can increase motivation and achievement by providing students constant opportunities for self-assessment. It also allows teachers to formatively or summatively assess students’ learning. Quizizz can be accessed on smart phones, tablets, and other platforms, which allows learners to access content inside or outside the classroom (Quizizz, 2018). Schooltube is a video hosting site like YouTube® but with a focus on educational and student-produced content. SchoolTube is a social network where students and teachers share videos, which can then be used as flipped classroom resources. Students and teachers can create their own channels and access other channels, with students improving their creativity through these videos and channels. Since the SchoolTube videos can be shared on many social networks, they can also be integrated to many other social networks (SchoolTube, 2018).

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Screencast-O-Matic is a tool which allows teachers to record their computer screens. Teachers can thus make video lectures of the images on their screens or webcam recordings. Screencastomic has a free version for creating videos under 15 min and is a very valuable resource for getting started. Using Screencast-O-Matic, students can watch videos from social media outlets such as Youtube (Screencast-O-Matic, 2018). Skillshare is an online learning community for people who want to learn from educational videos. Within Skillshare, an acquired skill can be shared with a community and this skill can be used in projects related to learning by doing. Therefore, the students can recognize the areas they had knowledge and skills which can cause them to contribute to the community. As well as the videos that the teachers and students can record, they can also improve themselves in any area they wish (Skillshare, 2018).

Conclusion As you read the rest of the book, we encourage you to skip chapters, flip around, and find what is most relevant for your practice or research. The authors here all have extensive experience either flipping the classroom themselves or studying those who have flipped the classroom and will welcome your questions if you prefer to reach out to them. We understand how daunting something like flipping the classroom can be but hope that these examples from a variety of classrooms, at a variety of levels, on a variety of subjects will provide you with a spark to consider flipping your own classroom.

References Albert, M., & Beatty, B. J. (2014). Flipping the classroom applications to curriculum redesign for an introduction to management course: Impact on grades. Journal of Education for Business, 89(8), 419–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2014.929559. Beatty, B. J., & Albert, M. (2016). Student perceptions of a flipped classroom management course. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 8(3), 316–328. Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: How to reach every student in every class every day. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology. in Education. Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. (Fourth Edition). Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. Bishop, J. L., & Verleger, M. A. (2013, June). The flipped classroom: A survey of the research. In ASEE National Conference Proceedings, Atlanta, GA (Vol. 30, No. 9, pp. 1–18). Boston, W. E. & Ice, P. (2011). Assessing retention in online learning: An administrative perspective. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 14(2). Retrieved December 13, 2018 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/52638/. Brame, C. (2013). Flipping the classroom. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/. Brainpop. (2018). Brainpop website. Retrieved September 19, 2018, from http://www.brainpop. com.

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Butt, A. (2014). Student views on the use of a flipped classroom approach: Evidence from Australia. Business Education & Accreditation, 6(1), 33. Crews, T., & Butterfield, J. B. (2014). Data for flipped classroom design: Using student feedback to identify the best components from online and face-to-face classes. Higher Education Studies, 4(3), 38. Educause. (2012). 7 things you should know about flipped classrooms. Retrieved from https:// library.educause.edu/resources/2012/2/7-things-you-should-know-about-flipped-classrooms. Edmodo. (2018). Edmodo website. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://www.edmodo.com. Edpuzzle. (2018). Edpuzzle website. Retrieved September 16, 2018, from http://www.edpuzzle. com. Educreations. (2018). Educreations website. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://www. educreations.com. Emaze. (2018). Emaze website. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from http://www.emaze.com. Flipgrid. (2018). Flipgrid website. Retrieved September 1, 2018, from http://www.flipgrid.com. Flipped Learning Network. (2014). Flip learning website. Retrieved December 13, 2018, from https://flippedlearning.org/. Fulton, K. (2012). The flipped classroom: transforming education at Byron High School: a Minnesota high school with severe budget constraints enlisted YouTube in its successful effort to boost math competency scores. THE Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 39(3), 18. Galway, L. P., Corbett, K. K., Takaro, T. K., Tairyan, K., & Frank, E. (2014). A novel integration of online and flipped classroom instructional models in public health higher education. BMC Medical Education, 14(1), 181. Gilboy, M. B., Heinerichs, S., & Pazzaglia, G. (2015). Enhancing student engagement using the flipped classroom. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 47(1), 109–114. Google Classroom. (2018). Google Classroom website. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://classroom.google.com/. Google Drive. (2018). Google Drive website. Retrieved September 2, 2018, from https://www. google.com/drive/. GoClass. (2018). GoClass website. Retrieved September 8, 2018, from http://www.goclass.com. Hawks, S. J. (2014). The flipped classroom: Now or never? AANA Journal, 82(4). Kemp, N., & Grieve, R. (2014). Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates’ opinions and test performance in classroom vs. online learning. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1278. King, A. (1993). From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College teaching, 41(1), 30–35. Klimplová, L. (2016). Reflections on flipping the classes in Business Administration and Management courses. In EDULEARN16 Conference, 4th–6th July 2016, Barcelona, Spain (pp. 2609–2618). Klimplová, L., & Barcik, R. (2015). NGL project: Sub-project “flipped classroom”: Course “organization theory” (FÖ1039). Sweden: Dalarna University. Lancellotti, M., Thomas, S., & Kohli, C. (2016). Online video modules for improvement in student learning. Journal of Education for Business, 91(1), 19–22. Mikkelsen, T. R. (2015). Nursing students’ experiences, perceptions and behavior in a flipped-classroom anatomy and physiology course. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 5(10), 28. Moran, K., & Milsom, A. (2015). The flipped classroom in counselor education. Counselor Education and Supervision, 54(1), 32–43. Moraros, J., Islam, A., Yu, S., Banow, R., & Schindelka, B. (2015). Flipping for success: Evaluating the effectiveness of a novel teaching approach in a graduate level setting. BMC Medical Education, 15(1), 27. Noonoo, S. (2012). Flipped learning founders set the record straight. The Journal: Transforming Education Through Technology. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/06/20/ Flipped-learning-founders-q-and-a.aspx?Page = 1. O’Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The internet and higher education, 25, 85–95.

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Padlet. (2018). Padlet website. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from https://tr.padlet.com/. Pearltrees. (2018). Pearltrees website. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://www.pearltrees. com. Quizizz. (2018). Quizizz website. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from https://quizizz.com/. Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Schooltube. (2018). Schooltube website. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://www. schooltube.com. Schwartz, T. A. (2014). Flipping the statistics classroom in nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(4), 199–206. Screencast-O-Matic. (2018). Screencast-O-Matic website. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from http://www.Screencast-O-Matic.com. Skinner, B. F. (1978). Reflections on behaviorism and society. Strayer, J. F. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation. Learning Environments Research, 15(2), 171–193. Wegener, R., Leimeister, J. M. (2012). Do student-instructor co-created learning materials lead to better learning outcomes? Empirical results from a German large scale course Pilot study. In: 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS, pp. 31–40. Zappe, S., Leicht, R., Messner, J., Litzinger, T., & Lee, H. (2009). “Flipping” the classroom to explore active learning in a large undergraduate course. In Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition. Austin, TX: ASEE.

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Instructional Design: Evidence-Based Practices in the Flipped Classroom Tracy Arner

Introduction The flipped model described in Chap. 1 has several key features that simplify the integration of evidence-based practices, leading to improved student learning outcomes. The first key element is the pre-meeting during which initial instruction occurs prior to the in-class time. Learning content may be text or multimedia and may be created or curated by the instructor (Berrett, 2012). The origin of the content is less important than the quality and design of the instruction. In many cases, content developed by experts in the field will provide better initial instruction than what the instructor could create. In addition to quality, the instructor may save time by using curated content instead of creating their own. Given the ubiquitous nature of technology, the use of curated multimedia content may streamline the flipping process. The second key feature is the engagement with content where students are required to complete some evidence of interaction with the pre-meeting content. There are several possibilities for students to engage with content that may or may not include the use of technology. The simplest of these is requiring students to take freeform notes while viewing or reading content. Instructors may want to provide scaffolding to help students identify salient content, especially with the introduction of novel concepts. Graphic organizers or guiding questions completed by students during instruction are examples of effective scaffolds. The product can be used in class to guide whole class or small group discussion (Mastropieri, Scruggs, Spencer, & Fontana, 2003). Engagement activities may also be a function of the technology used to provide the initial instruction.

T. Arner (&) Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_2

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One example of student engagement with technology-based initial instruction is an interactive video. Web-based technology simplifies the embedding of questions in teacher-created or -curated video to highlight salient content for students. Interactive video can serve dual purposes in the flipped classroom. First, video is an effective method of providing initial instruction whether created by the instructor or an external source, as students can rewind and review repeatedly. Additionally, the inclusion of questions that must be answered before continuing requires students to attend to the content. The second purpose of using interactive video is the feedback and data that it can provide. Depending upon the design, interactive videos may provide immediate feedback for students which is beneficial in reducing misconceptions. Teachers can use the data from student responses to guide the instructional focus during the following class period. Regardless of the delivery method, initial instruction occurs outside the classroom and provides the foundation for subsequent class sessions (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). Following the pre-meeting, students return to class and engage in peer learning with a collaborative learning group where students apply what they learned during initial instruction. This is the third key element of the flipped classroom. Instructors have several options to guide learning group activities. They may ask students to return to class with a summary, self-explanation of the concept(s), or a discussion question or questions that they will share with the class or their group. The instructor then uses the students’ products to determine concept understanding, misconceptions, and where additional instruction is needed. Instructors may also design activities that allow students to practice the newly learned skill(s) within their collaborative learning groups. Instructors using interactive video may use data from the ‘home’ activity to identify consistent areas of struggle that need clarification or further instruction. When possible, in-class activities should be data-driven, targeting gaps in students’ knowledge. Frequently heard concerns of teachers regarding implementing the flipped classroom include the time and difficulty associated with designing and preparing materials for the new paradigm (Hao & Lee, 2016). The increased availability and decreased cost of technologies available for teaching and learning may simplify many of the features of the flipped classroom. One consistent advantage of using technology tools to flip the classroom is the efficiency that they offer whether it be the expediency of creating interactive video, curating readily available content, or analyzing student response and formative assessment data. Access to the data that can be used to shape instruction is the second benefit of technology-enhanced flipped classrooms. Despite these advantages, technology tools may simplify flipping the classroom but are not required for success. Successfully flipped classrooms make use of effective, evidence-based practices that promote learning through strategies that students can use in any learning situation, formal or informal. The adoption of the flipped model of instruction introduces a completely new set of questions to consider when designing instruction. The questions addressed in this chapter include:

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• What do students do in the pre-meeting? In class? • How do teachers create or curate high-quality learning activities? • What evidence-based practices can teachers incorporate in their flipped classrooms? • How do teachers know if their students are learning?

What Do Students Do at Home and School? Now that you are ready to dive into the flipped model, the first things to consider are what activities your students will complete at home and how you will adapt the activities in the classroom based on the new, flipped model. The change in the location of initial instruction to home instead of the classroom introduces new instructional design considerations. The first and most important consideration when designing learning activities is the instructional goal. What you want your students to know and be able to do at the conclusion of the activity, chapter, or unit should always be the first thing you identify. Then, build your activity to address that goal. Students learn what they think about. When designing learning activities, make sure that they will initiate the right thoughts for your students to learn the content (Willingham, 2009). It is important to remember that your students are novice learners and as such, what they think about during the instructional activity may be different than what you think about as the expert. Putting yourself in the shoes of the learner is an important part of this process. Asking a nonexpert colleague to review your activity and provide their thoughts may be beneficial to your evaluation of the activity. When students complete initial instruction at home, the classroom then shifts to a collaborative learning environment where the instructor circulates between the small learning groups clearing up misconceptions and guiding discourse. The teacher’s role becomes more of a facilitator, guiding students to deep understanding through feedback and structured discussion with peers (Berrett, 2012; Tucker, 2012). One common misconception is that once you decide to flip, all initial instruction will be delivered during the pre-meeting. This is not necessarily true as some concepts are better introduced by the teacher, face-to-face, especially if they are foundational to subsequent concepts (Schmidt & Ralph, 2015). Recent evidence suggests that more complex content is less suitable for the flipped classroom as novice learners may not have sufficient prior knowledge to build on. In addition to the instructional goal of ‘home’ activities, the delivery of and access to learning activities must be considered early in the instructional design process. Benefits of using the technology, mentioned above, will only be available if students can complete the activities outside of class. Therefore, instructors must also consider their audience during the instructional design process and plan accordingly to ensure student success.

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Technology and Internet use has become more widespread with nearly 87% of the US population actively accessing the Internet in 2015 (Kemp, 2016). However, the fact remains that not every student has access at home, in spite of increases in Internet usage each year (Kemp, 2016). The flipped classroom model described above includes initial instruction taking place outside of the classroom, but it does not require that the activity take place at home. The initial instruction just needs to be completed before the class period in which it will be discussed or used. Similarly, the instruction does not have to be technology-based. If students have mobile devices but not computers, the activity should be designed accordingly. If students have computers but lack Internet access at home, the activity should be designed so that it can be downloaded at school and completed at home without the Internet. The key consideration is to ensure that all students are able to complete the learning activity prior to the in-class activities. If students are unable to complete the activities, they will not have the initial instruction necessary to participate in the collaborative learning groups. Additionally, the instructor will not have the data to adequately address any gaps in student knowledge if only a portion of the students complete the activity. Only after instructors have determined the delivery modalities suitable for pre-meeting activities should they plan the corresponding in-class activity. The class period following the initial instruction is used to reinforce concepts, clear up misconceptions, and give students an opportunity to practice applying their new knowledge. Students may work individually or in dyads, triads, or small groups on activities that require retrieval and application of the concepts learned in the pre-meeting. The instructor may facilitate the activities in a multitude of ways dependent upon the design of initial instruction, available assessment data, and current knowledge level of the learners. Data from the pre-meeting activity provide the instructor with a good starting point for the in-class activity. If activity data are not available, the instructor may want to begin the class period with a knowledge check. This short check for understanding is a formative assessment that requires students to retrieve content; what they are or are not able to retrieve should then inform in-class learning activities. Formative assessment is an evidence-based practice discussed further below. Instructors may also use guiding questions to ensure that student discussions target key concepts. One example of this practice is the use of polling software to post guiding questions that students can respond to via laptops or mobile devices. This method allows students to respond to multiple-choice questions individually, providing the instructor with an objective measure of students’ understanding. Questions that are not clearly understood (less than 90% correct), can be discussed in the collaborative learning groups where students provide each other with evidence supporting their response for a short period of time. A second opportunity to respond to the poll lets the instructor know whether the group discussion cleared up misconceptions. If the group still has not reached the 90% correct requirement, further intervention will then be necessary to ensure that all students understand the correct response (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; Schell & Mazur, 2015). Instructors may also have students work on projects that require the application of the pre-meeting content or as a method of combining

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concepts. One design element that increases the effectiveness of the flipped model is the alignment of pre-meeting and in-class activities; it is important to plan both carefully and to explicitly connect them to the instructional goal (Peterson, 2015; Strayer, 2012). The pre-meeting and in-class activities can be created by the teacher, curated from publicly available content created by other educators or experts in the field, or a combination of these two, as long as they address the instructional goal.

How Do Teachers Create or Curate High-Quality Learning Activities? The decision to flip the classroom is often followed by the question of where to find instructional activities. The idea of developing content may be daunting for those unfamiliar with the techniques or the technology. Flipping the classroom with materials created by others is one way to ease into the model while still ensuring adherence to the instructional goal and the alignment of pre-meeting and in-class activities (Gilboy, Heinerichs, & Pazzaglia, 2015; Schmidt & Ralph, 2015). There are many sources of content that can be curated for students that may or may not include the use of technology. Examples of some technology-based content are intelligent tutoring systems (e.g., ALEKS™), instructional simulations (e.g., PhET™), and video content created by others (e.g., Crash Course™, Khan Academy™) (Arner, Aldosari, & Morris, 2017). Some advantages to curating instead of creating content are time-saving, greater expertise of the creator, built-in feedback for students, and data on student learning. Students may also be more engaged with content presented using a novel medium (Schmidt & Ralph, 2015). Curated content does not have to be technology-based if analog content is more suitable for the instructional goal and the students. Examples of analog pre-meeting assignments include reading assigned text and reviewing printed presentation slides. An important component of the flipped classroom is that the student is actively engaging with the material; therefore, there should be some cognitive activity in addition to exposure to the material. For example, students might complete a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting elements in the reading or draw their own mind map of new conceptual learning. The modality and origin of the content used for initial instruction is less important than the adherence to the instructional goal and the alignment with teacher-facilitated, in-class learning activities. However, technology does provide some flexibility as well as the added benefit of data and feedback, as discussed earlier. One benefit of using instructor created materials is that the salient concepts can be highlighted or annotated by the teacher during creation, ensuring that students focus on the key learning objectives during initial instruction. The time invested in developing content for students to view at home is made up for by the amount of time teachers can then spend in the classroom advancing difficult concepts, clearing up misconceptions, and interacting with individual students. Students are rewarded with improved learning outcomes and a deeper understanding of concepts.

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However, content creation and the flipped model described here involve more than simply recording yourself lecturing and then sharing the video with students without guidance (Schell & Mazur, 2015). The consideration of how to create high-quality instructional materials that will promote student learning is essential in the implementation of the flipped classroom. Educators now have more tools to facilitate learning in a flipped environment than ever before. Technology has evolved considerably since its introduction to the classroom; it is less expensive, easier to use, and more readily available for students and teachers (Arner, et al., 2017). The use of such technologies for learning also has a strong research base from which to draw the most effective strategies for design and implementation. Whether curating multimedia content created by experts or creating your own, instructors should always consider the evidence supporting instructional design.

Principles of Instructional Design Mayer (2008) suggests that educators must consider both the science of learning and the science of instruction. The direct instruction materials that students access at home may be multimedia products where students are learning from both images and the spoken word. The science of instruction suggests three primary considerations for effective multimedia instructional materials. First, create materials that allow students to process both visual and verbal content simultaneously. For example, include a labeled picture of a water molecule with the common title, “water.” This strategy helps students develop a visual representation connecting the word to the molecular structure. Second, students have limited capacity for both verbal and visual materials, so keep the amount of simultaneously presented material to a minimum. Using the example above, refrain from presenting the images and titles of multiple molecules at the same time. Third, active processing is required for deep learning: include an activity in the instruction that requires students to engage with what they have been presented. One example would be to have students explain the atoms and bonds that make up a water molecule in their own words (Clark & Mayer, 2011; Mayer, 2008). Mayer (2008) suggests five evidence-based principles supporting the science of instruction. These principles can increase the effectiveness of multimedia instruction while minimizing students’ extraneous processing demands, and are represented in Figs. 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 in the order they are discussed here. The first of these is coherence: reducing the amount of extraneous material that can take up the already limited capacity of either channel (i.e., visual or auditory). Continuing with the previous example, make sure that only information related to the water molecule is presented. Do not add nonessential text or images that may draw focus away from the important material. Second, signal essential content. This is easily done with current technology through annotation or other simple methods. Use a clear indicator, like an arrow, to point out which atoms are hydrogen and which atom is oxygen. The third principle is redundancy, addressing the simultaneous use of both written and oral content. It becomes overwhelming for students to

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Fig. 2.1 Coherence principle

Fig. 2.2 Signaling principle

Fig. 2.3 Redundancy principle

Fig. 2.4 Spatial contiguity principle

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Fig. 2.5 Temporal contiguity principle

read text while also viewing video or animations; instead, either present students with the printed keywords of “hydrogen, oxygen, and water” or orally narrate the description of the image. Mayer (2008) advises against displaying the text of narration on a screen in close proximity to the video content. Instead, separate these two modalities so that students receive more than one exposure to the content in an order that is conducive to processing and does not introduce excessive cognitive load (Paas, Renkl, & Sweller, 2003). Instructors using video content should also consider any accommodations that their students may need, such as closed captioning for students who are hearing impaired. The last two principles guide the arrangement of content in the instructional materials. The first is spatial contiguity; this principle guides the locations of printed words and the graphic they support. Text should be placed in close proximity to the corresponding graphic or specific element that it is referring to. For example, the label “Hydrogen” should be next to the appropriate atom and not placed randomly on the slide. Finally, the principle of temporal contiguity suggests that narration should be presented at the same time as the corresponding animation. For example, if students are viewing an animated graphic of two hydrogen atoms bonding with an oxygen atom, the narration should explain the process as it is happening, not later in the presentation. When these two assets occur separately, students struggle to hold the image(s) of the molecule in working memory while searching for the descriptive text or waiting to hear the molecular structure described at a later time. This may seem to be a contradiction of the redundancy principle. However, the important difference between the two principles is that the redundancy principle refers to identical aural and text input, especially when combined with video, while temporal contiguity applies only to aural input (alone) combined with video. This is likely to overload students, preventing them from attending to any of the content successfully (Paas et al., 2003). Additionally, describing mathematical procedures at the same time as they are being demonstrated (animated) on screen has a large, positive effect on learning (Mayer, 2008). Teachers who are creating materials should make sure that they are following the best design practices for student learning. When teachers are curating content, it is important that they review the content for quality and accuracy as well as adhere to these basic principles. Created and curated content should be guided by the

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principles of both the science of learning and the science of instruction. Both curated and created materials can be equally effective when they follow these design principles and are aligned with the in-class activities, focusing on the instructional goal. Instructors taking these factors into account when flipping their classroom are likely to see more effective student learning. Regardless of whether content is created or curated by instructors, the flipped model described in this chapter simplifies the inclusion of the evidence-based strategies described next, for the purpose of improving student learning outcomes.

What Evidence-Based Practices Can Teachers Incorporate in Their Flipped Classrooms? Flipping the classroom has been shown to increase student engagement, autonomy, and collaboration while also increasing instructor efficiency (Peterson, 2015; Schmidt & Ralph, 2015). The flipped classroom model described in this chapter also simplifies the incorporation of feedback, self-explanation, and collaborative learning. These evidence-based practices have been found to improve student learning across grade levels and in multiple disciplines. Further, these practices can benefit student learning in both formal and informal learning environments and can be used independently by students (Arner et al., 2017).

Feedback Feedback is one of the easiest evidence-based practices to implement in the flipped classroom and can be one of the most effective; however, it is also one of the most underutilized (Hattie, 2009). Feedback is information provided to a learner about their performance or understanding. The information is provided by some agent such as a teacher, a peer, the self, or the learning content. Students can receive feedback from technology tools such as an interactive video or simulation, or by referring back to written content (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The purpose of instructional feedback is to decrease the gap between student performance and the learning goal. To that end, effective feedback should answer one of three questions. The first of these, “Where am I going?”, addresses the instructional goal that is the target of the learning content. The second question, “How am I doing?”, addresses the student’s progress toward meeting the instructional goal. The third question, “Where do I go next?”, provides the student and teacher with the next action to be taken. When students have mastered the content, the third element of feedback directs them to move on to the next concept. If students have not mastered the content, students and teachers can work together to determine a plan of action. The plan will likely include some reteaching or remediation (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). All three of these questions can be addressed by any of the agents listed, though it is most commonly provided by the teacher or via the technology used for the activity.

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Feedback generated through technology can be particularly effective for a number of reasons. First, many technologies can provide the instructor with the data from student responses, which is useful for “Just-in-Time Teaching” (Schell & Mazur, 2015). These data can be gathered from the many tools available for online formative assessments, instructional simulations, and interactive videos. Group data will reflect the most common mistakes students made, thus allowing the instructor to pinpoint misconceptions and reteach concepts during the next class period. Individual student data can highlight any large or consistent gaps a student has that need to be addressed above and beyond whole class reteaching. The use and value of formative assessment is discussed further in the following section. Some technologies can also provide the learner with immediate feedback. This feedback addresses the second question of identifying how the student is progressing toward mastery of the instructional goal. The feedback may address whether or not the student used the correct strategy or procedure, or understood key concepts. This immediate feedback is helpful for students to become self-regulated learners by making progress salient (Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2006). Student feedback may occur at four levels. Task-level feedback is response focused, identifying whether the student was correct or incorrect. Feedback at the process level identifies whether or not the student has chosen the correct strategy or procedure, and whether or not each step was completed correctly such that the procedure has been learned. Process-level feedback is particularly helpful for teachers to provide specific reteach instruction when the student makes a procedural error, such as forgetting to carry in multi-digit addition. The third level of feedback is the self-regulation level. This level is focused less on student understanding of content and more on applying correct strategies and time on task. This feedback is best used with the third feedback question guiding what the student should do next. These three levels are beneficial to student learning. The fourth level of feedback is the self-level, addressing characteristics or affect of the learner as an individual. An example of self-level feedback would be telling a student that they would perform better in class if they change their attitude. Feedback at the self-level is rarely beneficial to student learning and should be used with caution, if at all (Hattie, 2009; Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Technologies suitable for use in the flipped classroom that provide feedback to the teacher and/or the student include instructional simulations, interactive video, and audio/video-based direct instruction. Simulations used for instruction are computer-based applications that replicate real-world situations. These simulations provide immediate feedback while allowing students to manipulate predetermined variables in a safe, sustainable environment. Students are free to test multiple hypotheses without risk of harm and with the freedom to fail repeatedly. Instructional simulations have been found to be effective when the simulations provide immediate task-related feedback (Rutten, van Joolingen, & van der Veen, 2012), when students are provided feedback through instructional support such as worked examples (Yaman, Nerdel, & Bayrhuber, 2008), and are agents of their own learning (Smetana & Bell, 2012). Additionally, Hattie’s (2009) review of nine meta-analyses on simulations used in the classroom that provided feedback showed

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a moderate effect size of d = 0.33. The studies included in these meta-analyses found that feedback in simulations benefits student achievement, retention, and attitude (Hattie, 2009). Interactive video refers to videos that have been edited to include pop-ups or annotations that cue salient content, prompts for self-explanation, or question– response opportunities. Self-explanation prompts and question–response opportunities serve to check for understanding and provide feedback for the student and data for the teacher. These features have been shown to increase the effectiveness of learning content via interactive video. A review of six meta-analyses including 441 studies, showed that the use of interactive video is highly effective for learning with an effect size of d = 0.52 (Hattie, 2009). This evidence suggests that multimedia learning materials following Mayer’s (2009) principles of design are more effective for student learning than a simple video recording of a teacher-centered lecture. Hattie’s (2009) review also found that the effectiveness of audio/video, teacher-led instruction (recorded lecture) that does not include learner interaction, and specific feedback had an effect size of d = 0.22. This indicates that while they might be less effective than computer-based learning opportunities that do provide feedback, well-designed, recorded lectures can also have a positive effect on learning. Indeed, this may be the simplest introduction to creating content for the flipped the classroom. Feedback can be easily implemented with content that is curated or created by instructors with a little planning and use of simple technology tools like Google Forms™, Survey Monkey™, or similar quiz generation tools. These tools serve as a template for teachers to create content-specific questions that students answer as part of the ‘home’ activity. Teachers can include immediate feedback for students and also gather data on students’ correct and incorrect responses. Teachers may also provide feedback to students as a group during the interactions that occur in the next class period. Any engagement activity that students complete at home (summaries, questions, or graphic organizers) should be reviewed and analyzed for process, strategy use, and transfer as part of the teacher-to-student interaction. Students also receive feedback from peers during the collaborative learning groups which are discussed further below. Teachers may find some curated content that already includes feedback elements such as the science and math simulations created at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the home of PhET™ simulations (https://phet.colorado.edu/). The student-paced, trial and error nature of these simulations provides immediate feedback for each interaction. Besides PhET™, there is a large, online teacher community that is creating interactive videos for instructional use. Through online searches, instructors who are at the early stages of flipping the classroom may find an interactive video that is ready to launch for their students. Alternatively, if teachers have found the perfect video about their topic, they can easily add feedback opportunities by inserting questions to make the video interactive. Teachers can upload videos from nearly any source to tools like EdPuzzle™ or PlayPosit™. Both of these web-based tools have intuitive interfaces that allow their users to easily add questions, pauses for reflection or self-explanation, and annotations to cue salient content.

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Students can thus immediately realize if they understand the content they have just viewed by receiving technology-provided feedback. This immediate feedback can then guide students in developing valuable discussion questions for the next class period. These examples demonstrate some options to combine curated content or an educator’s recorded lecture with technology to maximize the effectiveness of good instruction, feedback, and cueing, leading to higher quality cooperative learning during the next class period.

Self-explanation One cornerstone of the flipped classroom model described in this chapter is student engagement with the content during initial instruction. Common formats include embedded questions in an interactive video (mentioned above), note-taking (guided or free form), generating discussion questions, or written summaries. Scaffolding student engagement facilitates the incorporation of the evidence-based practice of self-explanation. It is important to note that self-explanation is not the same as paraphrasing or summarizing viewed content. Generating an explanation ties new information to prior knowledge in a meaningful way so that the student develops schema rather than regurgitates content using different vocabulary. Hausmann and VanLehn (2007) found that physics students who were required to explain example problem solutions following instruction from an intelligent tutoring system had better learning gains than students who paraphrased the provided solutions. Evidence exists that this strategy is beneficial for student learning across grade levels and content areas (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013). Teachers can facilitate self-explanation by including specific prompts or cues in the instructional materials indicating where students must pause, process the content, and write an explanation. Self-explanations should be required for concepts that students frequently struggle with due to complexity or common misconceptions. Submission of self-explanations can be digital or analog but it is most beneficial if the instructor is able to review submissions prior to class. Technology can simplify both the submission process for students as well as the review process for instructors. Digital submissions could be as simple as the student emailing the instructor or more structured, depending on what best suits the needs of students and the teacher. Instructors may want to establish a method of cloud-based document sharing (e.g., Google Drive™, Dropbox™, Box™) or use an online learning management system (e.g., Moodle™, Blackboard™). While requiring students to submit a self-explanation does serve as an accountability measure, more importantly, it facilitates students’ processing of new content and the tying of it to their prior knowledge. By reviewing explanations for clarity and accuracy, teachers can then ascertain whether or not students understand the content or need further instruction during class. The students’ self-explanations provide opportunities for feedback and should guide the teacher’s instruction to address errors and misconceptions in the next class period.

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Collaborative Learning Another cornerstone of the flipped classroom is the collaborative learning that takes place in small groups in lieu of the traditional lecture. Students come to class with their self-explanations and discussion topics ready to engage in guided discourse with their peers. While students exchange ideas and questions, the instructor assumes the role of facilitator, guiding the discourse to deep understanding of the content and clearing up any misconceptions. Chi (2009) describes interactive learning as co-constructed instructional discourse such as what occurs in small learning groups when students alternate between questioning and generating responses. Further, she demonstrated that interactive learning activities were superior to passive, active, and constructive learning activities for deep understanding. Bergmann and Sams (2012) later found that students learning in collaborative groups obtained deeper understanding of the material than from traditional lectures. Many flipped models incorporate some type of collaborative learning, be it discussion, projects, or peer-tutoring in dyads, triads or small groups. When using a collaborative learning model, it is essential that each student is an active participant in the generation of responses and questions. Students who do not participate in the group remain engaged in passive instead of interactive learning (Chi, 2009). The flipped model described in this chapter specifically identifies the use of small groups of three to four students who work together to solve problems. While traditional homework models include problems that are simply repeated practice of the exact concept or procedure demonstrated in class, the flipped model allows for in-class problems that require deeper thinking to find the solution. Instructors should select problems for the collaborative groups based on trends identified in the students’ self-explanations and alignment to the instructional goal. The structure of student interactions can vary. One method is to give each student a different problem which they are to find the solution for, then teach the peers in their group. Another method is to give each group one problem to solve, which they will subsequently teach the class. The important factors for the success of the collaborative learning group are that the roles of instructor and learner are both experienced by every student and the interaction is authentic. Students observing the group or interacting with content without a partner are less effective formats for learning (Chi, 2009). The collaborative learning that happens in the classroom as a result of these activities is a significant feature of the flipped model. Successfully flipped classrooms include carefully designed collaborative learning activities that include feedback and the facilitation of deeper understanding by the instructor.

How Do Teachers Know if Their Students Are Learning? The flipped classroom model described here includes frequent opportunities to assess student learning, most often through formative methods. Formative assessment or “assessment for learning” occurs throughout the entire learning process.

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The purpose of formative assessment is to gauge students’ progress toward meeting the instructional goal. Data from formative assessment are used to provide feedback and shape facilitator-to-student interactions. The first opportunity for formative assessment occurs with the initial instruction activity. Teachers may choose a web-based platform that provides data from the interactions of students with the activity. For example, interactive video tools like EdPuzzle™ provide question response data for each student, including if they watched portions of the content more than once. A teacher dashboard with color-coded student success data, student responses, and/or response snapshots simplifies the identification of error trends. Teachers may also require students to submit their self-explanation or discussion question(s) prior to the class in which the topic will be addressed. Doing so helps ensure that students complete the ‘home’ assignment but also determines where misconceptions lie. Data that teachers get from the initial instruction activities should be used to guide activities in the subsequent class period (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; Schell & Mazur, 2015). The next opportunity that teachers have to assess student learning occurs during their circulation through the collaborative learning groups. Instructors facilitating discussions are able to listen to each group while students take turns questioning each other, explaining recently learned content, and perhaps even making connections to prior content. Instructors can discover misconceptions in students’ understanding, then work with the relevant small group to clarify the concept. When instructors hear misconceptions repeated across groups, they can pause the discussion session and address the whole class to clarify the common misconception. Alternatively, instructors may plan ahead to initiate discussion of common misconceptions prior to students voicing them. During facilitation of discourse, instructors are also assessing the participation of each student. Next, practice testing is one of the most effective methods of formative assessment and improves content retention. Practice testing in the flipped classroom can be student-centered or teacher-centered, digital or analog, and inside or out of the classroom. In student-centered practice testing, the student is given opportunities to test themselves using tools like flashcards, repeating the practice until no questions are incorrect, or practice tests provided by the teacher (Dunlosky et al., 2013). In fact, instructors may choose to combine evidence-based practices to more efficiently implement them in the flipped classroom. One possibility is to combine self-explanation, feedback, and practice testing. First, students create their own flashcards with a concept on one side and the explanation they themselves have generated on the other. Then, instructors provide task-level and/or process-level feedback on the explanations, and let students know if their explanation, strategy, or procedure was correct. Finally, after receiving feedback and correcting errors, students practice test themselves with their flashcards. Combining strategies can improve student learning while also appearing to be a single instructional activity. Unlike student-centered tests, teacher-centered practice testing is initiated by the teacher, typically in class, and commonly called a “quiz.” The quiz may include any content covered in class up to a point, to assess what students have retained.

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Another option is the use of a formative “knowledge check” each week that only asks questions on the material that was covered during the previous week or lesson. This style is shorter and more focused but still gives students the opportunity to retrieve content while also providing data on student understanding that the teacher can use to adjust instruction in real time. Practice testing opportunities should be planned keeping three important considerations in mind. First, the practice test should be authentic—designed and approached like an actual, “for-stakes” test. Second, students should be retrieving the same content that they will need on a for-stakes test. Finally, practice tests should be low or no stakes for students to benefit from retrieval practice while experiencing minimal test anxiety (Dunlosky et al., 2013); tests that have stakes are not practice in nature. An example of a practice test would be a 25-question summative-style exam that teachers explicitly tell students does not count toward their grade. In the subsequent class period, the teacher should review all of the problems and focus on addressing misconceptions that have been revealed. Practice tests may be digital or analog but test delivery is less important than meeting the criteria of a practice-testing situation. Technology does offer some benefits to both teachers and students. Technology-based practice tests may provide immediate or rapid feedback, access to student learning data, and increased efficiency. Some examples of technologies that teachers can use to create formative or summative-style practice tests are Google Forms™, Survey Monkey™, and native assessment tools in a learning management system. Students who primarily use mobile devices will benefit from applications that are designed for mobile platforms (though they may be web-based as well) such as Socrative™ and Formative™. Significantly, there is no requirement that for learning assessments be stressful or difficult. Tools like Quizizz™, Kahoot™, and PollEverywhere™ are game-based practice-testing applications. They have features similar to the previous applications but also include an element of fun and competition while students strengthen knowledge retrieval pathways. Teachers can prepare any of these assessments ahead of time and reuse them repeatedly with slight modifications, based on the needs of their current student population. Finally, teachers can give students summative, for-stakes assessments that include the concepts in the context in which they were taught but also assess near and far transfer. Summative assessment or assessment of learning most often occurs at the end of a chapter or unit. The typical chapter or unit exam is still effective to assess overall student learning and is a useful determinant of the effectiveness of the execution of the flipped model. Peterson (2015) found that students in the flipped classroom scored a full letter grade higher on their final exam than students in the comparable lecture-based model, suggesting that a well-designed flipped instruction model is more effective for student learning than the traditional didactic model. Data from summative assessments can also be used to provide feedback to the instructor on where they may want to revisit the design of ‘home’ or in-class activities, materials, or their own instructional practice. The expert teacher uses student assessment of learning to evaluate and improve their practice regularly (Yates & Hattie, 2013).

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Conclusion Effective student learning using the flipped classroom model relies on thoughtful design that begins with a clear instructional goal and alignment between in- and out-of-class activities. In the flipped model, the teacher acts as a facilitator, providing greater benefit to student learning than the traditional role of the teacher as the giver of knowledge. Additionally, students in the flipped model are more engaged in initial instruction and subsequent collaborative learning than in the traditional instructional model (Schmidt & Ralph, 2015). A well-designed flipped classroom can be supported by use of the described evidence-based practices which have been evaluated across multiple disciplines and from primary to post-secondary education. The evidence base clearly indicates the value of these strategies, yet they are rarely utilized by students of their own accord without the strategies’ specific incorporation into classroom practice. Students frequently use strategies that are less effective for learning such as re-reading and cramming the night before a test, even when they doubt the strategies’ effectiveness (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Integrating evidence-based strategies into the flipped classroom has multiple benefits, of which the primary is improved student learning outcomes. However, incorporating these strategies into the framework of the flipped classroom also provides students with personal evidence of success. The success that students experience in this model may lead to the generalization of these strategies throughout their educational career. All of the strategies mentioned in this chapter can be implemented independently by students, but it is crucial that students are able to practice them in order to clearly identify their structure and the benefit of their use. Technology is in no way a requirement for flipping the classroom, as this inverted structure can be completed with all analog (printed) materials. However, the ubiquitous nature of technology and the increased availability of technology-based tools further simplify the implementation of the flipped classroom model. Technology allows teachers and students to be more efficient, provides more data, and creates opportunities for novel and engaging learning activities. Students who are equipped with technology frequently access content that is interesting and communicate with their peers. However, they may not use that technology as a tool for learning without explicit instructions to do so. The frequent access to information via personal technology coupled with the integration of evidence-based practices into the flipped classroom model can make learning more efficient and more effective. Students who experience personal success with technology and the learning strategies implemented in this model are more likely to continue using both throughout their educational career in formal and informal learning situations, leading to success beyond the scope of teachers’ individual subjects.

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References Arner, T., Aldosari, B., & Morris, B. J. (2017). Teaching students using evidence-based learning strategies through flipped classrooms. In R. Obeid, A. Schwartz, C. Shane-Simpson, & P. J. Brooks (Eds.), How we teach now: The GSTA guide to student centered teaching (pp. 92– 106). Retrieved from http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/. Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education. Berrett, D. (2012, February 19). How ‘flipping’ the classroom can improve the traditional lecture. Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-Classroom/130857. Chi, M. T. (2009). Active-constructive-interactive: A conceptual framework for differentiating learning activities. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(1), 73–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.17568765.2008.01005.x. Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69(9), 970–977. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. https://doi. org/10.1177/1529100612453266. Gilboy, M. B., Heinerichs, S., & Pazzaglia, G. (2015). Enhancing student engagement using the flipped classroom. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 47(1), 109–114. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jneb.2014.08.008. Hao, Y., & Lee, K. S. (2016). Teaching in flipped classrooms: Exploring pre-service teachers’ concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 250–260. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, England: Routledge. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. Hausmann, R. G., & VanLehn, K. (2007). Explaining self-explaining: A contrast between content and generation. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, 158, 417. Kemp, S. (2016). Digital in 2016. Retrieved from http://wearesocial.com/uk/special-reports/ digital-in-2016. Kitsantas, A., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2006). Enhancing self-regulation of practice: The influence of graphing and self-evaluative standards. Metacognition and Learning, 1(3), 201–212. Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T. E., Spencer, V., & Fontana, J. (2003). Promoting success in high school world history: Peer tutoring versus guided notes. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 18(1), 52–65. Mayer, R. E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American Psychologist, 63(8), 760–769. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003066x.63.8.760. Paas, F., Renkl, A., & Sweller, J. (2003). Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 1–4. Peterson, D. J. (2015). The flipped classroom improves student achievement and course satisfaction in a statistics course: A quasi-experimental study. Teaching of Psychology, 43(1), 10–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315620063. Rutten, N., van Joolingen, W. R., & van der Veen, J. T. (2012). The learning effects of computer simulations in science education. Computers & Education, 58(1), 136–153. Schell, J., & Mazur, E. (2015). Flipping the chemistry classroom with peer instruction. In J. Gavier-Martinez & E. Serrano-Torregrosa (Eds.), Chemistry education: Best practices, opportunities and trends (pp. 319–344). Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH.

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Schmidt, S. M. P., & Ralph, D. L. (2015). The flipped classroom: A twist on teaching. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 9(200348548), 1–6. Smetana, L. K., & Bell, R. L. (2012). Computer simulations to support science instruction and learning: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Science Education, 34(9), 1337–1370. Strayer, J. F. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation. Learning Environments Research, 15(2), 171–193. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10984-012-9108-4. Tucker, B. (2012). The flipped classroom. Education Next, 82–83. Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why don’t students like school? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Yaman, M., Nerdel, C., & Bayrhuber, H. (2008). The effects of instructional support and learner interests when learning using computer simulations. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1784– 1794. Yates, G. C., & Hattie, J. (2013). Visible learning and the science of how we learn. London, England: Routledge.

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Flipping the Mathematics Classroom Laura Leveridge Stapleton

Pre-meeting I Short videos with content created for basic terminology, sample problems, etc.

Start of Class Quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class.

In-Class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration

Lecture capture used to allow students to access and watch lecture material outside of class and so allow more active studentcentered learning during contact time.

The use of polling apps and interactive Q&A sessions using smart phones and/or laptops in class supports formative evaluation of topics/concepts and gives students a chance to share misunderstandings before class begins so the teacher can be prepared.

Problems that are assigned from relevant and real world problems (e.g. space exploration calculations, etc.) and fed back to associated organizations trying to solve them.

L. L. Stapleton (&) Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia, United States e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_3

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Introduction Mathematics can be a challenging discipline to teach and, for some students, to learn. Facts, principles, and properties are taught. Students must master theory which grounds the knowledge. The bridge that connects theory to principles lies in the examination of real-world problems, experiments, and other investigative assignments. However, many learners view mathematics as a collection of formulas and properties when in reality, it is a language which describes our world, innovations, discoveries, and everyday lives. True learning occurs when one connects theory to application. This knowledge construction gained from the active examination of a problem, testing solutions, and collaboration can give learners a deeper level of knowledge. Yet, as rewarding as this type of classroom activity is for the understanding of mathematics, educators struggle due to other classroom factors. Diverse mathematical skill levels, math anxiety, poor study skills, low self-efficacy, negative attitudes about mathematics, problems with persistence, and fixed mindsets are among the challenges that mathematics educators may face daily within the classroom. To address these issues, a multimodal approach is needed which addresses not only content deficits but also study skills and math anxiety and suggests activities that offer new learning strategies (Boylan, 2011). One of the most difficult aspects of classroom management in a mathematics class is determining which students need help and when they need it. During a lecture, the areas in which students struggle may not be identified until they practice with the content, typically outside the classroom. This practice may occur hours or days later. When students struggle, without scaffolding and away from a support structure, they can become frustrated and disengaged. They may feel they are incapable of learning mathematics, particularly if they have had many years of mathematics struggle. In contrast, common mathematical difficulties and misunderstandings are easily identified when students work within the classroom with the teacher providing support. This chapter presents current research on flipped mathematical classrooms as well as practical advice on how to transform the traditional mathematical classroom into a flipped classroom, highlighting experiences from those who have transformed their classrooms. Best practices and lessons learned will be highlighted which will help to structure the classroom to maximize learning.

Literature Review Within this chapter, literature was reviewed within three areas to critically analyze mathematics or STEM populations and their interaction with flipped learning. The first area examines evidentiary benefits of flipped instruction within math classrooms as this relates most recent and salient studies. Student benefits and challenges are examined next as this helps the reader to understand what classroom

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opportunities and issues exist when a mathematics teacher uses this model. The last section deals with pedagogical aspects of flipped classroom which examines differentiated instruction and teacher-related pedagogical issues. Mathematics is more than solving problems; it is learning to participate in mathematical discourse (Adler, 1999). This social process allows for a more in-depth understanding of concepts through exploration and negotiation as students learn mathematics (Kosko & Wilkins, 2012). This is particularly beneficial to non-STEM or liberal arts majors whose curriculum strives to make connections between subject matter and its contextualized environment (McDiarmid, 1990). Many factors may affect student learning within a mathematics classroom. These can include cognitive influences such as mathematical background (Rylands & Coady, 2009), gaps in knowledge (Kelton, n.d.), self-efficacy (Pajares & Miller, 1994), and independent regulation of cognition (Hart, 1993); noncognitive influences such as socioeconomic status (Bachman, Votruba-Drzal, El Nokali, & Heatly, 2015; Reyes & Stanic, 1988) and persistence and devaluation of class (Hendy, Schorschinsky, & Wade, 2014); learned helplessness (Allsopp, Kyger, & Lovin, 2007); self-confidence (Kloosterman, 1988); math anxiety (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Krause, 2007; Liew, Lench, Kao, Yeh, & Kwok, 2014; Nunez-Pena, Suarez-Pellicioni, & Bono, 2013); negative attitudes toward mathematics (Hannula, 2002); growth mindset versus fixed mindset (Boaler, 2013); and study skills (Boylan, 2011; Gettinger & Seibert, 2002). While managing these challenges, teachers may find it difficult to provide opportunities for active learning that are appropriate for the various skill levels represented within the class.

Evidence of the Benefits of Flipped Instruction in Math Classrooms Higher education. Many studies have examined the flipped classroom method within higher education mathematics or STEM classes. Anderson and Brennan (2015) taught the method to freshmen calculus sections that included both academically challenged and strong mathematical learners. From this population, 11 sections were formed, 7 sections using the flipped format, and 6 sections using the traditional lecture format. Both the flipped and traditional format sections obtained similar averages on their midterm and final assessments. The academically challenged learners, typically reserved and with a lower mathematical self-confidence, were able to work successfully in groups with extrovert students who encouraged them to communicate. Stronger students also quickly adapted to the method and were able to move beyond the computational aspects and explore deeper, more complex mathematical topics. Maciejewski (2016) conducted research on the students in a university first-year calculus course at a Canadian university. Students who had basic knowledge of mathematics with little calculus benefitted the most from the flipped method. Ogden and Shambaugh (2016) researched the flipping of a daily college algebra course that emphasized algebraic, graphical, and numerical methods. Using a multi-case

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approach, each iteration of the semester-long course informed subsequent changes as lessons were learned by the researchers. The first implementation was a hybrid of traditional and flipped methodologies, for which several lessons each week were flipped. This strategy allowed the researcher to create videos specifically for content that had been identified as being problematic for learners, so that misconceptions could be identified in the face-to-face classroom setting. The second and third course offerings were consistent with a flipped methodology in which all lessons incorporated video instruction and classroom time was spent on active learning. However, students were assigned four to five videos per week in the second course, while the third implementation involved only one to two videos assigned per week, though all videos were at the student’s disposal. Over the three case studies, the percentage of students in the flipped sections who received a “D” or “F” or withdrew from the course decreased from 52.5, 42.5, to 20%. The percentage of students who received a “D” or “F,” in the non-flipped sections ranged from 34.3, 41.3, to 30%. Final grade class averages, in the three flipped case studies, was calculated for those students who completed the final exam. The scores increased 69.5% in the first trial, 73.7% in the second, and 78.1% in the third implementation.

Student Benefits/Challenges Active learning. Active engagement with an application, problem, or case study encourages the learner to make connections to the problem and work towards a solution. This higher-order thinking is non-algorithmic, can be drawn from multiple ideas or disciplines, and in many cases can be solved with multiple methods of solutions (Resnick, 1987). Active learning strategies such as group problem-solving, projects, worksheets, and personal feedback assignments increase student performance, particularly in small classes (Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Freeman et al., 2014). Student involvement, study skills, and connecting with the material through active learning increases in a flipped classroom environment (Gross, Pietri, Anderson, Moyano-Camihort, & Graham, 2015; McCallum, Shultz, Sellke, & Spartz, 2015). Surface learning occurs through memorization or the robotic performance of procedures without thought. When learners make connections between the new material and their prior knowledge via critical analysis and reflection, they participate in deep learning (Weigel, 2002). The deeper learning of mathematics, or a true understanding of a concept, can allow students to make connections between new and prior knowledge and can foster curiosity and interest to how the content can be applied to real-world applications (Houghton, 2004). Problem-solving. Problem-solving is messy and some students may lack the confidence to conject or suggest strategies. Students may feel uncomfortable as they develop this new skill. However, students learn more from mistakes and grow more synaptic connections when thinking about the mistakes than if they are successful on problems (Boaler, 2013). Hart (1993) discovered three factors which assist in

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problem-solving: collaboration within groups, group monitoring of strategies, and discussion among group members as to the best solution path. By utilizing discussion, small groups, and other communicative methods during class, students can learn through these mistakes by seeing additional strategies presented by peers. Peer feedback and tutoring. Within groups, students can use models or group projects to learn abstract or unfamiliar cognitive and mathematical rules. Students can be a soundboard for each other as they contribute within their group (Bandura, 1977). Learners develop self-efficacy by observing the success of peers within their group and experiencing their own success when making suggestions. Students can suggest strategies, data known, recognition of mathematically needed as opposed to non-important information, or presenting ideas based on prior knowledge. Students may utilize reflection, cooperation, multi-strategy, and uncertainty when performing these skills (Resnick, 1987). Classroom activities can include higher-level connections to content, student-to-student interaction, student-to-teacher interaction, analysis-based applications, and opportunities for students to work on remedial concepts (Chen, Yang, & Hsiao, 2016; Lo & Hew, 2017). In essence, the learner’s education can be “personalized” (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, p. 6). Motivation. Student performance and motivation are higher within the flipped classroom model as students see the relevance of the lesson to its applications (Bhagat, Chang, & Chang, 2016). McCallum et al. (2015) indicate that students react more positively to this approach when the benefits afforded from this model are known. Student attitudes and perceptions of mathematics have also been examined in flipped environments and found to be positive due to the dynamic nature of the classrooms (Anderson & Brennan, 2015; Guerrero, Beal, Lamb, Sonderegger, & Baumgartel, 2015) in addition to students’ increased performance (Esperanza, Fabian, & Toto, 2016; Weng, 2015). There are several factors in the flipped model which can assist in motivating students. These include promoting application-based experiences which benefit future careers, use of real-life examples to assist with relevance, the flexibility that students have in viewing the instructional material prior to class, students’ ability to collaborate and work as a team in class, and frequent feedback which helps to reduce misconceptions (Bergmann & Sams, 2013). Student challenges. Students may have difficulty with the flipped classroom method if they have limited access to technology (Siegle, 2013). For those learners, the out-of-class materials can be disseminated in printed form (Clark, 2015) or the learner can take a few minutes at the beginning of the classroom period to view the instruction, if necessary (“Byron High School,” n.d.). Lack of motivation or self-discipline may prevent some students from completing the necessary out-of-class requirements for the flipped model (McCallum et al., 2015; Siegle, 2013). Students may need a variety of pedagogies so as to keep engaged with the video content (Guerrero et al., 2015).

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Pedagogical Aspects A change in pedagogy. Teacher training and comfort is an important aspect of any curricular plan. Just like students, teachers become familiar with a certain method of teaching. Changing that style can result in a loss of skills for the teacher, which may lead to a loss of student learning (Helpman & Rangel, 1999). This is particularly true when technology or the integration of a new pedagogy occurs suddenly. A study by Berlinski and Busso (2017) investigated the integration of varying amounts of technology with active engagement. Working with a national sample of Costa Rican seventh-grade geometry students, the study found that the traditional lecture group learned more than the flipped model group. Citing attitudinal data, the researchers stated that the lack of teacher buy-in as well as negative interactions between teacher and student resulted in student behavior deteriorating over time. The evidence suggests that teachers had not fully implemented or embraced the innovations and pedagogies that were proposed, and that some teachers were comfortable using the traditional lecture-style pedagogy and resistant to change to a new method. While teachers were trained on the technology and software used within the study, they were challenged by the total implementation of technology as there was wide variation in the teachers’ technical skill levels. Teachers must feel confident with all aspects of instruction in order to effectively integrate it into the classroom as a seamless aspect of the instructional unit. The introduction of both technological tools and mathematical content can lead to a successful integration for students (Hollebrands & Okumus, 2018). As students integrate the technology into their learning, they will use the different pedagogies to learn mathematics. Therefore, teachers may choose to implement a pedagogy incrementally so that their technical knowledge grows with time and is not required all at once. This is a natural approach within a mathematics classroom. Students are familiar with concepts building upon a foundation. Similar to the mathematical curriculum building as skills develop, the learner’s introduction to the pedagogy will increase as their skills develop within the flipped model. Teacher training and confidence are important to the discussion of creating a mathematical flipped classroom as teachers may not have experience in creating instructional video content. Teachers may begin with the method by integrating the pedagogy only for certain topics within the course that lend themselves to active learning, or when active collaborative learning would help students form connections (Clark, 2015; Ogden & Shambaugh, 2016). Videos can also be created over time to allow the teacher to gain mastery over the technology and thus create a library of instructional content over several semesters. When the flipped method is used, the teacher must decide how they will best utilize the extra class time that is created from moving the instruction to before the class. Teachers can engage their students in a wide variety of creative projects that solidify concepts. For mathematics classes, Bergmann and Sams (2012) indicate, “Flipped math classes are becoming laboratories of computational thinking, inquiry, and connectedness with other STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)” (p. 48).

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Differentiated Instruction Addressing the many skill levels present within a class is a challenge for a mathematics teacher. To fully meet their needs, a teacher must have a mechanism to identify gaps, as they occur, in order to differentiate instruction. Once a teacher identifies the needs of the learners, they can prepare a multimodal instructional strategy using instruction, manipulatives, and activities. Tutoring, or the grouping of students, can also accommodate the varying academic levels present within a class. Differentiated instruction during flipped classroom meetings has been shown to work for both underperforming and high ability students (Lo & Hew, 2017). Gifted or advanced students can be given advanced topics or projects of interest while exploring application of the concept on a deeper level through additional websites or access to Open University content (Siegle, 2013). At-risk students, such as underperforming math students or students with math anxieties, have also made improvements using the flipped model, in part due to the alignment of lecture materials with generative activities (Bhagat et al., 2016; Gross et al., 2015; New York University, n.d.; Weng, 2015). This immediate feedback can allow for quick resolutions of mathematical misconceptions so the error can be corrected before high-stakes assessments are completed (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). Weng (2015) found that math students had a lower anxiety level and showed more engagement within the class while experiencing a flipped classroom. Video lectures help students who have weak study skills. If a student struggles to capture all of the lecture information and examples given within the class lecture, the use of videos allow them to replay all or some of the lecture content until understanding is achieved. Lo & Hew’s (2017) study showed that students benefitted from viewing materials outside of class and collaborating with other students in solving problems. By utilizing videos and other materials, students can control the pace of the material as these materials can be viewed multiple times. The videos can remain open during the course and be available when the student needed to review the material. Students who possess reading deficiencies can be helped by the visual nature of videos (Helwig, Rozek-tedesco, Tindal, Heath, & Almond, 1999).

Transforming a Math Classroom into a Flipped Classroom While the Introduction of this book discusses the general guidelines and process for creating a flipped classroom, this section will discuss the two instructional opportunities that the mathematics teacher has within a flipped classroom, specifically Pre-classroom and In-Class opportunities. By using these two opportunities, teachers can layer the instruction, from an initial introduction of important mathematical ideas to supportive practice that illustrates how concepts or principles can be used. Pre-class instruction can further be divided between Pre-Class Instruction and Pre-Class Practice.

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Pre-class Instruction The first instructional opportunity in the flipped model begins before the class meets. It is within this instruction that the teacher has an opportunity to introduce the mathematical lesson, its context to real-world applications, and important mathematical concepts or principles. The instruction will lay the cognitive foundation necessary for the next class meeting. Mathematical concepts, especially complicated mathematical topics are best introduced via short videos (Esperanza et al., 2016). Students can review these materials multiple times and at their own convenience, which is especially important for learners who struggle mathematically (Clark, 2015). Whether the mathematics teacher creates their own video or uses pre-made videos such as Khan Academy videos, the goal is to have learners engage with mathematical concepts outside of the classroom. It’s important to note that there are many ways to present instruction and mathematical ideas. Thinking outside of the box helps to keep instruction fresh for learners. For example, students can learn from identification of mathematical practices or thought. The most important instructional aspect regarding mathematics is, “it’s all around us!” Teachers can find an unlimited way to “instruct” students on mathematical topics. Standard approaches such as videos which illustrate a procedure are helpful due to the dynamic nature of the multimedia. But, teachers can fall into a rut and think all mathematics instruction must be created this way. Students can also learn when they see examples or evidence of the concept. How the teacher creates the out-of-class instruction is open. Within the mathematics discipline, the teacher has many options. Students learn best when they do. By enabling students to be active participants in the creation of instructional content, learners become “producers” (p. 63) rather than “customers” (p. 62) (Molenda & Pershing, 2008). Students can use video creation tools such as Flipgrid to document mathematical principles found in everyday life. Examples can include showing graphs found in their newspaper, rolling a die to show the various outcomes, or tossing a ball to show the shape of a parabola. By viewing and replying to student videos, they see a variety of mathematical examples and engage in mathematical discourse before the classroom meeting. Edgar Dale (1946) indicated in his research that, “the richest experiences are always personal adventures, in which the outcome has the appeal of the unpredictable” (Dale, 1946, p. 21). Students respond to the unpredictable nature of their peers’ individual video contribution. The engagement provides interest, individual expression, and relevancy of mathematical content around them.

Pre-class Practice Practice, performed before class, helps to give students the opportunity to identify areas of mathematical confusion. The age of the learner will determine the type of questions and length of the assignment. Each practice acts as a formative assessment, providing the teacher with valuable information on the mathematical

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concepts which students find challenging (Schaffhauser, 2014). Some teachers may choose to ask two to three noncontent questions which do not require mathematical mastery of the concept, including conceptual questions. Quizzes, preferably low-stake, can feature immediate grading and feedback which prepare for future assessments and assist in identification of mathematical misconceptions (Maciejewski, 2016). Use of computer assisted learning tools can be used to provide mathematical assistance to the learner as they navigate uncertainty during this opportunity for practice. A variety of other practice can be assigned. Interactive lessons. Interactive lessons, such as Desmos, can be sourced or developed for a variety of age levels. These lessons provide a learning sandbox for students to discover and navigate the mathematical concept at hand while becoming aware of its properties. Within these lessons, students provide justifications for and reflect on the math in action. Students can complete these interactive lessons in time for teachers to review their progress and answers prior to class. Worksheets. Worksheets may include mathematical fill-in-the-blank questions, practice problems, feedback questions, and concept questions and can be created specifically for a video. As students review the mathematical material presented, they can work along with the problems presented during the lesson, keeping them engaged rather than passively watching. This structure helps the student to recognize mathematically important information and establishes a uniform mechanism for thought, reflection, and strategy consolidation, as well as serving to describe the learning process (Urquhart, 2009). This process becomes an academic tool and can assist students who have weak study skills (Ogden et al., 2015). Graphic organizers. Graphic organizers provide a framework to visually categorize information which supports a learner during the novice stage. The organization of thoughts, identification of important information, creation of learning goals, evaluation of calculations and solutions, and clarification of expectations are useful components of the writing process which strengthen problem-solving (Pugalee, 2004). This organization of information is useful for problem-solving as it aids in students’ mathematical thinking (Pugalee, 2004) and study skills (Boylan, 2011). Graphic organizers can be a supplemental learning tool which aids the student’s discovery, used when taking notes, reviewing mathematical vocabulary, or during activities. There are many types of graphic organizers which can help students to categorize their mathematical learning and provide structure to the out-of-classroom experience. Mathematical graphic organizers can include tables, Venn diagrams, and charts. However, graphic organizers for specific uses include the 4 Block Organizer for problem-solving and the Frayer Model which helps to activates prior knowledge, analyze, and apply the concept to examples and non-examples (Frayer Model, n.d.). Upon further knowledge acquisition, students can redefine their answers, if necessary, as learning of the topic broadens. Conceptual or reflection questions. Reflection or metacognitive questions are also useful to provide data to the teacher on student mathematical attitudes, interests, misunderstanding, or confidence. A useful practice for mathematics teachers is

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to develop conceptual questions that students would be unable to answer without viewing or participating in the out-of-class instruction (Schaffhauser, 2014). It is also helpful to include reflection or metacognitive questions to enable the learner to develop questions or give feedback to the teacher on how they perceive the material, their study skills that may be of concern, or other information that would be helpful for the teacher to know. This is beneficial for underprepared mathematics students as this helps with mathematical anxiety and can be conducted as a private communication between the teacher and student, allowing students to share their deficiencies and insecurities without the risk of their peers finding out.

Classroom Instruction The second instructional opportunity occurs within the classroom setting. After having reviewed the mathematical concepts prior to the lesson, students will pursue further knowledge acquisition by engaging in mathematical activities such as practical application, data collection, worksheets, or projects, all of which are intended to solidify students’ grasp of the material. Teacher flexibility, particularly for the classroom activities, is a key component for success with the flipped model. Mathematical classroom activities can begin in a variety of ways. If no assessment is completed before the lesson, starting the class period with an online mathematical poll using free apps such as pollev.com can provide data regarding understanding. As learner’s responses are private, they do not need to fear embarrassment if there is a lack of understanding. Students can anonymously indicate their area of confusion or rate their learning using a multiple choice scale. Game or Quiz. Kahoot (Inspiring Ways to Kahoot!, 2019) can provide a mechanism for a low-stakes mathematical game or quiz. Available via a web browser, phone or through the app, it provides a social learning environment that can be conducted via teams or individually. Students can answer mathematical questions created by the teacher. Based on the speed at which learners choose the correct answer, points are awarded. The gaming aspects can be particularly useful within mathematics as the total points are data that learners can record and use in data analysis graphs or lessons. Free apps like Socrative offer real-time data on what students know, which can inform student grouping. Concept Questions. Discussing the mathematical concept in real-world scenarios allows students to generate examples and applications based on their experiences. Class can begin with an open mathematical concept question in which individuals, paired learners, or larger groups discuss the applicable mathematics relating to the question. For example, if learners were discussing probability, an open-ended question might be, “What jobs might regularly use probability?” This could lead to discussions involving sports or weather. While this may not help the procedural aspects of probability, it helps the learners to provide context as to where this mathematical activity can occur in the real world. Students can pool their knowledge from both the pre-class instruction and prior experiences to engage within the mathematical idea so that multiple perspectives are shared.

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Student Interactions It is important that students communicate with the teacher and their peers as often as possible during the in-class active practice. The classroom experience becomes a vibrant learning dynamic with rich exchanges between the teacher and their peers, a safe place to ask questions, and a place to explore the mathematical concepts. The teacher should talk to each student during every class instructional period, providing encouragement, feedback, instruction, and support (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). Students should have the opportunity to see and hear multiple mathematical solutions and perspectives. This is valuable as students learn that there may be many strategies that are possible. The effectiveness of groups may differ with the level of the group participants and the composition of groups based on their ability to elaborate and level of responsiveness. Therefore, restructuring groups can help to establish a good mix that benefits the participants (Webb, 1991). Groups can be configured in many ways. Dr. Mike Schroeder of Marshall University who uses flipped learning in his classes randomly assigns students to daily groups using a deck of cards: Each student draws a card, then finds the other students who possess the same card and thus a group is formed. Specific groups can be formed with mixed academic levels to stimulate ideas, or groups can be formed with those who operate at the same academic level so that group instruction can occur (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). Students gain confidence and pride from helping other students and can form spontaneous collaborative groups as they assist each other (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). This confidence can help a mathematically anxious learner. Research on peer interactions has shown that students who give content-rich explanations may improve their own understanding and thus their achievements, enabling them to see the value of working with their peers (Bargh & Schul, 1980; Strayer, 2012; Webb, 1991).

Mathematical Activities Classroom activities which allow for the deepening of mathematical knowledge include projects, research, worksheets, group exercises, and board activities to facilitate interaction. Creative ways to engage students in mathematical discussions can include case studies, ill-structured problems, think/pair/share, researching real-world applications, or field trips. Students get excited by math when they see a practical application. Case studies and ill-structured problems can assist students in thinking logically and reducing larger problems down into smaller components, which is one of the foundations of mathematical thinking (Jonassen, 1997). When ill-structured problems are used, students can explore multiple solutions, constraints, solution paths, information organization, and the use of foundational knowledge such as rules, concepts, and principles.

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Worksheet rut. Mathematical worksheets can aid in procedural practice and extend the level of difficulty. However, it is easy to fall into a “worksheet rut” when practicing the mathematical concept in class. While many teachers use worksheets to demonstrate the progression of difficulty level within a concept, particularly when support is present, Bergmann and Sams (2012) advise teachers to use a variety of classroom activities and not fall into a video, worksheet, and assessment cycle. If worksheets are used, allow students to work in groups to encourage active engagement and a variety of mathematical strategies. Worksheets may be a frequent activity, but not repetitively. Students appreciate creative activities which help build rich, deep connections to the mathematical material. A positive way to end the active learning portion of the class is to summarize the connections learned between the pre- and in-class activities (Hodges & Weber, 2015). The alignment between lesson objectives, video content, and in-class activities can be explored as a class, during think/pair/share, or through similarities/differences and other active learning exercises. The learning of the content is cemented when students make these foundational connections while reflecting on the learning process. Regardless of what classroom activities are involved, the opportunity to practice the content, alleviate misunderstandings, and to expand a student’s viewpoint and knowledge of how the concept can be used is vital to mathematical understanding.

Differentiating Instruction All students have gaps in their mathematical knowledge. These gaps can occur at any point in the material due to the fluctuating levels of student readiness, and may be due to the lack of understanding of prerequisite knowledge (Carbaugh & Doubet, 2016). Carbaugh and Doubet define readiness as “a fluid term meant to denote where a student is in his or her grasp of learning goals at a certain point in time” (p. 40). Clearly, readiness does not imply that the student has a lack of ability. Students can be ready for some mathematical topics but not ready for others. For the teacher, the challenge is to determine how to teach a concept to the differing levels of readiness that can exist within the same class. The flipped method helps to identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses immediately as the teacher can determine on a daily basis who has mastered the concept and who is struggling. Flipped mathematical classrooms naturally allow for multiple levels of readiness to coexist by giving a mechanism for the interaction, the sharing of ideas, and the construction of knowledge to occur individually or in groups (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Clark, 2015). Many students feel more comfortable asking concept or procedural questions in a smaller group or of a peer rather than to the class at large. Students have expressed comfort in knowing that other students share in the gap and that they are not the only student who is struggling. If desired, the teacher can work individually with a student or with a small group of learners who are struggling, allowing the mathematical conflicts to be handled in a more personal manner (Bergmann & Sams, 2012).

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During class, students can be grouped by ability and given assignments specifically for their mathematical level. For example, a group of struggling mathematical learners can work on the basics of numerical fractions, while a higher-level group can work with fractional concepts involving variables. Bergmann and Sams (2012) indicate that the teacher can also conduct “minilectures” (p. 25) for groups of learners who are challenged by the same concepts. In this way, the lower-level group can achieve success with the beginning material before transitioning to the concepts being taught for that day. Teachers can assist all levels within a class by pointing students to appropriate mathematical resources both in and outside class. For example, a remediation video can be prepared or found on the Internet for students who may have gaps in their knowledge. Students can watch this at home or during the classroom. Students can also be directed to previously viewed videos that may have been forgotten along the way.

Supporting Data K–12 research. While much of the research on flipped mathematics classrooms has focused on higher education environments, relatively few studies have examined the method for mathematics in the K–12 context. Bhagat et al. (2016) implemented a flipped model in several sections of a high school trigonometry class, finding that low achievers performed better than the control group, while the performances of average and high achievers showed no change. The researchers theorized that the struggling learners received more personalized and smaller group attention with the flipped experimental group, which could have attributed to their increased performance over the control group on the posttest (Bhagat et al., 2016). Two studies investigated algebra within the high school setting. Clark (2015) implemented a 7-week flipped classroom experiment for high school students enrolled in Algebra I. Students expressed increased enjoyment and engagement and preferred the active learning over traditional passive lectures, while performing similarly to the control group on the academic assessment. Esperanza, Fabian, and Toto (2016) examined performance and student attitudes in a high school algebra class for a year, in comparison with a traditional lecture section. The course featured an average of three videos per week and collaborative activities, with both guided and independent practice. The results indicated that the flipped group outperformed the control group in terms of student performance on the state-wide standardized test. Students completed both a pre-and post-attitudinal survey using the Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI). Gains in attitude was calculated by subtracting the pre-survey score from the post-survey score. A decline in attitude resulted in a negative difference, whereas a positive attitude indicated a positive difference. The results showed that while both the experimental and control groups had a slight decline in overall attitude toward math, the experimental flipped group increased in the areas of Enjoyment, Self-Confidence, and Motivation significantly

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over the control group. The experimental group increased in Enjoyment of Mathematics +0.26, while the control +0.04. Self-Confidence increased +0.34 for the experimental group over +0.16 for the control. Motivation had a significant increase from experiment (+0.12) versus control (+0.004). had a positive attitude toward mathematics and the flipped method after the year-long experiment. Lo and Hew (2017) conducted two case studies, the first involving remedial learners in a 12th-grade geometry class in Hong Kong. The learners not only expressed satisfaction in their peer collaboration but also made significant improvements from their pretest scores, with the average score increasing from 2.77 to 5.85. The second study involved high-performing students in a course that covered arithmetic and geometric sequences in a Hong Kong school. After the study, the students’ test scores increased from 2.00 to 8.08. The high-performing students felt more motivated with the flipped classroom structure and enjoyed the self-paced aspect of the course as well as the increased engagement and communication with their peers. There are been many studies at the collegiate level, but a few studies have been conducted at the secondary education level. Byron High School, in Byron, Minnesota, a rural suburban school, was faced with budget cuts and outdated textbooks when they chose to change their curriculum in 2006 with the use of the flipped model and teacher created video instruction. In 2010–2013, the number of students who demonstrated proficiency increased by 12% points in Algebra 2 and 9 percentage points Calculus I, as compared to 2007–2010 when using a traditional lecture format (Flipped Learning Model, 2013). In addition to the increase in academic progress, attitudinal data were measured through parental and student surveys. Results showed that 87% of parents and 95% of students preferred flipped learning over a traditional lecture format classrooms. Positive results of the model included, increased interaction with peers, more time to view instruction throughout the semester to remember key concepts, and increased one-on-one time in the classroom. While many students have access to technology at home, some do not. However, the lack of technology should not deter the teacher from implementing the flipped method. According to Timothy Gibbs, a West Virginia high school educator who has been using the flipped method in his STEM classes for 5 years, The lack of technology is never a barrier. There’s always a workaround. Some students would initially try to give the lack of internet access as a reason for not doing the work at home. In the beginning when students would indicate that workarounds wouldn’t work for their situation, I’d ask them, “Do you have a gaming system?’ Most gaming systems will take DVDs, and then they’d have a way. Usually, I can have them download all the videos to a flash drive, or air drop a video to their phone. There’s always a way.

In 2010, Clintondale High School in Clinton Township, Michigan piloted several implementations within their school. The initial flipped learning pilot was implemented in a freshman at-risk social studies course. The pilot was later expanded to include all freshman level classes. By 2011–2012, the flipped method was used in every grade level at the high school. Since the expansion of the

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program, test scores, attendance, engagement within the classroom, student attitudes, and graduation rates have increased. In the first pilot, freshman pass rates in mathematics increased from 56 to 69%. In 2012, the pass rates for 11th-grade students increased in all subjects. Graduation rates increased from 80 to 90% and college attendance increased from 73 to 80%, while discipline referrals decreased by 66% (Flipped Learning Model Dramatically, 2013). Flipped integrations into collegiate mathematics courses have also been seen. Dr. Mike Schroeder from Marshall University, in Huntington, West Virginia, has used the flipped method in his classes for several years. During this timeframe, he has altered his videos to address issues learned from prior course offerings. Videos have been customized to include an initial video title graphic with music to increase the production value and to make them more enjoyable for the students. To increase teacher presence, Dr. Schroeder shows both the screen capture which demonstrates the mathematical principles and an active video of him speaking. He has used the flipped method in co-requisite classes in which students are learning both remedial and college-level mathematics. Students in Dr. Schroeder’s classes are active from the moment the students enter the classroom. They begin by helping to set up their desks in a grouped arrangement and end the class by rearranging them back as the classroom is shared by other instructors who offer a traditional lecture format. To assist with the formation of groups, Dr. Schroeder uses an interesting method to ensure randomness so that all students have an opportunity to work together. Each day, students enter the classroom and select a playing card from the instructor’s desk. The students find the other students who have the same card value and form a group.

Implementation Concerns Student Responsibility Students must be responsible for their own learning. In a traditional lecture format, students may assume a more passive role in which they perceive no agency on their part until homework is assigned. On the other hand, in the flipped method, students begin their learning with the out-of-class instruction. Therefore, it is vital that teachers stress the importance of viewing the instructional content which introduces the mathematical concepts. Research conducted by Gross et al. (2015) on the students of a college-level STEM course found that the flipped-method students prepared nightly for the material rather than wait until an assessment to cram, which benefited their knowledge construction. Both pre-class preparation and in-class attendance are necessary classroom learning activities. Therefore, students in a flipped classroom are motivated to prepare before attending classes. This alignment of materials with homework and classroom activities helps create an atmosphere where students understand their responsibilities and see the relevance of their effort.

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Student Resistance Some students may be resistant to the pedagogical change. Students may express reluctance to view and learn mathematics from videos or in performing work before the mathematical knowledge is solidified. Teachers can alleviate student reservations by pointing out how many things students learn from videos in the everyday life. Students must also be assured that mastery is not expected after the initial instruction. Everyone will be practicing the concept together as a group instead of at home alone with no support. Life is filled with ill-structured problems. Students may be presented with a life problem in which they have no knowledge. Yet, individual problem-solving, application of logic and deductions are skills which can be derived from mathematical thought. By practicing with skills in which we have less formal knowledge, the learner can attempt to brainstorm solutions. This is a valuable tool that will help them within academics and life. Students may resist active learning within the classroom. They have come to expect, particularly in higher-grade levels and in college, that class time is reserved for lecture and homework is to be accomplished outside of class. They may view the lecture as a time to “zone out”. However, when probed, they may indicate that mathematics was fun in elementary school when it was learned with hands-on materials, games, and activities. It was only once the classroom experience shifted to lecture that mathematics became more difficult to understand. Instructors should reassure their students that the goals of the classroom remain the same: The teacher is there to help them understand and be able to use the mathematical concepts within the classroom, in future classes, and in real life. By using the flipped classroom method, students will learn the content not in isolation but with their peers, through interactive activities. This will help make mathematics come alive for them again.

Parental Reaction When flipping K–12 classrooms, communication with parents is key to ensuring success. Teachers can introduce parents to the new classroom structure within an informational packet which stresses the benefits of flipped classes. Use of a daily or weekly communication method, such as a blog or journal, can assist parents in identifying key concepts of the video lessons. Some parents may be resistant to the method if they were taught using the traditional lecture method. However, innovative faculty have used opportunities such as Back-to-School or Parent/Teacher night to introduce the flipped method through a video to facilitate discussion (Bergmann & Sams, 2013). Parents must be aware of students’ need to use the family computer or other digital platforms each night prior to class. As children’s lives tend to be packed with activities, families must be given the opportunity to work out their own systems. For example, students may have to watch assigned videos on their phone while on the way to and from sports practice.

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Bergmann and Sams (2012) remind us that flipping changes the way that an educator will talk to parents as the discussion is refocused from student behavior to student learning. Once the child’s learning is observed in the classroom, the teacher has much more information to share with parents about their child’s struggles or victories. As Bergmann and Sams write, “Because students are coming with the primary focus on learning, there are two real questions now: Is each student learning? If not, what can we do to help them learn?” (p. 30). When the student watches the video at home, perhaps even in the presence of a parent or family member, its content and the learning is shared so that other family members can view the instruction and become aware of the learning objectives being discussed, which gives the parent more information about the flipped method and their child’s learning.

Teacher Concerns When implementing a new pedagogy, there are always teacher doubts. Concerns listed for the flipped method include self-efficacy, classroom management, and knowledge (content, technology, or pedagogy) (Hao & Lee, 2016). However, fear of the unfamiliar should not deter a teacher from implementing this active learning instructional strategy in their mathematics course. Teachers may feel apprehensive about implementing the flipped method as they may feel that they’ve lost control or their role is dimished. However, all instruction is planned. As the architects of mathematical learning, teachers design environments which provide mathematical learning opportunities for all students. Usually, teachers plan instruction on what they think learners know, without the benefit of up-to-the-minute data on student knowledge or learning gaps. With this additional information, the teacher can provide mathematical materials, collaborative strategies, or other resources so that no student will feel disengaged. Similarly, students who have proficiency with a mathematical topic should be challenged. This can easily be accomplished with hands-on learning opportunities or more challenging problems within the same topic. All learners exist within the same mathematics classroom and must be scaffolded and encouraged in their own way.

Conclusion Flipped classrooms activate learning by aligning instruction, practice, and scaffolding of a single topic. By assigning students with an initial examination of a topic the night before, teachers gain time in the classroom to work alongside students as the latter engage in more practice or expand their knowledge by undertaking projects such as data gathering and prediction making which support the mathematical topic. Students can review the material as many times as needed to support their individual learning needs.

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Use of this pedagogical approach allows teachers to transition from dispensing knowledge to designing learning environments where students actively engage each other, the content, and the teacher about the topics being discussed. As students realize that their active participation helps them understand and gain knowledge, they see the relevance of lessons and gain motivation to attend classes. The key to a student’s understanding of mathematics is practice and doing. However, many students in a lecture environment do not practice until they are away from scaffolding. By being present when students are working on problems, activities, or projects, the teacher has an opportunity to identify misconceptions and remediate as necessary, alleviating student frustrations. With the flipped classroom method, active learning helps students collaborate and learn from not only their teacher but also their peers. Students see that they are not alone and can learn new ways of doing mathematics from other students. Students do not need to ask questions in front of the entire class but just their smaller group, reducing their anxiety. Students who are more advanced can work on more complex problems or projects to further their knowledge. The flipped method allows multiple learning levels to exist in the same classroom, which helps all learners be successful at their own mathematical level.

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Flipping the English Language Arts and Literacy Classroom Lisa A. Finnegan and Katie M. Miller

Pre-meeting I Students preview content and read literature via video lectures and classroom readings.

Start of Class Guided learning activities to engage learners and for the teacher to pre-check readiness for independent work readiness.

In-Class Independent and/or collaborative standards driven activities based on learning.

Instruction is created based on a state or district content standard. Instruction is designed for students to complete prior to coming to school/class.

Teacher implements guided practice activities “we do it together” which provides an opportunity to gauge understanding of video instruction. Based on practice examples of lesson objective the teacher will have students re-watch video or complete independent activity with more teacher support.

Student responds to questions based on instructional goal, i.e., reading comprehension question, practice of a comprehension strategy, word work practice, writing, etc.

L. A. Finnegan (&)
K. M. Miller Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA e-mail: lfi[email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_4

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Introduction English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA–L) encompasses reading of literature, informational texts, and developing foundational skills, as well as writing, speaking and listening, and language. Understanding and improving ELA-L instruction and student outcomes remains an highly active area of research in traditionally taught classrooms. When considering flipping the ELA–L classroom, it is important to understand the complexity and scaffolded nature of the individual skills or components throughout K–12. The National Reading Panel (NRP) (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000) after having reviewed over 100,000 studies on how children should learn to read determined that the five components of comprehensive literacy instruction should include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. As a result, ELA–L components such as oral language, spelling, syntax, and written expression were added to the Literacy How model as a framework for reading instruction (NICHD, 2000). Alternatively, the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of leading education organizations, identifies the following to be the nine components of effective research-supported reading instruction that moves students beyond learning to read: • • • • • • • • •

phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and concepts of print; the alphabetic code (phonics and decoding); fluent and automatic reading of text; vocabulary; text comprehension; written expression; spelling and handwriting; screening and continuous assessment to inform instruction; and motivating children to read and develop their literacy horizons.

A third alternative, a balanced literacy model, incorporates all the elements through the practice of instruction during word workshops, a reading workshop, and a writing workshop and provides a way to make learning personalized, a key aspect of flipping instruction in ELA–L. The teaching and learning process of ELA-L is complex. Defining the ELA–L elements regardless of approach is important to understand before identifying ways to flip the instruction of them. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an assessment given to 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students in the United States (McFarland et al., 2018). During the 2017 test year, the NAEP Reading assessment was given using technology. Presently, reading scores have remained stagnant or shown marginal improvement at the elementary and middle school levels for over a decade. In 2017, the average score for students at the fourth-grade level in the nation was 222, falling above the basic skill level (209) but below proficient (238). Students at or below the 25th percentile appear to be the students losing ground, while students at the 50th percentile and above are making slight gains. Students at the eighth-grade level

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have seen slightly more growth from 2002 scores, but they too are between basic and proficient levels. Eighth-grade students performing at the 25th percentile have remained stagnant and students at the 10th percentile have been declining since 2015. Additionally, the last published administration of the NAEP) in writing, which was administered to students in Grades 8 and 12 only, reflected similar progress (Aud, Hussar, Kena, Bianco, Frohlich, Kemp, & Tahan, 2011). The assessment, which was computer-based as well, indicated that 27% of 8th- and 12th-grade students scored at or above the level of “proficient,” and 3% at or above the level of “advanced” (Aud et al., 2012). With students continuing to remain stagnant in their reading and writing gains it is important to understand the individual elements of ELA-L instruction in order to enhance the learning environment using a flipped or inverted approach.

Individual Elements of English Language Arts and Literacy Instruction Phonemic awareness (PA) is having the ability to manipulate phonemes in spoken words (NICHD, 2000). Phonemes are the smallest units of spoken language. In the English language, there are 41 phonemes. As we speak, we begin to blend phonemes together to make words with sound chunks that we hear when they are spoken. For example, saying the word “no” has two phonemes, while “stay” has three. The NRP concluded that PA instruction is effective in teaching children to attend to and manipulate speech sounds found in words (NICHD, 2000). The NRP (NICHD, 2000) indicates that PA knowledge and skills can be assessed or enhanced using the following tasks: • Phoneme isolation (recognizing individual sounds in words) • Phoneme identity (recognizing the common/same sound in a sequence of three or four words) • Phoneme categorization (recognizing odd/different sound in a sequence of three or four words) • Phoneme blending (listening to a sequence of sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word) • Phoneme segmentation (breaking a word into its sounds by counting the sounds in some way or pronouncing while showing each sound) • Phoneme deletion (recognizing what word remains when a specified phoneme is removed) Phonics instruction is a critical element of reading instruction by providing learners with a way to break the letter–letter–sound code. According to the NRP, the ultimate goal of phonics instruction is for students to acquire the knowledge and be able to use the alphabetic code so that they can make progress in learning to read and comprehend written text. Several approaches (synthetic, analogy, embedded, phonics-through-spelling, phonics-in-context, analogy phonics) are used when

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teaching phonics, however, no matter the approach systematic and explicit phonics instruction is effective for learners from kindergarten through sixth grade (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2001). Reading fluency impacts a learner’s comprehension of texts read. Fluent readers read with speed, accuracy, and appropriate inflection or expression (International Literacy Association, 2018). Reading fluency builds comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Two instructional approaches that have been found to support the development of reading fluency are guided oral reading and repeated reading (NICHD, 2000). Guided oral reading and repeated reading provide opportunities for learners to read and reread passages while receiving feedback as they move toward becoming proficient and fluent and eventually comprehending more of what they read. According to the NICHD (2000), vocabulary is a vital part of reading and is a necessary element for comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge means learners are able to read and say written words and understand their meaning. Vocabulary knowledge is critical to understanding informational texts. Neuman and Wright (2013) state that teachers should engage in activities that promote vocabulary development such as reading aloud from fiction and nonfiction texts, building word and world knowledge through content area learning, and facilitating discussions using challenging vocabulary. Learners need opportunities to not only learn new vocabulary words and connect them to their existing vocabulary knowledge but to also practice using new vocabulary words in meaningful ways. Much of vocabulary is learned indirectly through oral discourse, reading aloud to learners, as well as silent reading (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2001) and the NRP supports the use of strategy instruction to improve learner outcomes when learning vocabulary (NICHD, 2000). Instructional methods or strategies to teach vocabulary include both direct and indirect instruction. Fezell (2012) indicates that vocabulary can be enhanced by providing rigorous instruction using direct instruction through word work and word meaning/semantics activities and indirect instruction by allowing students choice in vocabulary words of interest to learn, as well as through reading, and writing. Commonly used (Tier 1) and complex words (Tier 2) that occur more frequently in a students’ academic realm will be words students are more familiar with and readily use, yet words that are more obscure (Tier 3) and apply to precise situations or have a higher value and risk in usage can be connected to basic and complex word lists when instruction focuses on building students’ skillful application of all vocabulary word levels (Fezell, 2012; Manyak, Manyak, Cimino, & Horton, 2018). Reading comprehension provides the purpose of reading. Making meaningful connections from what learners read enhances their knowledge base and provides purpose for all their effort to decode words understand their meaning. To make meaningful connections learners need the other components of reading to function efficiently. Learners need to be able to decode what they read with fluency and understand what the vocabulary means and think deeply and critically to draw connections, make predictions and inferences between what they know and what they have just read.

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Ultimately the skills gained from ELA–L instruction are established to prepare students for the twenty-first century by their ability to use critical thinking skills, reasoning and evidence collection skills, and to read texts closely and carefully to gain understanding and meaning from complex texts and literature. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were set up to establish uniform standards across the nation to prepare students to be college and career ready for the twenty-first century. The majority of states in the nation gradually accepted the standards as written and then modified them slightly to blend individual state expectations into the core, yet the focus of reading informational texts, emphasizing higher level thinking, and the integration of digital literacies throughout the ELA–L remains critical. The CCSS in English and Language Arts address students’ ability to write logical arguments, including opinion writing in the earliest grades. Further, students are required to read and write across the content areas to prepare to meet the demands for college and career (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). All students, including those with disabilities and struggling learners, are expected to reach a mastery level of academic performance for each of the standards (Seok, DaCosta, Kinsell, Poggio, & Meyen, 2010). Within the CCSS, writing is used as a tool to show knowledge and understanding, state opinions, and build understanding through research projects and analytical responses (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). The CCSS integrate writing across a variety of genres, with a particular emphasis on informational and persuasive expository text (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). This is a shift from the common focus on narratives in the classroom. There is not one unified approach to teaching writing; nor is there one definition of the “writing process” (Berninger, Garcia, & Abbott, 2009; Pritchard & Honeycutt, 2006). Although there is not one specific model, Graves (1983) defined the approach as stages of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing for authentic audiences (Bromley, 2007; Fletcher & Portaluppi, 2001; Graves, 1983). Writer’s Workshop, and variations of it, are commonly implemented in classrooms today. The implementation of Writers’ Workshop varies, but it includes specific components of the writing process: (a) mini-lessons which highlight writing skills with strategies in both composition and writing quality traits, (b) specific times in which students utilize the writing process and write for a specific audience and purpose, (c) writing conferences between teacher and student to create and progress toward individual writing goals, and (d) opportunities to share and read their work (Atwell, 1987, 2015; Berninger et al., 2009). No matter the specific approach, most often teachers use some form of the writing process to teach writing. In fact, Cutler and Graham (2008) conducted a writing survey among primary grade teachers. Of the teachers surveyed, 72% indicated they used some type of the writing process approach within their classrooms in combination with a traditional skills approach.

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Flipped Focus on Teaching and Enhancing Language Although the flipped or inverted classroom concept is not new, particularly when used in mathematics, science, or language acquisition, a review of the literature for ELA–L demonstrates that the majority of classrooms that use a flipped approach are often at the secondary or higher education levels (Hamdan, McKnight, McKnight, & Arfstrom, 2013). A quick look at Khan Academy, a well-known, respected, and commonly utilized resource for online lessons shows the depth and wealth of mathematics and science video lessons. However, the lessons available for ELA–L focus on grammar. Additionally, according to the results from a survey completed by the Flipped Learning Network and Sophia Learning, only 15% of teachers who flip instruction teach at the elementary level, whereas 80% are teachers at the secondary level (Flipped Learning Network, 2014). New literacies particularly when thinking about information and communication technologies (ICTs) have initiated some of the research focus for flipped ELA-L primarily for non-English-speaking students. Technology can benefit learning when the technology and the curriculum fit well together (Allen, Jacovina, & McNamara, 2016). Students can negotiate new literacies successfully when teachers effectively integrate technology into the classroom when the learner is at the center of the meaning-making process (Labbo & Place, 2010). Students need to be guided to be critical readers of the sources from which they read, checking for credibility, accuracy, bias, and timeliness (Labbo & Place, 2010). Reading comprehension of the English language has become an even more vital twenty-first-century skill due to existing and emerging ICTs available globally. For example, Huang and Hong (2016) examined the effects of a flipped English intervention on Taiwanese high school students’ understanding of newly acquired information and reading comprehension and ICTs. The intervention was separate from their English language acquisition class. The students in this study viewed videos on a variety of English reading strategies and were asked to reflect upon a question posed in each video that would be discussed during class the following day (Huang & Hong, 2016). The students were given a questionnaire that contained statements on ICTs and an English reading comprehension test, and a select group of students were identified for observation purposes of how they use ICTs and the implementation of the reading strategies when using ICTs. Huang and Hong (2016) found that the flipped lessons on English reading comprehension strategies improved students’ posttest English reading comprehension test scores significantly when students were able to use their class time to discuss questions posed during the video, work in small groups, ask questions of other groups, and receive feedback from the instructor. Similarly, Hashemifardia, Namaziandost, and Shafiee (2018) examined the effect of a flipped pedagogy on the reading comprehension of Iranian junior high school students. In this study, students were provided background knowledge prior to receiving the flipped content as audio text and then returned to class, responded to questions, and participated in discussion and activities related to the content using computers and smartphones (Hashemifardia et al., 2018). The findings from this study showed improved performance on

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reading comprehension for students in the flipped classroom compared to students in the traditional classroom (Hashemifardia et al., 2018). Two articles involving flipped pedagogy with elementary school students provide opportunities for students to learn at Bloom’s highest level of learning by creating e-books. Although the course content was not ELA–L in either of the studies, the creation of e-books involves ELA–L skills. Tsai, Shen, and Lu (2015) combined problem-based learning with the flipped pedagogy and discovered that student learning performance was significantly higher for students who were in the flipped problem-based learning pedagogy than the problem-based pedagogy or traditional pedagogy when it came to creating a collaborative e-book in their computer class. Although not a study, a separate article shared the experience of students creating an e-book in science. The author used flipped instruction for science content as well technology to enable students to create a resource that expressed student knowledge and provided them with opportunities to become authors and editors of their own work (Encheff, 2013).

Flipping the English Language Arts and Literacy Content ELA–L content instruction can be flipped; it will just look different at each school level as the various components of ELA–L are being introduced. Students at the elementary school level will have different learning needs than students at the middle school or high school level, based on their developmental needs. As students mature and develop, they move from a stage of concrete thinking to semi-concrete thinking to understanding or being able to make connections about abstract concepts. Children starting kindergarten are at a preoperational stage of development and move toward a concrete operational stage between 7 and 11 years of age or first to fifth grades (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969, 2000). In order for flipped instruction to be effective, one must be sure to keep the students’ developmental stage in mind and keep the learning student-centered (Cockrum, 2014). Suggestions made for the elementary level are to start small scaffolding skills by introducing one video a week, creating videos or digital instruction blocks (DIB) of 10-min lengths or shorter based on 1–2 min per grade level, or using the video as one of the classroom center rotations. Other alternatives include incorporating a hands-on activity that students execute as they watch a video set as homework, thinking of places in the curriculum where classroom discussion would be critical to moving forward in student understanding or may be challenging, and explaining and modeling for parents how the videos when used as homework can build language development and support the learning process (Bergman & Sams, 2015). On the other hand, at the middle school and high school levels, flipped instruction is set as homework as long as students have the ability to view the DIBs at some point prior to class. For the purposes of sharing how to use a flipped pedagogy for students in Grades K–12, the authors are incorporating the concept of an effective, comprehensive literacy framework which promotes small group instruction to meet the needs of all learners and addresses all components of ELA–L.

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Word Study Word study instruction can occur during vocabulary instruction; phonics instruction; interactive, shared and modeled reading/writing activities; spelling instruction; and reader’s theater and poetry activities. As grade level increases, word work skills change from first learning to decode words to support learning how to read; toward vocabulary enhancement or growth in complex word use learned through reading and writing; and then finally reaching a level where reading is used to learn obscure or high value words and their meaning in a specific rigorous learning situations (Shakespeare, Physics, etc.). Learning to read begins with a heavier focus on what is considered as word work and moves toward reading to learn after the second grade. Listed below are examples of instructional activities and approaches for implementing flipped instruction and supporting the instruction during in-class instruction, connected to CCSS components. The activities listed in Grades K–5 are learning activities implemented by the authors or their fellow colleagues during their tenure as classroom teachers as well as based on the recommendations from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) report for educators on the Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten through Grade 3 (Foorman et al., 2016). It is important to coordinate total media usage time to remain within guidelines and recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2018). Kindergarten–Grade 2 CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Concepts of print Alphabetic principles (upper/lower case, letter name) Phonemic awareness—letter sound connections, concepts of letters to words, isolation of sounds, i.e., initial, medial, and final sounds (CVC), vowel sounds both long and short, rhyming) Frequency word recognition

As part of a classroom rotation for centers, assign a letter/sight word video of the week from the Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel. This YouTube channel contains songs about the letters, months, sight words, counting, etc., for children https://www. youtube.com/user/ JackHartmann Share ideas with parents about the stories, poems, etc. that are being used during instruction to guide them in supporting language development and building background knowledge through experience. Provide link to videos watched during center time

Small group hands-on working activity on concept mentioned in the video. For instance, students will identify and read the new sight words in a story. Students will create a scrapbook page from magazines and post to a school “Pinterest”-type page During interactive writing activity in class have students help with the letter sounds heard in words, CVC words, and sight words as a story. Alternatively, shared writing is created and then read. Shared writing can be turned into a product that can be shared on classroom website or sent home in a newsletter (continued)

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(continued) CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Blend phonemes together; isolate initial, medial, and final sounds in words Segment words into phonemes Decoding of words—common spelling sound of consonant digraphs, decode regularly spelled one syllable words, understand silent e and other vowel conventions, decode two syllable words, understand syllables have a vowel, read words with inflectional endings, recognize and read irregular words Recognize sentence features such as beginning starts with a capital letter, ends with a punctuation mark Read grade-level text with fluency and accuracy—sight word knowledge, self-correction skills

At the first-grade level, the flipped pedagogy could be part of a learning center rotation or it could be an introduction to an inverted approach to instruction such as traditional flipped model where the video is viewed as homework (HW). If viewed as HW, then students will complete some type of graphic organizer or activity that they will bring to class the next day to begin working from. Students can use district-funded apps and online games to build words at home Spelling words and basic grammar instruction can be flipped at the first-grade level. Students can watch a brief 1– 2 min teacher made video on sentence structure such as sentences start with a capital letter and end with a form of punctuation or other specific element. Sentences have a subject (noun) and a predicate (verb and something about the subject). Spelling words can also be introduced using the flipped pedagogy. During the video, student could be taught the words and their meaning and have them spelled out as they write them down on a spelling word tic-tac-toe template that they will use in class. Similar to spelling words, students could view a teacher made video on phonics rules that assist them in decoding words. An example of this could be a video that teaches all the ways the long a vowel sound can be made (a_e, _ai_, _ay)

Students will edit an interactive writing example or self-created writing example using peer-tutoring approach to practice the skills on sentence structure Assign a variety of activities to the spelling tic-tac-toe template or have students generate ways to complete their tic-tac-toe spelling practice during the week prior to the test. As students use the words, they only need to focus on the ones they are having difficulty with and may require assistance from the teacher or peers to identify ways to decode for spelling purposes. Vocabulary Spelling City https://www.spellingcity.com/ could be used as an alternative for one of the tic-tac-toe choices or students could use district supported apps or online games such as WFP Free Rice at https://beta. freerice.com/ to build vocabulary After completing a journal writing activity, students can share their journal with a peer who will help them edit their writing using a peer-tutoring approach in which students use a sentence structure checklist. Students can place writing on hall bulletin board or create a podcast and post to classroom Twitter page

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Grades 3–5 CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Identify and know meaning of most common prefixes and suffixes, including most Latin prefixes Decode multisyllable words and irregularly spelled words Use combined knowledge of all letter sound correspondence, syllabication patterns, and morphology to read accurately

Students will view a teacher-created video for HW that instructs them on specific word work such as r-controlled vowels, final double consonants, silent e with word endings, compound words, sight words including nonphonetic sight words such as could, would, etc., adjectives, adverbs, proper nouns, pronouns, synonyms, antonyms, etc. Recorded video would support students in hearing the correct pronunciation of words introduced A graphic organizer or thinking map will be provided by the teacher that links to the story and a particular word work skill that students will be practicing.

Students will use their tree map created from their viewing of the lesson video to sort words that contained different prefixes. Students will analyze which prefixes can be used with the root words of all the words identified and discuss the meanings or suggested meanings of the words based on the suffix and whether or not the word is a real word and can be added to the word list/vocabulary or whether the word is not a real word. While working on creating new vocabulary words through group work students will practice pronunciation and use of the word, explore dictionary research skills for meaning and pronunciation of words, and supports decoding by connecting to syllabication patterns

CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language and connotative meanings

Students will watch a video on the identifying types of figurative language (metaphors, similes, hyperbole, personification, symbolism, etc.) As they view the video, they will review several examples and attempt to identify the type of figurative language a statement is

Students will read, work with a partner to discuss their finding from the video, and evaluate their decision-making. Students will co-construct an example of the various types of figurative language and identify which types were used in their literature (Lai, Wilson, McNaughton, & Hsiao, 2014). Teacher will share examples of partner students’ figurative language creations and demonstrate (continued)

Grades 6–12

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(continued) CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction how to analyze and evaluate figurative language types, previewing the procedures to be carried out as they read through literature assignments. Students will create visual image products of various figurative language types and create a Youtube video that can be posted and shared

Comprehension and Meaningful Practice Comprehension and meaningful literacy practice includes interactive, shared, and modeled reading/writing activities, and guided and independent literacy work using traditional and new literacy methods. Reading comprehension and making meaningful connections from material read are the core purpose of reading. Grades Kindergarten–2 CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text for both fiction and nonfiction text Actively engage in-group reading activities with purpose and understanding moving toward reading and comprehending stories and poetry on grade level by Grade 2

Students will watch a video recorded version of a story, poem, or nonfiction text from curriculum resources and complete a story frame or organizer using pictures at K level and pictures with written words and sentences at 1 and 2 grade levels that connect to specifics of the text. Recorded video will prompt student to read words focused on during word work activities completed during the week

Text will be reread and discussed to connect to student work. Students will be active readers during group reading by partner reading and peer-assisted tutoring teacher-created activities. Students will build from previous text read to conceptualize inferences that can be made from read text. Students will discuss evidence discovered or identified on their text organizers. Students will add to their graphic organizers based on new evidence discussed in class and compare with a peer as a self-check Students will read text of interest and at a reading level (continued)

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(continued) CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction that builds toward independent reading and apply lessons to personalized choice in reading material and teacher will conference with students individually

Grades 3–5 CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Recount stories including poems, fables, folktales, myths, etc., and determine their central message or lesson and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text/text evidence Read and comprehend literature, including stories, drama, and poetry at the end of each grade level with proficiency and at an independent level

Video lesson on identifying central theme or message and key words or phrases that serve as evidence to support theme

Students will read a variety of genres and discuss and debate evidence that supports or denies the concept of themes Students will read texts of interest at a reading level that builds toward independent reading and apply lessons to personalized choice in reading material while the teacher conferences with students individually. Students can participate in literature circles based on interest in similar themed text and then write and post reviews

Grades 6–12 CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Cite (strong and thorough) textual evidence to support analysis of what the text explicitly as well as implicitly implies drawn from inferences from the text Determine a theme or central idea of text and analyze its development over the course of the text connecting to character, setting, and plot,

Flipped lesson will cover process of close reading to identify elements of read text that are explicit for text evidence purposes as well as context clues that can lead to identifying implicit evidence of text. Students will use the Cornell note-taking format to write notes in preparation for class work

Students will read a variety of genres of literature and identify text features that support statements made about characters, setting, author’s purpose, central theme, etc. Features will be used to drive discussion and further clarify misconceptions (McKeown & Gentilucci, 2007; Santori & Belfatti, 2016). Students (continued)

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(continued) CCSS component provide an objective summary Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems independently and proficiently on grade level

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction can participate in literature circles based on interest in similar themed text and then write and post reviews Students will read text of interest and at a reading level that builds toward independent reading and apply lessons to personalized choice in reading material and teacher will conference with students individually

Writing Writing includes instruction in sentence structure, grammar, writing types or purposes, citation use, and the writing process through interactive writing in both small and large group as well as independent writing activities. The CCSS are delineated into four big ideas: Text Types and Purposes, Production and Distribution, Research to Build and Present Knowledge, and Range of Writing. These four ideas are the crucial competencies that students need to know how to do to become career and college ready by the end of high school (Spencer, 2015). When conceptualizing writing instruction for the flipped classroom, one must think of the various components across a continuum. Some activities outlined below will support writing across the various stages (e.g., planning, drafting, revising) and others will explicitly target skills (transcription/mechanical process of writing, grammar), motivation (setting goals), and knowledge (writing process, genre, etc.). These skills are of course, aligned to the CCSS and detailed below. The writing process framework is used to describe the ideas for flipped instruction in writing below. In addition, the writing activities that are discussed below are aligned to and based on writing recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences report, Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers: A practice guide by Graham and colleagues (2012). These recommendations are based upon expert recommendations and varying levels of research support which are further described in the report (Graham et al., 2012). The activities below are not specific research based activities, rather they are original ideas that were used in the authors’ classrooms and were aligned to the recommendation for teaching students to write using the writing process for a variety of purposes, which has a strong level of evidence. Additionally, our recommendations support teaching students to become fluent with handwriting, sentence construction, typing, and word processing, which has moderate levels of evidence. And lastly, providing daily time for students to write as well as creating an engaged community of writers, has minimal evidence but is still a

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recommendation based on expert opinion. Many of the activities below also align to components of strategy instruction and use of graphic organizers, which has evidence that supports struggling writers and those students with disabilities (Graham & Perin, 2007). Grades K–5 Writing process skill and CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Planning Text Types and Purposes: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader about the book they are writing and state an opinion or preference

Show students a video on content to activate prior knowledge (e.g., types of mammals or types of after school activities)

Drafting Production and Distribution of Writing: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. Editing and Revising Production and Distribution of Writing: With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers

Have students create a draft, using graphic organizer from Kidspiration. Students will use that draft to create and add to shared writing product

Teacher models using planning graphic organizer and creates shared writing in class, modeling opinion essays Students can develop formulating and expressing their opinions or knowledge of evidence through oral discourse before writing them. Record students’ expressions and use them to conference with each student to develop their outline Teacher models how to copy content from graphic organizer and to create a written draft. Students use models that were created at a center or at home, to begin their own drafts

Publishing Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:

Students upload their drafts on to Google Documents or provide their drafts to teachers. Teachers provide specific editing feedback and students work on feedback at center Students will watch video on ways to revise and publish work using appropriate symbols at center

Students explore other means, such as VoiceThread,

Teacher provides specific strategy instruction on the revision and editing process. Using student writing samples, teacher can model his/her thinking as they revise and edit example work using the strategy discussed in the video previously Students work on syntax by editing sentences for errors, practice making revisions through enriching sentence complexity and vocabulary In Class: Teacher provides instruction on publishing student work. Students can (continued)

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(continued) Writing process skill and CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details

to view a previously composed class text

choose from VoiceThread, BitStrips, or even a Narrated Powerpoint

Writing process skill and CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Planning Text Types and Purposes: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content Drafting Production and Distribution of Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience Editing and Revising Production and Distribution of Writing: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed

Have students create graphic organizers at home completed about a particular informative topic. Have students watch a presentation on topic you will be discussing in class

Model for students how you would draft proposal from graphic organizer as guided practice and then have students begin to use their graphic organizers to draft their own proposal

Students can draft using Google Documents to create an outline and then a written product. Teacher can provide feedback on outline

Teacher models how to use Google Documents’ outline to create a written draft. Students continue their drafts in class

Students can draft using Google Documents to create an outline and then a written product. Teacher can provide feedback on outline

After receiving teacher feedback via Google Documents, teacher addresses commonly made mistakes in whole group mini-lessons. Students continue to complete drafts

Grades 6–12

(continued)

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(continued) Writing process skill and CCSS component

Flipped instruction

In-class/in-school instruction

Publishing Range of Writing: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences

Students work on individual Blog or Website on publishing their final written piece

In Class: Teacher focuses on writing purpose and demonstrates several visual enhancements for written pieces

Discussion and Conclusion Grammar, spelling, vocabulary word work, and the writing process are the more common components of ELA–L standards that are flipped. However, all components can be flipped once students become familiar with the expectations and method. Flipping ELA–L content moves learning how to read and reading to learn into students’ hands and allows for true personalized instruction. Starting with one element of ELA–L standards and exploring how to make deeper learning happen in the classroom can begin as early as kindergarten by infusing technology as a center activity or family activity and building skills to a traditional flipped environment where students gain access to content for knowledge purposes at home and creative purposes at school. Flipping elements of the ELA–L classroom is important to the future of the teaching and learning environment because the students that are and will be a part of that environment are students born into a world of technology that provides them with choice. They can access what they read on a tablet, smartphone, laptop, or book. We need to be prepared for that group of children. The only generation officially designated by the U.S. Census Bureau are children born between 1946 and 1964, otherwise known as the baby boomers (Loria & Lee, 2018); however, nations and the world have labeled other generations based on perceptions of their spending habits and creativity. Students currently in K–12 (born between 1995 and 2012) have been labeled as Gen Z or iGen, while students in the next generation’s K–12 classrooms (born between 2013 and 2030) have been labeled Generation Alpha. The younger members of Gen Z and all of Gen Alpha will have grown up with iPads or tablets in their hand; have access to, use, and eventually own smartphones at a young age; have lived in a world where makerspace or breaker-space activities bring engineering into play; and know that ideas can be shared instantaneously through a variety of technology tools and apps via social

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media sites on the Internet. Knowing that the students arriving in our classrooms are surrounded and immersed in technology means that we need to consider teaching them in a different way, and ELA–L instruction with new literacy requirements has the potential to take learning to read and reading to learn farther when implemented using a flipped instructional model. The key to the kingdom in reading is practice (Hasselbring, 2010). Readers below the proficient level may not be getting the practice they need. Finding approaches that boost practice opportunities can enable the practice needed. As technology continues to advance and support learning, it becomes an avenue to scale up instruction and build in practice (Hasselbring, 2010) through flipping ELA–L content. Traditional literacy materials provided both in the school and the home environments have been in the form of paper—for example, books or paper and pencil/pens/colors for writing and illustrating using alphabetic letter symbols (Labbo & Ryan, 2010). In contrast, the literacy landscape of today is connected to the Internet and involves digital letters and symbols such as icons, emojis, gifs, etc., all of which need to be read and interpreted for comprehension. Furthermore, learners today find written words while exploring search engines, webpages, podcasts, blogs, YouTube videos, Snapchats, and many other new and emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) (International Reading Association, 2009). The Internet and other ICTs bring about new ways of doing literacy tasks (Allen Jacovina, & McNamara, 2016). As these new literacies impact students’ lives, educators are being mandated to integrate these technologies into their lessons as part of teaching and learning in the twenty-first century (Allen, Jacovina, & McNamara, 2016). However, these new literacies require additional instruction on the practical and ethical use of ICTs, because written word is read and shared. Technology is becoming a larger part of our lives. Access to technology has greatly improved as smartphone technology has grown. Where there used to be a digital divide in who had technology and who did not, an issue primarily related to socioeconomic status, perhaps the twenty-first-century digital divide is related to passive and active use of technology, that is, watching versus creating. Flipping ELA–L provides an opportunity to merge content and all literacies, traditional and new, together.

References Allen, L. K., Jacovina, M. E., & McNamara, D. S. (2016). Computer-based writing instruction. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 316–329). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2018). American Academy of Pediatrics announces new recommendation for children’s media use. APA.org website https://www.aap.org/en-us/aboutthe-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-Announces-NewRecommendations-for-Childrens-Media-Use.aspx. Atwell, N. (1987; 2015). In the middle: Writing, reading and learning with adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books. Aud, S., Hussar, W., Kena, G., Bianco, K., Frohlich, L., Kemp, J., Tahan, K. (2011). The Condition of Education 2011 (NCES 2011-033). U.S. Department of education, national center for education statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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Aud, S., Hussar, W., Johnson, F., Kena, G., Roth, E., Manning, E., Wang, X., & Zhang, J. (2012). The condition of education 2012 (NCES 2012-045). U.S. Department of education, national center for education statistics. Washington, DC. Retrieved May 4, 2020 from http://nces.ed. gov/pubsearch. Bergman, J., & Sams, A. (2015). The flipped learning series: Flipped learning for elementary instruction. Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education. Berninger, V., Garcia, N., & Abbott, R. (2009). Multiple processes that matter in writing instruction and assessment. In G. Troia (Ed.), Instruction and assessment for struggling writers. Evidence-based practices. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Bromley, K. (2007). Best practices in teaching writing. In L. M. Morrow, L. B. Gambrell, & N. K. Duke (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (pp. 243–263). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). (2001). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. Washington, DC: Partnership for Reading. Cockrum, T. (2014). Flipping your English class to reach all learners: Strategies and lesson plans. New York, NY: Routledge. Cutler, L., & Graham, S. (2008). Primary grade writing instruction: A national survey. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(4), 907–919. Encheff, D. (2013). Creating a science E-book with fifth grade students. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 57(6), 61–72. Fezell, G. (2012). Robust vocabulary instruction in a readers’ workshop. The Reading Teacher, 66 (3), 233–237. Retrieved from https://ila-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.fau.edu/doi/abs/10. 1002/TRTR.01087. Fletcher, R., & Portaluppi, J. (2001). Writing workshop: The essential guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Flipped Learning Network & Sophia. (2014). Growth in flipped learning: Transitioning the focus from teachers to students for educational success. Retrieved from http://www.flippedlearning. org/survey. Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., … Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov. Graham, S., Bollinger, A., Booth Olson, C., D’Aoust, C., MacArthur, C., McCutchen, D., & Olinghouse, N. (2012). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers: A practice guide (NCEE 2012-4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wc/publications_reviews.aspx#pubsearch. Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellence in Education. Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH: Heinemann. Hamdan, N., McKnight, P., McKnight, K., & Arfstrom, K. (2013). A review of flipped learning. Retrieved from http://www.flippedlearning.org/review. Hasselbring, T. S. (2010). Reading proficiency, the struggling reader, and the role of technology. In E. A. Baker (Ed.), The new literacies: Multiple perspective on research and practice (pp. 23–40). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Hashemifardia, A., Namaziandost, E., & Shafiee, S. (2018). The effect of implementing flipped classrooms on Iranian junior high school students’ reading comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(6), 665–673. Huang, Y., & Hong, Z. (2016). The effects of a flipped English classroom intervention on students’ information and communication technology and English reading comprehension. Education Technology Research & Development, 64(2), 175–193.

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International Literacy Association. (2018). Reading fluently does not mean reading fast [Literacy Brief]. Neward, DE: Author. Retrieved from https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/ where-we-stand/ila-reading-fluently-does-not-mean-reading-fast.pdf. Labbo, L. D., & Place, K. (2010). Fresh perspectives on new literacies and technology integration. Voices from the Middle, 17(3), 9–18. Labbo, L. D., & Ryan, T. (2010). Traversing the literacies landscape: A semiotic perspective on early literacy acquisition and digital literacies instruction. In: B.A. Baker (Ed.) The new literacies: Multiple perspectives on research and practice (pp. 88–105). New York: Guilford Press Lai, M. K., Wilson, A., McNaughton, S., & Hsiao, S. (2014). Improving achievement in secondary schools: Impact of a literacy project on reading comprehension and secondary school qualifications. Reading Research Quarterly, 49(3), 305–334. Loria, K., & Lee, S. (2018). Here’s which generation you’re part of based on your birth year— And why those distinctions exist. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/generationyou-are-in-by-birth-year-millennial-gen-x-baby-boomer-2018-3. Manyak, P. C., Manyak, A.-M., Cimino, N. D., & Horton, A. L. (2018). Teaching vocabulary for application: Two model practices. The Reading Teacher, 0(0), 1–14. Retrieved from https://ilaonlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.fau.edu/doi/epdf/10.1002/trtr.1753. McFarland, J., Hussar, B., Wang, X., Zhang, J., Wang, K., Rathbun, A., Barmer, A., Forrest Cataldi, E., & Bullock Mann, F. (2018). The condition of education 2018 (NCES 2018-144). U.S. Department of education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 4, 2020 from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2018144. McKeown, R. G., & Gentilucci, J. L. (2007). Think-aloud strategy: Metacognitive development and monitoring comprehension in the middle school second-language classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2), 136–147. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). (2000). Report of the National reading panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Neuman, S. B., & Wright, T. S. (2013). All about words: Increasing vocabulary in the common core classroom, PreK-2. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969; 2000). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books. Pritchard, R. J., & Honeycutt, R. L. (2006). The process approach to teaching writing: Examining its effectiveness. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 275–290). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Santori, D., & Belfatti, M. (2016). Do text-dependent questions need to be teacher dependent? Close reading from another angle. The Reading Teacher, 70(6), 649–657. Seok, S., DaCosta, B., Kinsell, C., Poggio, J. C., & Meyen, E. L. (2010). Computer-mediated intersensory learning model for students with learning disabilities. TechTrends, 54(2), 63–71. Spencer, S. A. (2015). Making the common core writing standards accessible through universal design for learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Tsai, C., Shen, P., & Yu, L., (2015). The effects of problem-based learning with flipped classroom on elementary students’ computing skills: A case study of the production of ebooks. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 11(2), 27–43. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 1992–2017 Reading Assessments. Retrieved from https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2017/ #nation/scores?grade=4. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years, 1992–2017 Reading Assessments. Retrieved from https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2017/ #nation/scores?grade=8.

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A Flipped English Class in a Korean Middle School: Changes in English Language Teaching, Classroom Interaction, and Learning Outcomes Byungmin Lee and Sung Hee Lim

Introduction This chapter examines how the Flipped Classroom (FC) can transform a Korean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classroom from a teacher-driven environment into a communicative student-centered classroom. It explores the transformations of Grade 9 English classes consisting of 1 teacher and 100 male students in Seoul, South Korea. The study employs a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach in order to uncover changes in classroom interaction patterns, English language learning, and perceptions of the teacher and students. The findings demonstrate a positive potential of the FC in the Korean secondary EFL classroom. An increased amount of open and reciprocal interaction, diversified participant organization, and improved learning outcomes from the students are notable examples. Furthermore, the perceptual changes of the participants in the flipped EFL classroom are confirmed with a high degree of satisfaction and improvements in the quality of English acquisition. The empirical evidence proves that the FC transforms conventional classrooms in structural and systematic ways. Namely, the elimination of lectures during class hours opens a possibility to create a variety of pedagogical applications and new participant roles in an EFL classroom. Before discussing details, it is necessary to elaborate on why this study follows a research-focused style rather than practitioner-focused although it offers vast practitioner implications. This study was conducted in a Korean middle school classB. M. Lee (&) Department of English Language Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea e-mail: [email protected] S. H. Lim Director of Research Department, Future Class Network, Seoul, South Korea e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_5

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B. Lee and S. H. Lim Pre-meeting I An SNS-based Classroom community (Naver BAND): Selfstudying a lesson via video lectures and classroom readings and activities An SNS-based Chatting messenger (KakaoTalk): asking questions before the classroom lesson

Start of Class Quizzes & Question Board: to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class

In-Class Various types of classroom activities offered in a form of individual, pair and group activity

Offering a chance to learn lesson contents on a varied speed of individual learner [Naver BAND]

[Lecture Video]

Check-up students’ comprehension: interactive Q&A sessions using different colors of post-its. As a warm-up activity, this takes about less than 10 minutes

Augmented flip- Participating into various types activities in class (faceto-face) [Classroom Activities Examples]

[Outcomes] (1) Maximizing face time (2) Personalized learning (3) Self-directed learning

Post-Class (Outside the classroom) Reviewing in-class activities and interacting with peers and teacher Preparing a next lesson

Augmented flip- Participating into various types activities in class (face-to-face) [Interaction on the SNS Classroom Community]

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room. There were no Wi-Fi connections allowed in class since the Ministry of Education sets the restriction on the purpose of protecting official and confidential data of the school (Kye et al., 2013). In addition, all mobile devices such as smartphones and cell phones are banned from the students to use in school. Thus, teachers collect and return the students’ mobile devices before and after school. Ironically, such restricted classroom circumstance is not led by the lack of information technology, but by administrative and educational concerns in the classroom. As a matter of fact, Korea is well known for its excellence in digital infrastructure, and it is ranked as one of the most connected online markets and the highest average internet connection speed (“Internet usage in South Korea,” 2018, September 11). Due to the basic structure of the FC that exports in-class lectures to recorded videos on an SNS site for the students to watch before class, it is inevitable to discuss technology implementation in the FC. Thus, most studies on the FC exam a wide range of issues related to technology use in the FC. However, Bergmann and Sams (2014) insist that the most important matter in the FC is maximizing the use of face-to-face time in class, not the use of technology. Moreover, they emphasize that the essential principle of making FC work is not using the technology but flipping the teachers’ and students’ minds. Although the mindset of teachers and students are suggested, it has not been examined how the FC under the technologically less—or not—equipped circumstance can also be as effective as under the technologically fully equipped circumstance. For that reason, this study takes a more robust approach (i.e., traditional research) to examine whether the FC works in the language classroom with no Wi-Fi connections and electronic devices. This present study provides concrete proof that the FC not merely works but outperforms in various aspects both academically and epistemically even without using technology in class. Thus, this case of the Korean flipped EFL classroom sheds light on what is a core of making the FC work.

English Education in South Korea Proficient English is a powerful gateway to achieve academic, professional, and social success in Korea. An English divide emerges as a notable social phenomenon in Korea (B. Lee, 2014). The score an individual receives on the English section of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT, hereafter), for instance, has been shown to have a salient influence on social economic statuses (Won, 2014, July 7). The constant endeavor to diminish such a gap and improve English education in public schools administratively is noticeable in the National Curriculum of English language subject (Huh, 2006, September 20; Jeon & Chang, 2012; Kim, 2008, 2009; B. Lee, 2009; Lee & Jeon, 2015; W. Lee, 2015; MOE, 2006). The primary pursued pedagogy in Korea since the 7th National Curriculum of the English language subject (effective from 2001) stresses the development of strong communicative competence and communicative language teaching (CLT, thereafter). In an attempt to adhere to CLT, the Korean government hired thousands of native English speakers and nonnative English-speaking teachers of English conversation to be

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allocated in public schools with the purpose of Teaching English in English (TEE, hereafter) (Huh, 2006, September 20; Jeon & Chang, 2012). Moreover, intensive in-service English teacher training programs were extensively held with an annual average attendance rate of over thousand teachers (MOE, 2006). Despite these efforts, dramatic changes have not been noticed (Jeon & Chang, 2012; Kim, 2008, 2009; B. Lee, 2009; Lee & Jeon, 2015; W. Lee, 2015). W. Lee (2015) claims that unchanged classroom instructions at the local level are due to officially set curricula. Korean National Curriculum adopts a fine-tuning approach in selecting the educational content of the English subject; therefore, it rigidly sets standards for both the allocated time and teaching content. As a result, teachers do not have much room to add extra materials other than textbook content. Rather, they are constantly concerned with addressing the set textbooks in their teaching. Jeon and Chang (2012) and Lee and Jeon (2015) authenticate this phenomenon of heavily relying on textbooks as a dominant classroom resource by their analysis of Korean English classes using the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT, hereafter) developed by Spada and Fröhlich (1995). Moreover, lecture-style classes are one of the most common methods that Korean teachers employ in the class (Jeon & Chang, 2012; Lee & Jeon, 2015; Li, 1998). They believe that giving a lecture is the primary responsibility of a teacher, whereupon transferring knowledge to the students is their genuine role and identity (Li, 1998). This outlook of unilaterally delivering classroom content and activities to the students without incorporating the students’ opinions creates a teacher-centered and linguistic knowledge-centered classroom. As a result, the students, the main body of learning, become knowledge-transferees who passively follow the teacher’s lead in the class. This consequently hinders the implementation of CLT or any types of pedagogical approaches that emphasize the active engagement of students rather than of the teachers. The fact hitherto discovered in Korean English education is a discrepancy and inconsistency between policy and practice. Namely, the goal of English education on a macro-level is not realized in the English classroom on a micro-level.

The Flipped Classroom in Research The FC literally inverts a knowledge delivery-centered classroom to a learning-centered classroom (Mazur, 2009). This, furthermore, leads to overturning a classroom from teacher-centered to student-centered, teacher as a knowledgetransferor to a facilitator, and students as passive knowledge-transferees to active self-directed learners (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, 2014; Kang & Ahn, 2015; M. Lee, 2014a, 2014b, 2015; Lim, 2017, 2018; Little, 2015; Mazur, 2009; Yarbro, Arfstrom, McKnight, & McKnight, 2014). In this regard, the FC does not impose set rules and guidelines, but rather it offers flexibility to adopt any types of pedagogies and classroom activities that can amplify student’s learning in class. However, Little (2015) points out that although an academic research on the FC has gradually

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increased, early research on the FC has mainly driven by practitioners as a form of teaching anecdotes, and its academic research is still limited in its scope and scale. Within this confined research, the FC research on Korean EFL setting is even more limited, and it is mostly about adult learners (i.e., college students and pre- or in-service teachers) (e.g., Kang & Ahn, 2015; M. Lee, 2014b; Lee & Wallace, 2018; Lim, 2017, 2018; Sung, 2015). Kang and Ahn (2015) and Lee and Wallace (2018), for instance, test the effects of the FC on the improvement of English proficiency with college students. Kang and Ahn (2015) studied 17 college students from an English conversation course for 8 weeks about the improvement of English grammar and vocabulary proficiency and the changes in perception of English learning. Furthermore, Lee and Wallace (2018) expand a scope of the research by comparing the FC with CLT. They studied 79 college students from an English conversation course and measured their academic performance in comparison to the two different teaching approaches. The study reveals that the students from the FC-implemented class academically performed better than the students from the CLT-implemented class, and the former group enjoyed their English learning more than the latter group. Korean teachers of English (i.e., pre-service and in-service teachers) are examined by Sung (2015) and Lim (2017). Sung (2015) examined 12 pre-service English teachers who attended a course of English curriculum and evaluation for a semester. The course was a flipped English content-based class, and the learning experiences of the pre-service teachers were observed, recorded, and analyzed. Based on the reviews and comments from the pre-service teachers, Sung (2015) illustrated the perceptions of the pre-service English teachers on the FC, and then discussed the applicability of the FC in a Korean educational context. Furthermore, Lim (2017) studied 95 in-service English teachers in Korea who adopted the FC into their classrooms. It reveals that the teachers developed a community of practice derived from the process of building collective intelligence by sharing everyday teaching practice of the FC, mainly through SNS-based activities and interactions. That is, both studies attempted to disclose how the perception of Korean English teachers could be changed through the experience of the FC and its consequences appeared in the changes in teaching. Last, M. Lee (2014b) and Lim (2018) studied flipped EFL classrooms in Korean middle schools. M. Lee (2014b) is the study that introduced the four flipped classroom cases from elementary and middle schools. The study sheds light on the sociology of the classroom occurred by the FC implementation in both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. This also highlights the changes occurred in the role of teachers, the interaction patterns, and the perceptions of the teachers and students on classroom learning. Even though this study explains the effect of the FC regardless of the subject areas, it does not focus on exploring subject-specific matters toward the Korean EFL classroom settings. In contrast, Lim (2018) describes a whole process of implementing the FC to a Korean EFL classroom in Grade 7. From this holistic approach, the study illustrates a dynamic change of the flipped EFL classroom led by the reciprocal interaction of the teacher, students, language resources, contextual factors, and the physical environment. In sum, both

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studies contribute to uncovering the details of the FC implementation and its effects on the changes in the perceptions and behaviors of teachers and students in an EFL setting. Still, there is no research attempted to explain how much and to what extent Korean students improve their English proficiency, academic achievement, and classroom interaction through the FC approach. Thus, a research fulfilling this gap is in urgent needs. Under this circumstance, the researchers of this study question the possibility of the FC as a positive alternative that narrows the gap between the differences and changes in the communicative environment of the Korean English classroom from teacher-centered to student-driven. That is, the FC can incur more communication and students’ engagement and interaction in the classroom, and, subsequently, enhance the communicative competence of the students. In this regard, this present study aims to discover any changes promoting classroom communication in terms of interaction patterns, English language learning outcomes, and the perceptions of participants on classroom English learning after implementing the FC in the Korean EFL classroom.

Flipped Instruction in the Korean EFL Classroom Method The study seeks answers to the following three research questions: 1. How does FC change the classroom interaction patterns of the Korean EFL classroom? 2. Is FC an effective means of improving student English language learning in terms of academic performance and English proficiency? 3. How does FC change perceptions toward classroom English learning among Korean EFL classroom participants, namely the teacher and students? The entire research project lasted 10 months from April 2015 to January 2016. It was conducted in three stages: (1) Preparation (4 months: April–July 2015) (2) Implementation (4 months: August–November 2015) (3) Analysis (2 months: December 2015–January 2016). Albeit, the first stage is excluded from the discussion of this present study. The study adopts a mixed-method approach inviting both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, the quantitative approach is applied to explore the changes in classroom interaction patterns and the improvement in English language learning. Second, the qualitative approach is adopted in order to reveal the perceptual changes among the classroom participants, the teacher, and the students.

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Participants The participants of this study are one female teacher and 100 male students in Grade 9. The teacher has a bachelor and master’s degree in English language education, and has experience studying abroad for 1 year. She has 5 years of teaching experience at middle schools, and is known as a “competent English teacher” by fellow teachers and her students. Before participating in the study, the teacher heard of the FC Model, but did not have a substantive understanding of it. Before joining the study, she had never implemented the FC in her class. The English language subject at the school was designated into three levels of proficiency: lower, intermediate, and advanced levels. The students who participated in the study were in the intermediate level, and they were evenly spread out into four classes.

Site The participating school is a boy’s middle school located in Seoul, South Korea. The school is affiliated with Seoul National University, and is open to ongoing collaborative field studies and research with the university. Based on the results of the national standardized achievement test administered in November 2015 by the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, over 66% of the students (i.e., 183 out of 274 students) reached above average English proficiency, and only 3.6% of the students performed below average.1 When the school was designated to join a year length research of implementing the FC, there was no adequate infrastructure to use Internet and mobile devices during class hours as aforementioned. To overcome the challenges, the teacher used an FTP router2 to share multimedia and electronic materials among the devices that the teacher provided (i.e., not student-owned) only within a classroom range without having an Internet connection. Although lecture videos and electronic files were accessible in class using the teacher-provided devices, the students rarely used them but participated in-class activities, which were mostly paper-based.

Classroom Lessons There are two formats of observed classroom lessons that differ between the prior and post-implementation of the FC. Before the FC, a lesson typically begins with a teacher’s lecture followed by the students’ activities. Both the teacher and the students go through the lesson flow synchronously together. After implementing the FC, an in-class lecture is recorded on videos and distributed on an SNS site for the 1

http://www.schoolinfo.go.kr/ei/ss/Pneiss_b01_s2.do#frame. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) router enables the connection and sharing of electronic files between devices in a set range.

2

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students to watch before class. Then, a lesson begins with a question and answer session to check the students’ comprehension on a daily topic. Afterward, the students perform classroom activities in various participant organizations such as individual, pair, or group setting. To enhance the understanding of this FC, lecture videos, lesson plans, worksheets, and student works are provided. Figure 5.1 consists of screen captures of lecture videos on a vocabulary lecture (left) and a reading lecture (right). Table 5.1 summarized four exemplary lesson plans. A sample of a student work on a reading activity (“Spilled Milk”) is in Appendix 1; moreover, a worksheet adopted in the writing activity (“I am a poet”) is in Appendix 2, and the samples of student works are found in Appendix 3.

Data Collection There are five types of data gathered for this study: classroom participant observations, test scores (i.e., school exams and the Test of the Skills in the English Language (TOSEL,3 hereafter)), interviews, self-reflection diary entries, and classroom materials (i.e., documents and artifacts). First, classroom participant observations were a major part of the data collection. For research feasibility, only two out of the four classes were invited to classroom participant observation, and one focus group consisted of four teacherrecommended students per class. In addition to the field notes taken by the researchers during the classroom observation periods, each class was also visually and aurally recorded for the purpose of proceeding with a more in-depth analysis. The English language class was offered four times per week, and there were 15 classroom participant observations performed during 16 weeks of the study. The entire period of classroom observation was divided into four phases: Pre-FC taught by her teacher’s original teaching styles (Week #1–3), the beginning phase of the FC (Week #4–8), the middle phase of the FC (Week #9–12), and the end phase of the FC (Week #13–16). Table 5.2 presents a summary of data gathered by classroom participant observation. Second, test results from two different tests were gathered. The school assessed their students twice per semester during midterms and finals. The study was conducted during the second semester of the year, and a collection of four test scores for the year was compiled for a comparison with the first semester. The school examinations were collected to evaluate the students’ academic performance. Another assessment adapted for the study, TOSEL, was modified by the researchers into a short version4 in order to fit into one class hour (i.e., 45 min). TOSEL was performed on the 1st week of the study (i.e., pretest), and on the last, 16th, week of 3

TOSEL is a standardized English test developed by Korean scholars with the purposes of assessing and certifying English proficiency. The test consists of a total of 60 questions of multiple-choices: 30 questions for listening and speaking and additional 30 questions for reading and writing. 4 A total of 36 questions (i.e. 18 questions for each section) were assigned to the students with a time length of 45 min.

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(a) Vocabulary Lecture

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(b) Reading Lecture

Fig. 5.1 The screen captures of the lecture videos

Table 5.1 Four examples of the lesson plans Lessons

Vocabulary

Activities Name Question board Word relay

Word hunting

Participant organization

Descriptions

Whole class

Q&A session on the content of the lecture video 1. Each student in a group has 30 s to solve one of the problems related to vocabulary on a worksheet posted on the classroom walls 2. Each student runs to the worksheet and solves one problem. Each group needs to complete one worksheet by taking turns in order 3. The completed worksheet is evaluated by the other group A speed game activity 1. Students in a group start to write newly learned vocabulary on a worksheet as fast as possible within a given time 2. The completed worksheet is exchanged with another group 3. When a teacher calls out a word, students find and circle that vocabulary on the worksheet as fast as they can. Each student in the group must choose a different color pen, so the number of vocabulary circled can be identified and counted (continued)

Group

Group

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Table 5.1 (continued) Lessons

Listening and speaking

Reading and writing

Activities Name

Participant organization

Descriptions

Question board Word bingo

Whole class

Subtitle maker

Group

Question board Spilled milk (Appendix 1)

Whole class

Q&A session on the content of the lecture video 1. Students listen to a dialogue of native English speakers on audio file three times 2. A student writes down 25 words from the dialogue on an individual 5  5-bingo grid 3. Students play a bingo game in a pair 1. A group of four students selects one dialogue among four 2. The group listens to the audio file of the dialogue until they completely write down the dialogue in English 3. The group translates the English dialogue into Korean 4. After completing the translation, they draw a picture of the dialogue 5. While the group draws a picture, the teacher hands out the English and Korean versions of the dialogue and checks for any errors Q&A session on the content of the lecture video 1. A Group of four students reads a short passage together and tries to comprehend the content of the passage 2. After completely understanding the passage, the students start to memorize the passage within three minutes 3. A group relay dictation begins. Each student of the group runs to his/her designated worksheet posted on the classroom wall, and fills in the blank within 30 s 4. After all students in the group take their turns, there are two extra turns to complete the worksheet. The students can choose their two best students to fill the left blanks 5. After the worksheet is completely filled out, the other two who did not participate in the filling-the-blank activity become evaluators who check on the accuracy of another group’s filled blanks (continued)

Whole class and pair

Group

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Table 5.1 (continued) Lessons

Writing

Activities Name Question board I am a Poet (Appendices 2 and 3)

Participant organization

Descriptions

Whole class

Q&A session on the content of the lecture video 1. A pair of students chooses a topic based on what they want, where they want to go, who they want to be, or a specific superpower they want to have 2. They brainstorm what they would do after their wishes come true 3. They make a list of what they brainstormed in English using ‘If S had O, S would/could V.’ structure 4. They write a poem using the listed sentence 5. Finally, they exchange their poem with four other pairs, and evaluate by providing feedback

Pair and group

the study (i.e., posttest). TOSEL was conducted to measure the students’ English proficiency, which encompasses a broader aspect of English competence than the school examinations. Third, three interviews were held with the teacher across the study period: before the FC began, in the middle of the FC, and at the end of the FC. Each interview was semi-structured, and lasted for half an hour. The interview with the students was held once on the last day of the FC. Fourth, a self-reflection diary was collected from all students on the last week of the study asking comparisons between the original class and the flipped class. Lastly, classroom documents and artifacts related to the class were collected. These documents and artifacts that were used and produced during the class offer a better understanding of the content and context of the classroom participants.

Data Analysis The data were analyzed in two branches. For the quantitative data analysis, first, the classroom interaction patterns were categorized into three types (i.e., teacher-directed lecture, teacher-controlled interaction, and open and reciprocal interaction pattern) based on the adapted categorization suggested by M. Lee (2014a). The detailed descriptions for each category are summarized in Table 5.3. For the comparison, the amount of time spent in each classroom interaction pattern is measured. To show a variety of chronological changes, four classes from one of each phase were selected (e.g., Pre-FC, FC-Beginning, FC-Middle, and FC-End).

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Table 5.2 A summary of classroom observation data Phases (textbook chapter)

Pre-FC (Ch. 6)

FC-beginning (Ch. 7)

FC-middle (Ch. 9)

FC-end (Ch. 8)

Classroom participant observation numbers and dates

CPO#1-AUG27 CPO#2-AUG31 CPO#3-SEP01 CPO#4-SEP02

CPO#5-SEP14 CPO#6-SEP15 CPO#7-SEP16

CPO#8-OCT08 CPO#9-OCT20 CPO#10-OCT21 CPO#11-OCT26 CPO#12-NOV02

CPO#13-NOV17 CPO# 14-NOV23 CPO#15-NOV25

Table 5.3 Three types of classroom interaction patterns Types

Description

a. Teacher-directed lecture

The teacher provides direct instruction on the concepts and subjects of a given topic without having any information exchange with the students The teacher initiates interaction with the student(s) either by asking a question to the whole class or by selecting a particular student to speak or present Without having any designated turn-taking authority, the teacher and students exchange questions, students share ideas with peers, and/or the teacher gives feedback to individual students

b. Teacher-controlled interaction with student(s)

c. Open and reciprocal interaction between the teacher and student(s) or between student (s)

Adopted from M. Lee (2014a, p. 100)

Second, statistical analysis, i.e., a paired sample t-test, was performed on the two test results. To compare the students’ academic performance and English proficiency before and after flipping the Korean English language classroom, the test scores earned before and after the FC were statistically compared. For the qualitative data analysis, all interviews and reflection diary entries were analyzed by grounded content analysis (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982; Glaser & Strauss, 2017). The essential themes were derived from a recursive process of coding and recoding the data.

Findings 1. Classroom Interaction Patterns There are salient changes discovered in the classroom interaction patterns. These differences are also visually noticeable. Figure 5.2 displays a scene of the original classroom before the FC is implemented. The students sit in rows and face toward the teacher who stands in the front center of the classroom. There is no one else

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Fig. 5.2 A scene of the original English classroom

speaking except the teacher. Thus, the students quietly listen to the teacher while looking at the textbook. This is a typical teacher-centered classroom scene commonly found in Korean classrooms. On the other hand, Fig. 5.3 exhibits a scene of the FC, and it makes a sharp contrast to Fig. 5.2. The students sit in a group of four, and use all sides of the classroom walls for doing classroom activities. Furthermore, the students interact with their peers without the teacher. These two pictures distinguish different classroom behaviors and interaction patterns at a glance, and imply changes in the classroom. In a similar vein, these notable changes found in the classroom scenes are discovered in classroom interaction. That is, dramatic changes are in the amount of time spent in the three classroom interaction patterns across time. From Table 5.4, it is found that during the Pre-FC 2(CPO#2-0831) class, teacher-directed lectures dictate 84% of the entire class hour. In contrast, the open and reciprocal interaction between the teacher and student(s) or between student(s) is only 2 min (4%) out of 45 min in length. This indicates that the teacher-directed lecture is a dominant interaction pattern of the Korean English language classroom. The noticeable change is detected from the FC 3 class (CPO#7-0916) in comparison with the Pre-FC2 class. Although the FC 3 is held merely 2 weeks after the Pre-FC 2, the amount of time spent on the teacher-directed lecture becomes almost halved. Even

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Fig. 5.3 A scene of the flipped English classroom

Table 5.4 Timed classroom interaction patterns Observation of classroom participant class type & # (aCPO#-Date) b

Teacher-directed lecture Minutes (%)

Teacher-controlled interaction Minutes (%)

Pre-FC 2 38 (84%) 5 (11%) (CPO#2-AUG31) c FC 3 18 (40%) 5 (11%) (CPO#7-SEP16) FC 7 9 (20%) 10 (22%) (CPO#11-OCT26) FC 11 7 (16%) 3 (7%) (CPO#15-NOV25) Note a CPO: Classroom Participant Observation b Pre-FC: Classes before implementing the FC c FC: FC-implemented class

Open and reciprocal interaction Minutes (%)

Total class hour Minutes (%)

2 (4%)

45 (100%) 45 (100%) 45 (100%) 45 (100%)

22 (49%) 26 (58%) 35 (78%)

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more surprisingly, the open and reciprocal interaction time is increased more than tenfold, accounting for a total of 22 min or almost half of the class hour. This equilibrates the portions of the classroom interaction between one directional interaction and open and reciprocal interaction. Toward the end of the study, an inversive pattern of classroom interaction is apparent. In FC 11, the open and reciprocal interaction consists of 35 min out of the 45 min, and it occupies 78% of the entire class hour. In contrast, the teacher-directed lecture is only about 7 min of the class. Moreover, the teacher-initiated interaction is diminished to a total of 10 min (i.e., the sum of the teacher-directed and the teacher-controlled interaction). The differences between the classroom interaction patterns illustrate how the students are gradually enriched with multidirectional and diverse interaction patterns through the FC. 2. English Language Learning Improvement in academic performance and English language proficiency are two notable results that arise after implementing the FC over a course of two assessments. The students outperform in both tests, and it reveals a positive effect of the FC on English language learning. First, performance on school examinations affirms the changes in academic performance based on the learned school curriculum. Second, TOSEL exposes the changes in English proficiency in a broader sense since the content of the test is based on nonschool-prescribed curriculum. The results from the school examinations are summarized in Table 5.5 and Fig. 5.4, and the TOSEL results are summarized in Table 5.6. First, the participant students of this study record an increase in the average score (56.28 out of 100) of two school tests taken in the second semester when compared with the average score (49.61) of the other two tests taken in the first semester. The increased average score is 6.65, and it is statistically significant (t = 5.25, p < 0.001). To confirm the validity of this analysis, further statistical analysis is conducted between the performance of students in the intermediate level and the other students in the advanced and lower proficiency control groups. The advanced and lower proficiency groups attend regular English language classrooms in the same school with the experimental group, and they do not experience the FC. There are 104 students in the advanced level and 64 students in the lower level. The former group shows a 0.62 points increase in the average test scores from the first to the second semester, but these numbers are not statistically significant (t = 0.781). On the other hand, the latter group of students shows an opposite pattern when compared to the other groups. An average score of 8.96 points reveals a decrease in the average score, and it is statistically significant (t = −7.10, p < 0.001). Therefore, this conveys that the FC has a positive influence on the improvement of English language learning. Second, the students also show a sharp increase in the average TESOL score when comparing pretest and posttest results. The increased average score is 7.62 points and this result represents a 21% increase from the pretest. The increase is

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Table 5.5 A comparison of school examination results Proficiency level Intermediate (N = 97) Advanced (N = 104) Lower (N = 64) ***p < 0.001

1st semester M SD

2nd semester M SD

Mean Difference

t

49.61

13.71

56.28

18.39

6.65

5.25***

85.07

7.23

85.69

11.24

0.62

0.781

29.35

6.52

20.39

10.62

−8.96

−7.10***

Fig. 5.4 A comparison of school examination results

Table 5.6 A comparison of the TOSEL results Section (N = 92)

Pretest M (%)

Listening and speaking Reading and writing Total

8.73 (48.5) 7.23 (40.2) 15.96 (44.3)

***p < 0.001

SD 3.24 3.04 5.28

Posttest M (%) 11.59 (64.4) 11.99 (66.6) 23.58 (65.5)

Mean difference (%)

t

SD 3.96

2.86 (15.9)

7.12***

3.82

4.76 (26.4)

12.42***

7.18

7.62 (21.2)

12.10***

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statistically significant as well (t = 12.10, p < 0.001). Scores on the reading and writing section increase by 4.76 points (26.4%) while the listening and speaking section improves by 2.86 points (15.9%). A salient increase in the reading and writing section can be implied as a natural consequence since reading accounts for the majority of English language subject curriculum even in the FC. The findings from the results of these two assessments indicate two positive effects of the FC as a means of both improving academic performance and English language proficiency. 3. Perception Change A qualitative analysis of the interviews and self-reflection diary entries demonstrate notable changes in the perceptions of both the teacher and the students on classroom English learning. First, in the case of the students, their perception changes are shown in three areas: English language learning, enhancement in comprehension, and the relationships with classroom participants. The most frequently mentioned perceptual change is English language learning. With the emergence of lecture videos, many students express a change in how they prepare for classes. Since lecture videos are brief (e.g., 5–10 min on average), students can focus on the contents of each lesson more attentively. In addition, they can watch them anywhere, anytime, and as many times as they want. Thus, when compared to the standard teacher-centered classroom, this newly emerged form of video sharing enables students to take control of their own learning. The following excerpt also exemplifies such sentiments. Excerpt 1. An Interview with Student A, November 27 2015 (Before the FC), I could not participate in pair or group activities because I could not prepare ahead of the class. Also, oftentimes, I could not follow what the teacher said in class. However, I recently found it easier to actively participate in class because I watched the lecture videos in advance. It’s very convenient for me. I can repeatedly watch the lecture videos until I completely understand the contents.

Moreover, many students also mention that participating in diverse in-class activities is interesting, enjoyable, and helpful in enhancing their comprehension of classroom contents (Excerpt 2). According to the students, asking questions to their peers is more frequent and easier than approaching the teacher. To this degree, group activities not only encourages learning between students but also facilitates an enjoyable learning environment. Thus, they consequently perform better on the school examinations in the second semester. The new approach to learning even stimulates students to be more motivated to learn English language and increases their confidence in using English in the classroom. Hence, they realize studying English language collaboratively is another way of learning. Furthermore, frequent

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interaction among students in pair and group activities establishes strong bonds among peers in the classroom. This also has a positive effect on building a more friendly relationship with the teacher. Overall, the students’ perception toward classroom English learning is changed as enjoyable and effective. Excerpt 2. An Interview with Student B, November 27 2015 In the past, when English class hour comes, I sigh and say ‘Phew…I hate English.’ But, now I say ‘Oh? It’s an English class again!’ with joy because I know there would be exciting and enjoyable activities waiting for me. I look forward to the time. Also, the FC makes me learn English better since I do things with my friends. I can ask questions to them, and vice versa. This is a good learning experience for me since I can learn unthinkable ideas from my friends, and tell them what I understand too.

In contrast, however, there are a few students who dislike the FC due to its heavy reliance on student-led active participation. For these students, they perceive viewing lecture videos before class as additional homework. In addition, pair and group work could provoke peer pressure when completing given tasks. Those students, however, wanted to passively listen to the teacher. Excerpt 3. An Interview with Student B, November 27 2015 I watched the lecture video once! Watching the lecture videos is extremely burdensome. We could learn from the teacher in the classroom, but now (after the FC), I have extra homework to watch the lecture video. I think listening to the teacher’s lecture in the classroom is more convenient for me.

In a similar vein, the teacher’s perception of the FC is also changed: (1) communicativeness of the class, (2) the effectiveness of improving English learning outcomes, (3) hardship of preparing lessons into professional development opportunities, and (4) relationships with the students. Before implementing the FC, the teacher reported that her class originally invited numerous activities to practice communicative skills and these were predominantly activity-centered. Therefore, the teacher asserted that not much would be changed whether the class was flipped or not (Excerpt 4). Excerpt 4. An interview with the teacher May 17 2015 (Before implementing the FC) I am not sure because I have never tried flipping my class before. But, I don’t expect a big change. Classes these days are never solely lecture based. My class is planned to have a wide range of a variety in classroom activities. It is activity-centered.

Nonetheless, she expresses astonishment toward the changes. (Excerpt 5). Excerpt 5. An interview with the teacher December 18 2015 (After the study) Interaction patterns did change. It became way more communicative than before. My students express their ideas and opinions more frequently and liberally.

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On the other hand, she also questioned the effectiveness of the FC in improving English learning outcomes. She was especially concerned because her students were faced with a high school entrance exam at the end of the study. She initially felt that changing the classroom pedagogy would have a negative influence on the students’ academic performance. Later, however, her inceptive concerns dissipate as her students demonstrate the highest improvement on school exams. Likewise, her perception toward “helping students’ learning” has been changed. Excerpt 6. An interview with the teacher, December 18 2015 As I stopped seizing initiative, my awareness toward ‘teaching’ was changed. I realized I should be ‘less kind’ to my students. The students were altered when I changed my way of helping them from lecturing to assigning group activities that encourage student driven learning. Then, ironically, they learned better. Besides, I had included activities, but there was always a limit. I used similar activities in the FC, but the result was extremely better.

During the middle stage of the study, the teacher was disappointed and exhausted with the students’ complaints and misbehaviors. She found that some students complained about watching the lecture videos in advance and thereby came to class without watching them. Furthermore, she shared a hardship of spending an extensive amount of time preparing for lessons. She even seriously thought about abandoning the FC. Such difficulties are commonly stated from the teachers who implement the FC for the first time (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, 2014; Lim, 2017). To make a lecture video, teachers need to learn new technologies, and it takes some time to adjust. The teachers, however, mention that the real challenges of flipping classes are not on making a lecture video, but fulfilling a variety of proper classroom activities in the class hour. Therefore, Bergmann and Sams (2012, 2014) emphasize collaboration as the way they first incepted their flipped classroom. In the case of the teacher in this present study, she had one-semester-length teacher training on learning and practicing the FC. The researchers also offered monthly meetings, teacher workshops, and seminars on the FC, and assisted to set up the FC infrastructures and lesson preparations in the classroom. Additionally, teacher networks that share practical tips and classroom resources were introduced. Even with a wide range of support, the teacher who began a new pedagogical approach, the FC, struggled with the disputes from the students, and overload of extensive labor and time on lesson preparation. Hence, the teacher’ discomfort, struggle, and exhaustion that piled up from conducting the FC were legitimately comprehensible. Nevertheless, such challenges she faced were later recognized as the best learning opportunities to advance her professional development. Her sentiment toward this process is described below. Excerpt 7. An interview with the teacher, December 18 2015 It took two to three times more effort to prepare a lesson before. Particularly, designing classroom activities was a real pain. But, I realized that I have never contemplated about my classroom activities this far and the FC allowed me this opportunity. My FC was evolved every day as I modified and re-applied activities when a considered activity was not perfectly suitable for the students.

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Finally, the teacher expounds the growth in her relationship with the students through the FC. An increased amount of interaction with the students raised intimacy, and this subsequently led the teacher to individuate the students. This, in turn, helped the teacher and her students exchange qualitatively enriched feedback. That is, the relationship growth between the students and the teacher allowed for a more fulfilling classroom teaching and learning experience. To sum up, the findings on the perceptual changes of the teacher and the students verify that the FC experience triggers to change the minds of both classroom participants; thus, they convince to think collaborative student-centered classroom as an effective setting to enhance English learning in terms of learning process in the classroom and learning outcomes. Moreover, the improving quality of English learning in the classroom is accompanied by enhancing the relationship between the teacher and the students. On the student’s perspective, classroom English learning that used to be mainly about listening to the teacher is changed to a collaborative learning process through an active interaction with peers. Meanwhile, the teacher also relieves the pressure on being a knowledge-transferor after purposely relinquishing the teacher’s lead to the students. Hence, the students are able to interact more frequently and become more responsible for their own learning. The FC plays a role of changing how the teacher and the students perceive classroom English learning.

Implications and Conclusion Pedagogical Implications While conducting the study, two concerns arise when applying the FC in practice. First, having teacher networks to collectively practice the FC is a must. The two major responsibilities of teachers who apply the FC are creating a lecture video5 and facilitating classroom activities. The teachers need to place more time and effort in classroom preparation, and this requires tireless devotion and passion from the teachers. This is neither an easy task nor independently sustainable for a long term. Bergmann and Sams (2012, 2014) advise the importance of “doing together,” and that is also how they started the FC. Furthermore, Lim (2017) introduces how Korean EFL teachers empower each other on an SNS-based teacher community by sharing their hands-on experiences implementing the FC. Hence, enrolling and/or establishing a teacher network prior to flipping the class would be advisable. Second, there are several conditions that can enhance the feasibility and quality of the FC. Although the FC can have many variations in providing in-class lectures

5

Mostly, a lecture video is created as a means of a direct instruction outside of the classroom. However, any types of resources can be used.

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outside of the classroom, a teacher-produced lecture video appears to be the most popular means compared to other commercially produced and YouTube-based videos. However, this requires information and technology infrastructure in order to create and distribute videos. Although there are various applications and tools that are free nowadays (e.g., Naver-blog, café, and BAND; Daum-blog and café; and KaKaoTalk, KaKaoGroup, and KaKaoStory), it is still beneficial to have in-school and in-class infrastructures. If a school can afford a proper Internet connection and mobile devices for its students, this saves teachers from laborious chores like setting the routers and mobile devices in each class. Other recommendations are operating a block-time class system and the English subject classroom that is designed and exploited exclusively for the English class. A single class hour in a Korean middle school is 45 min. This tends to be too short to fully cover basic comprehension check-up activities and intensive activities that trigger more meaningful learning. For that matter, block-time classes can enable students to be immersed in a prolonged time zone. If this can be held in the English subject classroom, it would be logistically convenient for the teachers since they can save classroom setup time. Furthermore, an English subject classroom also offers students a visual opportunity to learn from other students’ works and artifacts.

Conclusion This present study attempts to test whether the FC could be an effective alternative to increase the communicativeness and students-centeredness in the Korean middle school English classroom. The findings indicate an increase in the amount of classroom interaction aligned with the diversification of the classroom interaction patterns, improvement on English language learning, and the perceptual changes of the teacher and the students on classroom English learning. The study reveals that the FC offers an open space in the classroom by exporting a lecture to the outside of the classroom, and it systematically renders the teacher to be free from the pressure of giving lectures to the students. Moreover, the classroom activities fulfilling that open space naturally lead the students to take an active participation in the activities. Consequently, this not only increases their classroom interaction with the peer students and the teacher, but also builds the students’ authority and accountability on their own learning. As a result, it is possible to transform a teacher-centered classroom, which is so widespread in English classrooms in Korea, into a student-centered classroom, and the FC is verification of that.

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Appendix 1: Reading Activity (‘Spilled Milk’): A Sample of Student Work

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Appendix 2: Writing Activity (‘I Am a Poet’) Worksheet

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Appendix 3: Writing Activity (‘I Am a Poet’): Samples of the Student Works Student 1

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References Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Eugene, OR; Alexandria, VA: ISTE. Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped learning: Gateway to student engagement. Eugene, OR; Alexandria, VA: ISTE. Bodgan, R., & Biklen, S. K. (1982). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (2017). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York, NY: Routledge. Huh, M. K. (2006, September 20). [Yeongeogyoyuk hyeoksikbangan] 10 nyeonane 100% yeongeoro sueop [[English education reformation plan] Teaching English 100% in English within 10 years]. Hangyere. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/ schooling/158596.html. Internet usage in South Korea—Statistics & Facts. (2018, September 11). Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/topics/2230/internet-usage-in-south-korea/. Jeon, Y. J., & Chang, K. S. (2012). An analysis of primary and secondary English classes by using COLT observation scheme. Primary English Education, 18(2), 369–388. Kang, N., & Ahn, M. (2015). Flipping a Korean university EFL classroom with teacher-crafted YouTube videos. STEM Journal, 16(3), 109–134. Kye, B. G., Lee, E. W, Kim, J. W., Park, S. G. Shim, H. R., Lee, G. H., … Kim, J. S. (2013). Tekeunolloji giban yeonguhakgyo siltaejosa yeongu [A factual survey on technology-embedded research schools] (Report No. CR 2013-7). Seoul, Korea: Korea Education and Research Information Service. Kim, E. J. (2008). Status quo of CLT-based English curricular reform: A teacher’s voice from the classroom. English Teaching, 63(2), 43–69. Kim, E. J. (2009). To transform or not to transform? English Teaching, 64(4), 223–248. Lee, B. M. (2009). The development of the classroom assessment tool for teaching English in English (Report No. RRE 2009-10). Seoul, Korea: Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. Lee, B. M. (2014). Dangsinui yeongeoneun wae silpaehaneunga: Daehanmingugeseo yeongeoreul baeundaneun geot [Why does your English fail: Learning English in South Korea]. Seoul, Korea: Urihakgyo. Lee, J. B., & Jeon, Y. J. (2015). A comparison and analysis of regular English classes in elementary and secondary school. The Journal of Humanities, 99, 375–402. Lee, G., & Wallace, A. (2018). Flipped learning in the English as a foreign language classroom: Outcomes and perceptions. TESOL Quarterly, 52(1), 62–84. Lee, M. K. (2014a). A case study on effects and signification of flipped classroom. Journal of Korean Education, 41(1), 87–116. Lee, M. K. (2014b). Signification of flipped classroom by sociology of classroom: Focusing on the experience of teachers. Korean Journal of Sociology of Education, 24(2), 181–207. Lee, M. K. (2015). Geokkurogyosil, jamjaneun aideureul kkaeuneun sueop bimil [Flipped classroom, its secret of waking up sleeping students]. Seoul, Korea: Sallimgteo. Lee, W. K. (2015). Revision of the national curriculum of English and challenges of English Education. English Teaching, 70(5), 35–52. Li, D. (1998). “It’s always more difficult than you plan and imagine”: Teachers’ perceived difficulties in introducing the communicative approach in South Korea. TESOL Quarterly, 32 (4), 677–703. Lim, S. H. (2017). Teachers empowering teachers in an online community of practice: A case study of Korean EFL teachers’ learning to teach flipped classroom on NAVER BAND. Multimedia-Assisted Language Learning, 20(1), 109–143.

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Lim, S. H. (2018). Dynamics of the flipped EFL classroom at a middle school in Korea: A complexity theory perspective. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. Little, C. (2015). The flipped classroom in further education: Literature review and case study. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 20(3), 265–279. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, lecture. Science, 323(5910), 50–51. Ministry of Education. (2006). Innovation plans for English education. Seoul, Korea: Korean Textbook Publisher. Spada, N., & Fröhlich, M. (1995). COLT observation scheme. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University. Sung, K. (2015). A case study on a flipped classroom in an EFL content course. Multimedia-Assisted Language Learning, 18, 159–187. Won, S. W. (2014, July 7). Seoulsi gogyo yeongeoseongjeok gumada choedae 22bae chai [A comparison of the English Section Score of CSAT within the sub-regions of Seoul makes a maximum 22 times gap]. Chosunilbo. Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://premium.chosun. com/site/data/html_dir/2014/07/07/2014070700205.html. Yarbro, J., Arfstrom, K. M., McKnight, K., & McKnight P. (2014). Extension of a review of flipped learning. The Flipped Learning Network.

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Flipping Physical Education Classrooms for Grades K–12 Amanda K. McMahon and Donald D. McMahon

Prior to Class Students assimilate and process new physical education (PE) information via video lectures and classroom readings assigned by the PE teacher.

Students review prepared lectures and watch lecture materials outside of class. The benefits reported are: •

•

•

Start of Class PE teacher administers quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class and answers any questions regarding PE topic

Additional technologies, such as laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices, can be used to measure a student’s knowledge about the PE skill and answer students’ questions. The benefits of incorporating other forms of technology and blended learning to create an enhanced flip are reported as: • •

•

In-Class In-class activities where students collaborate and engage with each other to help foster PE skills

Greater facilitation of learning and understanding of the PE and/or sports-related topic before engaging in the activity Provides students exemplars of correct PE skills and performances Allows the students to prepare any questions to ask the PE teacher

Allowing the teacher to evaluate student understanding of specific sports-related topics before engaging in the activity Providing an inclusive environment for learning and questioning. This is especially advantageous for students who have never played a particular sport before Providing more informal learning spaces where students can collaborate and assess their own learning. This can be helpful when first learning about the rules and position of a sport

Augmented Flip- Creating a technologymediated immersive student experience inside the PE classroom. This includes using engaging and interactive apps where students can break up into smaller groups and use these devices that can enhance their learning of the new PE skill. The benefits reported are: • Increased active learning and preparedness • Higher degree of fostering the new PE skill •

Increased enthusiasm, interest and engagement in learning about the PE skill

A. K. McMahon (&)
D. D. McMahon Washington State University, Pullman, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_6

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Introduction The use of flipped classroom approaches to help improve students’ learning performance has increased considerably over the past few years. Areas of study that use flipped classroom approaches can vary greatly, including computer science (Giannakos, Krogstie, & Chrisochoides, 2014), English (Tucker, 2012), mathematics (Freeman et al., 2014), science education (Jensen, Kummer, & Godoy, 2015), and many more. The success of flipping approaches for fostering learning and engagement in multiple classroom subjects has led to the early investigation of these approaches to support student learning in physical education (PE) classrooms for Grades K–12. Figure 6.1 outlines features of FC that are specific to PE classes. Introducing and implementing the concept of flipping in PE classes is still relatively new for educators, and for some “flipping the classroom” for the one classroom where students can actually do physical flips may not make much sense at first glance. However, there are practical reasons why flipping PE classes can benefit students and address specific challenges students and educators face. One significant reason is that several states have reduced or eliminated physical and/or health educational courses and requirements. McMurrer (2008) examined the trends in student time per day spent on different subjects since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. One of the principal findings was that 43% of school districts had increased the amount of instructional time for English, language arts, and math (McMurrer, 2008). For 80% of the districts that did increase the instructional time for these subjects, the schools reported an increase of at least an additional 75 minutes per week and 54% of those surveyed reported adding 150 min per week to English and language arts alone (McMurrer, 2008). For math, an estimated increase of 89 min per week was reported (McMurrer, 2008). This increase in English, language arts, and mathematics instruction generally came at the cost of other subject areas and activities. McMurrer (2008) reported an average decrease of 40 minutes per week for physical education instructional time. These findings are similar to other reports that found PE classroom time significantly decreased or eliminated, due to federal and state mandates on academic accountability for other school subjects in Grades K–12 (Eyler et al., 2010; National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004). Another reason for flipping PE classes is due to the recommended physical activity guidelines (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2008). For students in Grades K–12 (i.e., ages 6–17), a recommended 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily is needed (USDHHS, 2008). In addition, vigorous-intensity physical activity and muscle-strengthening exercises for at least three days per week is recommended, as part of the 60 min or more per week (USDHHS, 2008). Yet, the substantive and ever decreasing PE classroom time is making it increasingly difficult for students to achieve these physical activity recommendations while in school (USDHHS, 2008). In addition to meeting the recommended guidelines of physical activity, PE teachers also have to teach specific PE and health standards that do not involve a strong exercise component to

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Flipping Physical Education Classrooms for Grades K–12 Prior to Class Students assimilate and process new physical education (PE) information via video lectures and classroom readings assigned by the PE teacher.

Students review prepared lectures and watch lecture materials outside of class. The benefits reported are: •

•

•

Start of Class PE teacher administers quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class and answers any questions regarding PE topic

Greater facilitation of learning and understanding of the PE and/or sports-related topic before engaging in the activity Provides students exemplars of correct PE skills and performances Allows the students to prepare any questions to ask the PE teacher

Additional technologies, such as laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices, can be used to measure a student’s knowledge about the PE skill and answer students’ questions. The benefits of incorporating other forms of technology and blended learning to create an enhanced flip are reported as: • •

•

In-Class In-class activities where students collaborate and engage with each other to help foster PE skills

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Allowing the teacher to evaluate student understanding of specific sports-related topics before engaging in the activity Providing an inclusive environment for learning and questioning. This is especially advantageous for students who have never played a particular sport before Providing more informal learning spaces where students can collaborate and assess their own learning. This can be helpful when first learning about the rules and position of a sport

Augmented Flip- Creating a technologymediated immersive student experience inside the PE classroom. This includes using engaging and interactive apps where students can break up into smaller groups and use these devices that can enhance their learning of the new PE skill. The benefits reported are: • Increased active learning and preparedness • Higher degree of fostering the new PE skill •

Increased enthusiasm, interest and engagement in learning about the PE skill

Fig. 6.1 FC features specific to PE classes

demonstrate the skill in school. For example, nutrition and sexual health standards require instructional activities separate from active exercise time. Flipping PE classes can provide an opportunity for educators to maximize their classroom time and help students be more physically active. Providing materials and instruction for a particular physical education and/or health topic before the class begins, can increase the time spent being engaged in physical activity for the students. As a result of reduced PE classroom time and increased physical activity engagement, it is essential for educators to develop and implement methods that can fully encapsulate the time allowed to teach core materials of this particular subject.

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Flipping these classrooms may be one approach that can address this challenge that PE teachers may be facing and help them make the most of the time allocated to them. Traditionally, PE classes are comprised of “in-school” physical activity and out of class activities, so there are excellent opportunities to employ flipped classroom approaches that can introduce knowledge and skills regarding specific physical activities and sports before class time. By examining current literature and evidence-based practices, the aim of this chapter is to discuss the rationale and significance of flipping PE classes. Additionally, cases and examples of best practices for flipping approaches in PE classes, along with recommendations by the authors, are reviewed. Implications for the future use of flipping approaches and research needed for these particular classes are considered. Flipping PE classrooms has only begun, and we hope this chapter will provide further understanding of flipped classrooms and how it can contribute to supporting the physical activity and educational needs of students in Grades K–12.

Literature Review The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2018a), report that childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s and data from 2015 to 2016 demonstrate that 20% of children (i.e., 6–19 years) in the United States is obese. Several health complications can arise for students who are obese, including asthma, bone and joint problems, type 2 diabetes, and others (CDC, 2018a; Kraak, Liverman, & Koplan, 2005). There are also mental health issues to consider as well that students can suffer from, such as low self-esteem and social isolation (CDC, 2018a; Kraak et al., 2005). What’s more, a student with obesity is more likely to be obese as an adult and be at risk for several health complications throughout adulthood (CDC, 2018a; Singh, Mulder, Twisk, Van Mechelen, & Chinapaw, 2008). However, instilling lifelong values and knowledge of physical activity and wellness through PE classes for students can help improve their current health status and adopt a healthy, physically active lifestyle across the lifespan (Kraak et al., 2005). Additionally, a systematic literature review carried out by the Task Force on Community Preventive Service (CPS) (2002) strongly recommends the need for school-based PE classes for students due to its effectiveness in increasing and improving physical activity levels. The Task Force on CPS (2002) further reports other benefits of PE classes, such as increased physical activity knowledge and muscular endurance for students in Grades K–12. While there are many risk factors for obesity among students (e.g., genetics), insufficient physical activity levels is a critical reason and PE classes can help address this issue by teaching core physical activity-related concepts and providing an outlet to be physically active. As mentioned previously, the recommended guidelines for students in Grades K– 12 is at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily (USDHHS, 2008), yet most students do not reach this goal. In fact, only 21.6% of 6–19-year-old students in the United States meet the recommendations (CDC, 2018b). The decline of instructional

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time for PE classes can also make it difficult for students to achieve the recommended physical activity levels (McMurrer, 2008). For example, one study found that school-aged children (i.e., third and fourth graders) had low levels of physical activity on days there were no PE classes scheduled (Dale, Corbin, & Dale, 2000). Moreover, only 29.8% of high school students attend a daily PE class, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (Kann et al., 2015). These trends of decreasing PE instructional time and inadequate physical activity levels can affect student’s academic achievement and learning performance as well. The CDC (2018b) reports that physically active students generally have higher grades and school attendance, increased cognitive performance, and classroom behaviors. As a result, teachers need to make the most of their time to teach essential skills and, perhaps most importantly, have their students engage in physical activity during class time. This can include increasing the amount of time spent participating in moderate or vigorous-intensity physical activity, such as playing basketball instead of softball. However, key concepts need to be taught and learned before students can engage in the physical activity. This is where flipped classroom approaches can be used to deliver and teach core materials before the class begins, which can result in more time spent being physically active for the students. Although there is limited literature regarding this topic, there are a few researchers who have investigated and implemented FC strategies for PE classes. Østerlie (2016) discusses how PE classes can be flipped by video recording a particular sport, such as basketball, and explaining the rules (e.g., keeping score) and strategies (e.g., dribbling) involved in the sport. The demonstration of basketball, including the health benefits that can occur from playing the sport, is introduced and possible questions about the content of the video are asked (Østerlie, 2016). The students can then watch the video prior to class and have an understanding of the sport before class begins. This cuts down on instructional time and the students can immediately engage in the sport as there is little to no time needed for explaining it to the students (Østerlie, 2016). Moreover, being able to pause, rewind, and/or fast forward the video can be useful and help the students learn the content more efficiently (Bakar, 2019). In addition to videos, other researchers suggest using e-tools provided by Web 2.0 to introduce PE content and help motivate students in the classroom (Isidori, Chiva-Bartoll, Fazio, & Sandor, 2018). The use of videos is a classic approach for flipping PE classes and one that has been used by several teachers. For example, interviews with PE teachers highlight the importance of using videos to teach class. E. Whitefoot has been teaching PE classes for 10 years and has been using videos since the beginning, and has found them to be “effective and efficient” for teaching core concepts of sports and other physical activities to students in both middle and high school settings (personal communication, November 28, 2018). The videos allow more time for the students to participate in the actual sport and be physically active and not just “sit and stand around trying to pay attention to how the sport works, when they really just want to start playing” (E. Whitefoot, personal communication, November 28, 2018). In addition, the usability and ubiquity of using these videos for flipping PE classes further emphasizes the value of these videos. L. Lincoln, a middle school PE

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teacher of 6 years, believes that “using videos to flip a PE class is one of the easiest ways to do it.” (personal communication, November 29, 2018). Although it may take some time in the beginning to make the video, teachers can “use it for years, with just some minor updates and changes” (L. Lincoln, personal communication, November 29, 2018). As a result, physical activity engagement is maximized in every class and one of the reasons why flipping approaches can be beneficial to both teachers and students alike. Another reason why PE classes can benefit from flipping methods is increased motivation to learn more about physical activity-related topics. Østerlie (2016) examines self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), and how having a better foundation and understanding of a subject can increase one’s motivation to be more actively involved in learning more about it. With this in mind, Østerlie (2016) discusses how flipping techniques used in PE classes cannot only provide a higher level of knowledge of the materials, but can help students be more motivated to learn about PE and in a more thoughtful way. For example, students (N = 338) in Grades 8–11 participated in a study that examined how flipping affected their motivation to participate in PE and their learning outcomes (Østerlie, 2018). Students were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 141), which consisted of watching videos as homework prior to class (i.e., flipping), or the control group (n = 197) that continued the same class without the aid of the videos (Østerlie, 2018). Results of the study demonstrate that the intervention group had significantly higher motivation regarding participation in PE, compared to the control group. Specifically, the flipping positively influences the motivation, such as expectancy beliefs and attainment values, of the students to participate in PE (Østerlie, 2018). Another study found that flipping PE classes can help improve the student’s learning experience, due to increased student-centered learning and being able to have more responsibility of their own learning (Bakar, 2019). These results are similar to other works (e.g., Bergmann & Sams, 2014) that have investigated how flipping approaches can motivate students to participate in PE and other classes and promote positive learning outcomes. Ningthoujam, Nongthombam, and Sunderchand (2017) discuss how innovative teaching strategies and programming, such as new curriculums and novel technologies, is needed to encourage students to participate in PE classes and utilizing flipped classroom may be once approach that can help achieve this. Although this particular area of flipping research is still in its infancy, flipping PE classrooms holds promise for promoting students to be physically active and supporting positive learning outcomes.

Best Practices for Flipping PE Classes The opportunities for flipped classes to provide in-depth skill development in class can help PE teachers provide high-quality instruction. The advantages of a flipped class can help PE classes to be more engaging and interactive, similar to how they have in other subject areas. Flipped PE can also help address the challenges of

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Table 6.1 Physical education standards for K–12 Standards

Description

Standard 1

Students will demonstrate competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns Students will apply knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics related to movement and performance Students will demonstrate the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness Students will exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others Students will recognize the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction

Standard 2 Standard 3 Standard 4 Standard 5

reduced class time that are being faced by many PE teachers and students. However, before one can begin to flip PE classes, it is important to follow and implement the Physical Education Standards into FC approaches. The Society for Health and Physical Educators (Society for Health and Physical Educator [SHAPE], 2014) developed the National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes for K–12 Physical Education as a guide for teachers and schools to help foster lifelong physical activity and positive learning outcomes of physical activity among students. These national standards have been adopted by several states to define what students need to know and be able to demonstrate from their physical education program (SHAPE, 2014). These standards have detailed goals for each grade level and build upon each other in a systematic way throughout the K–12 PE curriculum. The five Physical Education Standards are presented below in Table 6.1. Incorporating these standards into flipping approaches will help ensure positive learning outcomes for students in PE.

Out of Class Activities for the Flipped PE Classroom As described previously, flipping a PE classroom requires students to learn or be introduced to a physical activity-related subject prior to the class. These “out of class activities” are at the core of flipping approaches and a classic method of delivering these activities or learning objectives before class can be via previously recorded videos. These videos showcase the “how” and “why” of a particular sport or physical activity-related topic. Although it may sound easy and simple to record a video for a PE topic, there are certain considerations and steps to keep in mind. It is important to note that these videos need to be done properly, as watching these videos can increase the student’s excitement of the PE topic they are learning (Bakar, 2019). Østerlie (2016) recommends that PE teachers should first think about topics that would benefit from teaching via video that would provide more detail and insight into the topic. Topics that teachers feel like more time is needed than what can be achieved during class time is one way to determine if videos are

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appropriate (Østerlie, 2016). From our own personal experience, we could not agree more with this concept. For instance, explaining how to keep score for tennis and how to properly serve the ball requires a significant amount of time to teach these core skills to students. In the past, we would only use the scheduled class time to teach these concepts to students. However, this would cut into actual time spent playing tennis and engaging in physical activity. As a result, we started recording videos that demonstrated these skills, so that the students could review the materials before class. This resulted in more time playing the actual game, because the students had already been exposed on how to play the sport and any questions the students had could be discussed in class. Another consideration regarding the PE videos is deciding on who will make them (Østerlie, 2016). Teachers themselves can choose to prepare them or try finding and downloading/streaming pre-existing videos online (Østerlie, 2016). As for us, we have generally created our own videos and strongly recommend this option due to several advantages. One is that you can use yourself or another teacher that the students are familiar with in the videos. This can help your students feel more connected to the material and you can use terminology that is appropriate for your students. Another advantage is using a location, such as your own PE gym or track, that the students are familiar with, which can further connect them to the materials you are teaching them. However, using pre-existing videos can save time and if you choose this method, it is important to make sure the content is appropriate and accurate for your students. Also, it is easily possible to use a combination of preexisting and original videos. For educators just starting to flip their PE class you might choose to use more preexisting content and gradually build a collection of original content. In addition, Raths (2014) recommends creating videos that are short (i.e., 5– 10 minutes max.), instead of longer, when flipping classrooms. In our view, if you had 20 minutes of content to show for Skill X, it would be better to break that up into four short videos of 5 minute parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 versus one large video. Breaking up the videos into shorter sections can help hold the student’s attention and interest (Raths, 2014). In our experience of using videos to flip classes, this concept is true and especially important because it allows students the ease of reviewing just short manageable sections if they need extra help. If the videos are too long, the students will lose interest and not understand or retain the essential skills and knowledge that you are trying to teach through the videos. Our own experience is mirrored in Guo, Kim, and Rubin’s (2014) research where the authors found that shorter videos (i.e., 10 minutes or shorter) are much more engaging to students. The authors also suggest the teachers speak with high enthusiasm to keep the students engaged as well (Guo et al., 2014). To be sure, we have strived to create videos that are engaging and display enough enthusiasm to keep the students focused on the topic at hand. Although these suggestions may seem small, they can contribute to the overall quality of the videos. Showing high-quality, engaging videos will help ensure that your students pay attention and learn from the videos. In addition, these videos can provide excellent opportunities for PE teachers to make sure they are providing the best means of teaching their students core

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competencies. Part of teaching is demonstrating how to do something well. These exemplars of correct performance help students learn what they need to do in order to be successful. For example, every math teacher needs to be proficient in demonstrating how to complete the math concepts being taught in their classes. A math teacher teaching how to multiply fractions needs to be able to successfully demonstrate that skill. For PE teachers, they might have some additional challenges in their instruction in terms of demonstrating expertise personally. This is for the simple reason that demonstrating the correct technique for multiple sports can be very challenging. A PE teacher might be very adept at teaching tennis, such as the correct form for a backhand swing or serving, after many years as a player and coach. However, he or she may not have much experience with demonstrating a jump shot in basketball and even less experience coaching someone to effectively use it. Flipped lessons, specifically the out of class pre-teaching, can help address this challenge by providing excellent exemplars of the skill. Pre-teaching a variety of techniques for the skill by watching videos and simulations can help students learn the mechanics of a particular skill in advance of the in-class practice. The difference between a good serve in volleyball and bad one will take time and practice to master either way. But in the case of the PE teacher not being an expert in this skill, using flipping approaches can help provide high quality exemplars of what the skills look like when correctly demonstrated.

In-Class Activities for the Flipped PE Classroom The in-class PE activities of a flipped classroom should also be adapted to reflect some of the changes made to instructional design of the course. Students should be coming to their PE class with more background knowledge from the out of class lesson activities. This should reduce the needed time for introductory explanations of basics of the sport being taught, how to do a specific drill, or the science behind a physical activity and its impact on health. In-class lessons focused on teaching skills that require a specific technique or pre-teaching what the skills look like can help the students be prepared for more complex and engaging lessons. For example, in a seventh grade PE class in the State of Washington a PE teacher could be working on the Standard 1 (refer to Table 6.1), such as learning to effectively dribble while playing basketball. The standard for Grade 7 for this motor skill asks that students “Perform dribbling skills with preferred and non-preferred hand, foot, or implement with competency while moving and changing direction and speed in small sided game play” (Washington State Learning Standards, 2016, p. 68). A traditional lesson in PE might have the entire class individually or only a few at a time practicing and/or demonstrating this skill. However, this motor skill would have already been introduced in a flipped classroom using the out of class activities (e.g., videos) to prep for this lesson and the students should be more prepared to work in small groups coaching each other. Working in small groups allows the students to get more opportunities to practice

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and coach/teach the dribbling. Designing in-class activities to engage all students either in coaching or practice of physical activity-related skills provides additional opportunities for the students to be actively learning.

Tools for the Flipped PE Classroom As the technology landscape changes there is a growing collection of resources available to physical education teachers interested in flipping their classrooms. The following discussion and collection of tools is by no means exhaustive of all the tools available. It is designed to give PE teachers a jump start on flipping their classes with resources that can help them. This discussion of what tools work best and are the best fit for PE teachers should be an evolving conversation with a growing body of resources and tools. Learning management system. As discussed in chapter one, most schools have a learning management system (LMS) and/or class website, for teachers to provide resources and information for their students. The school’s website and/or LMS is a good starting place for PE teachers interested in flipping their instruction. This classroom webpage can help the teachers and students stay organized, find materials, and dive deeper into topics that are being taught in the flipped classroom. Flipping PE classrooms requires additional preplanning compared to traditional classroom instruction, similar to other examples of flipping the classroom. Starting with the LMS/class website can help PE teachers get their flipped class off to the best start. The LMS automatically organizes the sharing of resources online, which can reduce the need for teachers wanting to flip their classroom to be technology experts. Many school systems may require teachers to use a specific tool as their LMS, such as the district approved school website or a specific LMS provider that the school system has contracted. If your school system does not have an LMS, there are other options many of which are free to organize the flipped classroom. A few selected LMS options are listed below in Table 6.2. Content tools. After choosing an LMS to organize all your flipped PE content, you will need some actual content to share with your students. While a PE teacher and the other teachers in the school may all use the same LMS, the content tools will likely be very different. PE teachers are frequently moving indoors and outdoors depending on the activities being taught, so one consideration is to use mobile devices such as tablet computers. Mobiles devices such as iPads can provide PE teachers with a wide assortment of mobile learning apps to support their specific content needs. The following selection below includes just a few examples of content tools that can help support a flipped PE class. Hudl. (Free with options for in app purchases for additional features, iOS and Android) This is a video annotation and collaboration tool designed to help coaches explain plays which can be used to across multiple sports or PE class activities. PE teachers can record physical activities such as exercises, drills, or specific sports moves. For example, in a basketball lesson the correct form for a jump shot could be recorded along with examples of poor form. The PE teacher can use this tool to

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Table 6.2 Examples of learning management systems Learning management system

Description

Web address

Google Classroom

A free web service for schools that allows collaboration between teachers and students inside and outside of the classroom An educational website that provides access to assignments and grades and promotes communication between teachers and students A communication application that connects teachers, students, and parents and allows them to share photos, videos, and messages A word processor that allows teachers and students to share documents, submit assignments and grades, and provide personalized features for students

https:// classroom. google.com https://www. edmodo.com/

Edmodo

Class Dojo

Canvas

https://www. classdojo.com https://www. canvaslms.com

annotate and provide audio feedback about the student’s performance or to provide high-quality exemplars of best practices. Coach’s eye. ($4.99, with add on subscription features, OS, and Android) Coach’s Eye is another popular sports video annotation tool. The basic version of this coaching tool has several great video annotation tools for PE teachers wanting to create content to flip their classes. The subscription based features include advanced options including connecting the annotation tools to additional sports video cameras such as Go Pro’s. This combination would be a great way to demonstrate and annotate player point of view explanations for PE students. Coach note. ($4.99, iOS, and Android) Coach’s Note is a powerful coaching and collaboration tool that is great for creating content. It supports over a dozen sports and allows a coach to record and annotate a simulated playing field. PE teachers can use this tool to make notes, export their content as a PDF, and share it with their students. Slowmo. (Free, iOS, and Android) Slowmo is a video app which speeds up your video to make everything move very fast. Actually, it does the exact opposite. It is a simple, easy to use option to create and share slow motion videos for your PE class. Just like breaking down a sports play during an instant replay, slow motion video can help students learn the distinct steps of a complex series of movements such as serving a volleyball. Sport video games. Playing a sports video game as an out of class activity could be an engaging and fun way to learn more about an unfamiliar sport. For example, playing a football, basketball, or tennis video game can help students learn about the structure of the game (periods, quarters, sets, etc.), types and roles of different player positions (fullback, center, point guard, server, etc.), and rules. A sports video game is going to go at a faster pace than a physical game because timeouts, fouls, halftime, and water breaks are no longer things the student has to wait for. As

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Fig. 6.2 Doceri app. This figure illustrates an example of a screencasting app that PE teachers can use to display certain skills or plays for sports

a result, the ability to skip these time-consuming elements in the sports video games allows students more opportunities to witness aspects of the game. The other value of a sports video game for learning the basics of a sport is that it allows a student to learn about the rules and fundamentals of a sport, separate from having to physically demonstrate some of these skills. For students that may be apprehensive and afraid of embarrassment in PE, sports video games can provide a valuable out of class learning opportunity. Out of class, they can play a game to learn about a sport before they are asked to perform in-class physical activities practicing skills in that sport. Screencasting apps. There are many free and easy to use screencasting apps that allow PE teachers to illustrate, draw, and record explanations and lessons for their students. Explain Everything, Showme, Educreations, and Doceri are screencasting tools that are used across a wide range of subject areas. These screencasting apps would also provide tools for topics in PE that are not necessarily sports or exercise topics, such as nutrition or health-related topics. Figure 6.2 demonstrates a screen cast of a play in a 3  3 basketball game from the Doceri app.

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Discussion Flipping PE is an instructional practice that shows potential as an instructional strategy to help students learn PE standards and address some challenges. It is also an instructional practice that is being implemented with a limited amount of research at this point in time. This chapter provides some background on the practice of flipping PE and the potential advantages and challenges that PE teachers and students may come across. Flipping PE is an instructional strategy that can help PE teachers make the most of limited class time with students. PE teachers face two critical challenges to make the most of instructional class time. First, they are often required to maintain specific amounts of class time dedicated to physical activity and/or exercise. Second, as noted earlier many states and school districts have reduced the amount of time for “special activities” such as art, PE, and music in order to provide additional class time for reading and mathematics. As a performance-based class, PE can benefit from flipped classroom lesson planning. Flipping the class allows PE teachers to pre-teach many aspects of an activity such as rules, fundamentals, and background/history of a sport as out of class activities. This can allow the in-class PE activities to concentrate more on the performance and skill building practice of the sports. Like flipping any course, flipping PE is content intensive and building the collection of out of class learning resources takes time. Also, providing high-quality instructional content for out of class learning has additional benefits. Using a variety of resources for in and out of class activities through flipping approaches can provide students multiple representations to learn physical education content and skills.

Implications With a limited body of research, it is difficult for direct implications such as “flipping PE is better than not flipping PE.” However, there is an increasing trend of several schools and PE teachers that are using flipping approaches to help address challenges they are facing in terms of reduced PE time and the need to address PE standards. One of the suggestions based on reviewing the larger body of flipping implementation research is that flipping does not have to be an all or none proposition for any classroom, including the PE class. Flipping approaches can be altered and catered to meet the needs of the particular class (e.g., PE) and skill (e.g., dribbling a basketball) and still support positive learning outcomes for students. As a result, flipping presents exciting opportunities for teachers to use to help meet the unique needs of their classroom and their students.

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Future Research Flipping the classroom is a relatively new instructional practice that needs additional research examining best practices and effectiveness. This is especially true for flipping PE classrooms, since there is even less research supporting its use. As seen from the literature review portion of this chapter, flipping the PE class research is in the very early stages and could be considered exploratory at this point. A target research agenda is needed to address the specific research area of flipping the physical education classroom. Are flipped PE classes more successful when implemented in a school with an established flipped classroom culture compared to flipping PE classes in isolation? Do PE teachers find flipping the PE classroom an effective strategy for teaching PE standards even with reduced PE class time? These are only a few of example research questions that need to be investigated when using flipping approaches for PE classes. Flipping PE is an instructional practice that has potential, but still needs to be further investigated. Like many educational trends the practice seems to be moving faster than research on the practice. However, flipping PE classes could help address some of the challenges schools are facing including reduced time in PE and helping their students meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. Additionally, flipping PE classes may support positive learning outcomes for students, such as a better understanding of the subject and more hands-on experience. While further research is needed to better understand this paradigm shift for teaching PE classes, it is evident that flipping holds promise for supporting teachers and students in meeting their educational needs in this particular subject area.

References Bakar, A. H. (2019). The effectiveness of flipped learning in physical education for a secondary school in Brunei Darussalam. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam. Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped learning: Gateway to student engagement. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018a). Childhood obesity facts. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018b). Physical activity facts. Retrieved from https:// www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/facts.htm. Dale, D., Corbin, C. B., & Dale, K. S. (2000). Restricting opportunities to be active during school time: do children compensate by increasing physical activity levels after school? Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 71(3), 240–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2000. 10608904.

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Eyler, A. A., Brownson, R. C., Aytur, S. A., Cradock, A. L., Doescher, M., Evenson, K. R., … O’Hara Tompkins, N. (2010). Examination of trends and evidence‐based elements in state physical education legislation: A content analysis. Journal of School Health, 80(7), 326–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00509.x. Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415. https:// doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111. Giannakos, M. N., Krogstie, J., & Chrisochoides, N. (2014). Reviewing the flipped classroom research: reflections for computer science education. In Proceedings of the computer science education research conference (pp. 23–29). https://doi.org/10.1145/2691352.2691354. Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement: an empirical study of MOOC videos. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on learning (pp. 41–50). https://doi.org/10.1145/2556325.2566239. Isidori, E., Chiva-Bartoll, O., Fazio, A., & Sandor, I. (2018). Flipped classroom in physical education: Pedagogical models and possible implementation through Web 2.0. In The International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education (Vol. 3, pp. 274– 279). “ Carol I” National Defence University. https://doi.org/10.12753/2066-02X-18-182. Jensen, J. L., Kummer, T. A., & Godoy, P. D. D. M. (2015). Improvements from a flipped classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 14(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-08-0129. Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Hawkins, J., … Zaza, S. (2015). Youth risk behavior surveillance-United States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 65(6), 1–174. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6506a1. Kraak, V. A., Liverman, C. T., & Koplan, J. P. (Eds.). (2005). Preventing childhood obesity: Health in the balance. National Academies Press. McMurrer, J. (2008). Instructional time in elementary schools: A closer look at changes for specific subjects. Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy. National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2004). Moving into the future: National standards for physical education. Reston, VA: McGraw-Hill. Ningthoujam, R., Nongthombam, B., & Sunderchand, M. (2017). Innovative teaching methods in physical education for better learning. International Journal of Community Current Research and Review, 9(16), 6–11. https://doi.org/10.7324/IJCRR.2017.9162. Østerlie, O. (2016). Flipped learning in physical education: Why and how? Physical Education and New Technologies, 1, 166–176. Østerlie, O. (2018). Can flipped learning enhance adolescents’ motivation in physical education? An intervention study. Journal of Research in Arts and Sports Education, 2, 1–15. https://doi. org/10.23865/jased.v2.916. Raths, D. (2014). Nine video tips for a better flipped classroom. The Education Digest, 79(6), 15–21. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–76. Society of Health and Physical Educators. (2014). National standards and grade-level outcomes for K-12 physical education. Reston, VA. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from www. shapeamerica.org. Singh, A. S., Mulder, C., Twisk, J. W., Van Mechelen, W., & Chinapaw, M. J. (2008). Tracking of childhood overweight into adulthood: A systematic review of the literature. Obesity Reviews, 9 (5), 474–488. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2008.00475.x. Task Force on Community Preventive Services. (2002). Recommendations to increase physical activity in communities. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 22(4), 67–72. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0749-3797(02)00433-6. Tucker, B. (2012). The flipped classroom. Education Next, 12(1), 82–83.

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). 2008 physical activity guidelines for Americans. Hyattsville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services. Washington State Learning Standards. (2016). Health and physical education K-12 learning standards. Olympia, WA: Dorn, R. I., Kanikeberg, K., & Mendoza, G.

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Flipping for Diverse Learners Kara Rosenblatt

Pre-meeting I Students assimilate and process new information via video lectures and classroom readings.

Start of Class Teachers can provide students time to ask questions instead of quizzing them immediately. This helps the student and the teacher realize where the students are in their understanding.

In-Class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration. Teachers can also provide application exercises that are individual for students with anxiety or social fears that make group work challenging.

Flipping allows students with disabilities or second language learners to access the content multiple times- not just once like in a typical lecture- and have time to process the information a their own speed.

It is important that teachers provide materials that are accessible for individuals with disabilities including captioned videos and, if necessary, alternative forms of text. Many products including Microsoft Office, have accessibility checkers built into their products that are easy to use.

Teachers provide resources in other languages that are speci ic to individual students. Teachers can also provide multiple resources about one topic so students can ind a resource that works for them.

K. Rosenblatt (&) University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_7

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Introduction and Background The most important tenet of special education is the idea that all instruction is based on the individual needs of the learner. In the classroom, educators are tasked with practicing pedagogy that will provide additional supports and services to those students whose disability interferes with their academic, emotional, and social progress, as well as to those students whose needs cannot be met in the general education classroom. The notion of special education grew out of the realization that all children have the right to learn and are entitled to an education. Recently, as the world’s borders shrink and the global economy continues to grow, countries around the world are increasingly aware of the need to educate students with disabilities to learn alongside their typically developing peers—to be included, as much and as often as possible. In the United States, the federal definition of special education is: (1) …specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including (i) Instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and (ii) Instruction in physical education. (2) Special education includes each of the following … (i) (ii) (iii)

Speech–language pathology services, or any other related service …; Travel training; and Vocational education (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004).

Students with disabilities are a diverse group of students with one thing in common: the presence of one or more conditions that impede their ability to benefit from instruction in the general or mainstream classroom. Special education instruction should be learning-focused and driven by the individual student’s learning needs. With the diversity that is common in inclusive classrooms, students with disabilities need additional support and services to access and learn curriculum. Nevertheless, promoting high expectations should be a central tenet for all students. Although students with disabilities face learning challenges, we believe all students can learn and the flipped method of instruction can help with that process. Although flipped instruction is a novel method of instruction with very limited research conducted on its use with students with disabilities, it can be paired with well-established frameworks to further enhance the learning of students with disabilities. Furthermore, many of the components of flipped instruction overlap with best practices in special education. With continued research on the topic, we believe that this method of instruction will prove to be especially beneficial for students with disabilities.

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This chapter began by providing a visual representation of what flipped instruction could look like with diverse learners. Next, a brief overview of special education is provided, followed by a literature review of the current research on the flipped method of instruction in special education and how the flipped method of instruction aligns with common characteristics of students in special education. Next, a framework and instructional practices that can be used to integrate flipped instruction into classroom practice are provided. Finally, the chapter ends with a brief conclusion and implications for the future use of flipped instruction in special education.

Literature Review This section examines the existing literature base on the use of flipped or inverted instruction with students with disabilities, and the challenging factors which may explain the paucity of current research on the topic. The ways in which flipped instruction can be used with students with disabilities vary and depend on a range of factors including the disability category or type, the severity of the disability, the level or degree of inclusive instruction a student receives, attitudes toward assistive technology, the content area, school culture, and available resources. Much of the research on flipped instruction, in general, has focused on the higher education setting (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015; Lo, Hew, & Chen, 2017). A review of the literature on the flipped instruction and special education yielded no empirical research articles and one case study that used keywords related to special education (inclusion and learning disabilities) but yielded only anecdotal evidence. Furthermore, literature reviews on flipped instruction in K–12 published in the last 2 years report (2016–2018) very limited research. To date, only 15 empirical studies have been published about K–12 flipped classroom. None of the articles included students with disabilities (Lo & Hew, 2017). Lo et al. (2017) report that less than 10% of all flipped classroom instructional research occurred in a secondary setting, and less than 3% in the elementary classroom. The results of these K–12 studies are promising, with significant improvement results reported in 6 of the 15 studies, no reports of a detrimental or inferior effect of the flipped method of instruction on student achievement. However, due to these limitations and the fact that the lion’s share of research on the effectiveness of the flipped method of instruction takes place in a college or university setting, where the participation of students with disabilities is significantly less likely, it is difficult to ascertain the true effectiveness of the method for students with disabilities. The results of the lone case study (Villanueva, 2016) on effects of flipped instruction on elementary students’ motivation to learn sixth-grade mathematics did not include relevant information related to student achievement, but Villanueva did report several anecdotal findings that are important for educators interested in

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implementing the flipped method of instruction. She noted that to get and keep student attention, students’ strengths, needs, and interests should be used to create the instructional lessons. Student feedback was essential, especially as the study was implemented—Villanueva relied on student feedback to edit content and create additional lessons in her study. Two specific benefits were mentioned: the increased ability to work one-on-one with individual students or small groups, and a greater ability to differentiate content and instruction based on individual student needs. Furthermore, the researcher noted her own increased familiarity with the content and lessons that were used in the study. On the other hand, Villanueva (2016) noted several drawbacks in her work. First, although the researcher was familiar with the structure of the flipped classroom, she found that her ability to stay true to the intended structure was limited by students’ inconsistent access to the Internet at home, unexpected events during the school day, limited access to technology or a full set of technology tools, and increased lesson planning and preparation time. Further, some students’ motivation to learn waned after the video instruction ended, and they were unable to connect the content from the videos to in-class assignments. The results of this study are not inconsequential, but since the researcher did not collect specific achievement data for the students with disabilities in the class or the specific methods of differentiation that were used, generalization to the larger body of students with disabilities is again limited.

Characteristics of Students with Disabilities and the Alignment with Flipped Instruction Students with disabilities have academic and behavioral difficulties that result in them requiring more time and support to master learning objectives and meet the cognitive and social/emotional demands of school. Overall, students with disabilities have varying degrees of difficulties with general cognitive skills and processing that manifest as problems with perceptual skills, memory, thinking and reasoning, generalization, attention, motivation, problem-solving, and conceptualization. For example, students with autism spectrum disorders often struggle with academic, social, and/or emotional skills while students with more significant or severe disabilities may have limited mobility, severe intellectual disability, and limited communication skills. Because a flipped approach to instruction begins by examining students’ needs and, by design, provides the additional time (with both the content and the educator) students with disabilities often need to master learning objectives, the approach has many beneficial elements for this group of students. Flipped instruction opens avenues of learning by maximizing the time that students spend in the physical classroom and provides a range of interactive activities designed to promote active learning. This is particularly relevant for students with disabilities who attend school systems where the focus is on high-stakes testing and academic achievement. Many of these systems are moving away from traditional special education instruction that only occurs in a resource

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room and now provide a majority of instruction in inclusive or mainstream settings. Keeping students engaged and focused, particularly in an inclusive setting where students can be functioning two or more years below their grade level, is a common struggle. However, the flipped method of instruction promotes collaboration and active learning which, when structured properly, also promotes student engagement and provides students with disabilities opportunities to interact and learn from their peers (Villanueva, 2016). Furthermore, flipped instruction can be used to addresses a common limitation of traditional classroom instruction that is especially poignant for students with disabilities—students’ inability to translate lecture content into information that can be used to apply and demonstrate knowledge (Bergman & Sams, 2012). Since this method of instruction personalizes learning and recognizes that not all students come to class ready to learn, it is an ideal method to use when teaching students with disabilities. The use of video, a key component in flipped instruction, provides educators with numerous opportunities to help students with disabilities learn new information and generalize the new skills and knowledge into practice. Beyond providing students with disabilities with the opportunity to watch the instructional videos repeatedly, flipped classrooms allow room for varied and differentiated forms of instruction, essentially, quality instruction with real-life connections that are necessary when building an understanding of new knowledge. For example, educators who practice the flipped method of instruction can create online tutorials or add dimensions to traditional video content that students can watch repeatedly. This embedding of like short summaries or checks for understanding allows educators to scaffold student learning. Videos can also provide highly visual students with many opportunities to “see” concepts that are dull and flat in text. Finally, presenting material through video can augment traditional, grade-level text. Since many students with disabilities, especially those with learning or intellectual disabilities, struggle to read and comprehend grade-level text, this method can increase student comprehension of critical content. From an economic standpoint, flipped instruction is a cost-efficient approach to instruction as this method utilizes technology resources that many schools already use. In the past, educators often had to use fragile, costly, and difficult-to-use specialized assistive technology to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In addition to the cost of the device, many of these specialized assistive technologies isolated and stigmatized the students with disabilities. Now, with flipped instruction educators can maximize the use of mainstream technology, such as mobile devices, apps, and cloud-based computing and choose the best tools to present information in ways that are most meaningful to students. Essentially, educators are able to create specialized and individualized instruction with little to no cost to their district while still meeting the legal requirements of special education.

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Universal Design for Learning Hehir (2009) called Universal Design for Learning (UDL) “the bridge between general and special education” (p. 7) and noted that UDL reduces the barriers in education and opens educational doors to all students. The UDL framework is based on scientific insights into how people learn and promotes the use of accessible and inclusive instructional approaches that meet the needs and abilities of all learners. Three principles guide UDL implementation: 1. Provide multiple means of representation—this principle is based on the idea that learners access information through different intake channels, so instruction should be flexible and varied. An example of providing multiple means of representation is using podcasts instead of or in addition to the traditional direct instruction video used in the flipped method of instruction. 2. Provide multiple means of expression—learners vary in their ability to demonstrate understanding, as such, this principle refers to the multiple ways students can express their understanding material. One example of multiple means of expression is providing students with the option to create a video compilation project instead of taking an essay test. 3. Provide multiple means for engagement—this principle refers to the multiple ways to engage students in learning. Essentially, students are motivated to learn for different reasons and also vary in the activities that keep them engaged. An example of multiple means of engagement is providing the option to learn a concept through a simulation as opposed to reading about the concept in a text (Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014). UDL grew out of the architecture and urban planning movement of universal design of the 1970s. This movement is responsible for developments like curb cuts in sidewalks and automatic doors. Although these design structures were originally created to help individuals in wheelchairs, they are also useful for people on bicycles and mothers pushing baby strollers. Essentially, the urban planners were removing the barriers to mobility for one group and wound up making mobility easier for all individuals. Educators who use UDL promote the inclusion of all students by removing the barriers to learning that are common in traditional instruction. They begin by identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses and examining how students’ needs may impede learning. Next, educators review the instructional materials, learning activities, and assessment methods and finally plan instruction with the flexibility that allows all students, regardless of their unique learning needs, to access the content and demonstrate their understanding. One of the many benefits of flipped instruction is that the format (watching lectures as homework and participating in in-class activities) promotes engagement and allows students to take control of their learning. Flipped instruction utilizes technology to engage students in the lesson and then scaffolds the content. This process increases the likelihood of learning and provides the student with the

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necessary background knowledge to actively participate in the next day’s in-class activity. The method also promotes collaboration, interactive learning, and allows the student to direct his or her learning. These instructional characteristics also overlap with the teaching methods and techniques associated with UDL. Specifically, UDL and the flipped method of instruction have four common characteristics: (1) flexibility as the core component of instructional approach and practices; (2) meaningful use of technology through groups of networked learners; (3) opportunities to extend learning through Internet-based knowledge and activities; and (4) encourages communication and interactions with students, often through the use of information and communication technology (Dinmore, 2013). Students with disabilities benefit from educators who utilize a flipped/UDL instructional approach for several reasons. First, practitioners recognize that not all students learn best from traditional lectures and can create and present lesson content through instructional videos. UDL even extends this benefit with the use of video captioning and can provide students who struggle with instructional videos by providing access to other direct instructional resources (access to text, podcasts, problem sets, and other activities). The flipped/UDL approach promotes self-efficacy in students. When students are given choices and the ability to self-select resources, they are not only learning and practicing self-efficacy but also engaged in the learning process. Another aspect of this instructional approach that is beneficial for students with disabilities is the elimination of traditional homework. Because traditional homework requires students to complete tasks at home with limited guidance and support from their educator, the cognitive demands associated with recalling information can be excessive and lead to failure. However, through the support found in the structured in-class activities, collaboration with peers and educator guidance, and increased access to additional resources, students with disabilities are more likely to find success. Table 7.1 lists components of the flipped classroom, their corresponding UDL principles, and some UDL resources that can be used to learn and demonstrate skill mastery.

Table 7.1 Integrating UDL into the flipped classroom Flipped classroom component

UDL principle

UDL resources for learning

Digital lectures

Multiple means of representation Multiple means of engagement Multiple means of representation

Online chats, content rich websites, mini video lectures, podcasts, digital presentations Games, simulations, interactive manipulatives, videos, visuals Activate/provide background knowledge, recognize patterns/critical features/relationships, guide information processing, maximize transfer, and generalization Blogging, podcasts, social networking, digital presentations

Digital activities In-class review/discussions

In-class activities/projects Negorski (2015)

Multiple means of expression

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Differentiated Instruction Differentiated instruction is an instructional method that educators can use to provide students with a variety of options to learn new information (Good, 2006). When differentiating instruction, educators do not modify or alter the curriculum; instead, educators share the content differently by adjusting the levels of depth, complexity, and readability of the materials. Assessment is used to inform instruction and results are used to make strategic adjustments before, during, and after instruction. Educators commonly differentiate content through the use of graphic organizers, tiered assessments, supplementary materials, and with the use of varied texts. For example, when educators differentiate instruction based on tiered levels of complexity, they are able to address the students’ range of needs including those at the introductory level and those at an abstract or advanced level. If you were teaching a class on rainforests and environmental issues, students who were at the introductory level would learn about rainforests and environmental issues and create a product that shows their understanding of the basic information on the topic. These students would create a product that informs others about the environmental issues associated with rainforests, whereas students who were at an advanced level would still learn about rainforests and environmental issues but their final product would demonstrate their ability or apply higher-order thinking, such as a presentation that analyzed different points of view on an environmental issue related to rain forests (Good, 2006; Tomlinson et al., 2013). The beauty of differentiated instruction for students with disabilities is that it supports students with a range of disabilities, helps them retain content and skills, reduces the time students need to learn information, decreases the need for skill remediation, and provides students with options to demonstrate learning. Differentiation extends the concept of inclusion by providing a meaningful education for all students, from high-achieving gifted students to students with severe disabilities. Over the last decade, research on the benefits of differentiated instruction and students with severe disabilities indicates that this group of students learns as much or more when they learn in the general education setting (with appropriate supports) and that skill generalization increases (Lawrence-Brown, 2004). The flipped-differentiated classroom is ideal for students with disabilities because educators can take advantage of the benefits of digital tools and resources to reach their students. First, part of the flipped model entails the creation of instructional videos. Not only are educators able to create instructional videos that are individualized for each student, he or she is also empowering her students to take ownership and control over their learning. Essentially, since students watch the videos on their own time, in their preferred environment, students are able to speed up, slow down, or rewind and re-watch the instructional videos as needed (Bergman & Sams, 2012). Next, the structure of the flipped classroom, specifically the interactions between educators and students, lends itself to be an ideal model of instruction for students with a range of disabilities. First, in a flipped-differentiated classroom, the educator spends a majority of the class walking around and

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interacting with students to address student questions and clear up any misconceptions about the content. Those students who demonstrate mastery quickly are able to move on and extend learning. Conversely, students who struggle to understand key concepts can receive modified assignments or a reduced quantity of work. For struggling students, this process of instruction and differentiation ensures that essential objectives will be learned without overwhelming and confusing students with more advanced topics and burying them with work that they do not understand.

Active Learning One component of the flipped method of instruction is the use of active learning. Active learning in a flipped classroom is a student-centered approach in which the acquisition of knowledge takes place within the context in which it will be used. In the active learning process, students are engaged and actively constructing new knowledge by building new mental models of information, testing the validity of the models, and fixing the inaccuracies in the new model (Hardman, McKnight, McKnight, & Arfstrom, 2013). Active learning activities involve the use of hands-on academic activities that use multisensory instructional materials and learning experiences to engage students and maintain interest. These highly interactive lessons use small group activities with educator–student and student–student interactions. Extensive research has determined that active learning increases student learning and achievement (Michael, 2006; Prince, 2004), improves student academic performance (Chaplin, 2009; Freeman et al., 2007; Hake, 1998; Knight & Wood, 2005; Michael, 2006), increases student engagement, critical thinking, and attitudes toward learning (O’Dowd & Aguilar-Roca, 2009), and significantly reduces learning misconceptions (Akinoglu & Tandogan, 2006). The concept of active learning is crucial for students with a range of disabilities. With the use of adapted techniques, technology, and even the support of a paraeducator, students with more severe disabilities can participate in interactive small-group activities and are able to complete independent tasks that reinforce previously learned skills. Some strategies that can be built into learning activities to ensure a student with severe disability’s involvement in a lesson include: (a) using objects, pictures, and photos to support text passage or stories; (b) simplifying or providing summaries of stories and text passages; (c) using video clips, multi-media presentations, and e-books to motivate the student; (d) using graphic organizers, story boards, and manipulatives; (e) integrating technology into the lesson as much as possible, as appropriate; and (f) using personal, meaningful experiences to promote understanding (Sarathy, 2012). Small-group work that is a common component of active learning in a flipped classroom also has benefits for students with social skill deficits. Social isolation is a common problem for students with emotional disturbance and/or autism, and can have a devastating impact on their wellbeing. Working with peers in small-group

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settings and in pairs provides this population of students with opportunities to practice appropriate social skills (i.e., asking for help, taking turns, and disagreeing politely). Moreover, as their social skills progress and their social isolation decreases, these students’ impression of school and learning will improve, likely reducing their class disruptions and thus positively impacting classroom management (Jensen, 2005). Another reason the flipped method of instruction is beneficial for students with disabilities is that active learning has been linked to higher rates of on-level instruction and positive learning outcomes. Research shows that the quality of learning associated with active learning leads to more frequent, positive contributions to the class and helps to create a classroom environment where students with disabilities feel comfortable to express themselves. Additionally, since this class environment encourages and values students’ contributions, educators are able to monitor students’ learning and clear up any misconceptions of the lesson (Bucalos & Lingo, 2005).

Priming Priming provides structure and a level of predictability for students, enabling them to preview the new learning material and increasing their chances of success. Research indicates that one’s ability to successfully learn and retain new information is largely contingent on: (a) the knowledge the student brings to the task, (b) the accuracy of that information, and (c) the degree to which the student accesses and uses that information (Bodie, Powers, & Fitch-Hauser, 2006). The flipped method of instruction uses the direct instructional videos that are viewed outside of class as a method of priming students for the active learning tasks that take place in the classroom (Bodie et al., 2006; Hardman et al., 2013). Problem behaviors, poor sustained motivation, ineffective study skills, and an inability to sustain attention are common problems that negatively impact the academic and behavioral performance of students with disabilities. In order to reduce the likelihood that these behaviors will occur, researchers suggest using priming to prepare (expose) the student for the next lesson. In a flipped classroom, students are primed for learning by watching the instructional video as homework. Priming thus addresses the memory and strategy deficits that students with disabilities bring to tasks by alerting the learner to retrieve prior knowledge and prepares them for the learning tasks ahead. Essentially, priming the lesson provides a context for student performance during the following school day. Priming is often used with students with autism in inclusion settings as a method to reduce the problem behaviors and negative consequences that are associated with being held to the same academic and behavioral standards as their nondisabled peers (Koegel, Koegel, Frea, & Hopkins, 2003).

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Flipped Instruction Examples Let us imagine a student in Geometry class who needs extra time to process the information that she is learning. Her educational plan states that she should have 50% more time to complete assignments, have untimed and modified assessments, and sit toward the front of the classroom to alleviate distractions. Educators who implement the flipped method of instruction are able to provide this student with the accommodations she needs with ease. Since the student has access to the direct instruction video and is responsible for watching the video outside of class time, she is able to watch the instructional video as many times as necessary until she understands the concepts being presented. Since the flipped method of instruction maximizes face-to-face instructional time and improves educator–student interactions, educators are able to individualize learning, differentiate instruction as needed, check for student understanding, and make any corrections that may be needed. In another scenario, students begin learning world languages in second grade. After 5 years of frequent practice, in seventh-grade Spanish class, the educator divides the class into three groups of students: those who have been at the school for several years and are fairly fluent Spanish speakers, those who have taken Spanish for several years but still struggle with the language due to an individual processing or learning disability, and those who have just transferred to the school and do not know any Spanish. The educator is able to teach all three groups at the same time by implementing the flipped method of instruction and differentiating the presentation of the content according to the students’ levels of fluency and types of needs. Educators create a flexible learning space where they move about the room, interacting with each group. Educators provide individualized and small-group instruction as needed and at the appropriate level. If a person were to visit the classroom, they would see a busy, interactive class where some students are watching a lesson, some students may be practicing conversation skills in Spanish, and other students might be working on grammar lessons, while others are taking an online assessment.

Conclusion Given the range of academic and behavioral abilities in individuals with disabilities, effective strategies to reduce problems and limitations are essential for enabling students to meet their fullest potential. Effective tools for increasing success on all levels is critical if these students are to benefit from having access to and learning the general curriculum. While the strategies described in the chapter are just a few of the tools that have been used with success in improving behavior and academic performance of students with disabilities, the paucity of any empirical research on the flipped model of instruction and special education necessitates an immediate need for research on the topic.

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In summary, the flipped classroom model of instruction continues to attract interest from educators around the world. Preliminary research indicates that this is a promising method of instruction that has positively impacted educators’ job satisfaction and students’ academic performance. This chapter describes how the flipped model’s focus on individualizing learning for each student and maximizing class time is well matched with special education’s goal of providing student-focused instruction that is based on the individual student’s learning needs. Best practices in special education, such as Universal Design for Learning, differentiated instruction, active learning, and priming are discussed, along with the reasons that these practices and the flipped model of instruction could theoretically address the diverse needs of students with disabilities and positively impact their school experiences.

References Abeysekera, L., & Dawson, P. (2015). Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: Definition, rationale, and a call for research. Higher Education Research & Development, 34 (1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.934336. Akinoglu, O., & Tandogan, R. (2006). The effects of problem-based active learning in science education on students’ academic achievement, attitude and concept learning. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 3(1), 71–81. Bergman, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education. Bodie, G. D., Powers, W. G., & Fitch-Hauser, M. (2006). Chunking, priming, and active learning: Toward an innovative and blended approach to teaching communication related skills. Interactive Learning Environments, 14(2), 119–135. Bucalos, A. L., & Lingo, A. S. (2005). Filling the potholes in the road to inclusion: Successful research-based strategies for intermediate and middle school students with mild disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 1(4). Chaplin, S. (2009). Assessment of the impact of case studies on student learning gains in an introductory biology course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39, 72–79. Dinmore, S. (2013). Flexibility and function: Universal design for technology enhanced active classrooms. In H. Carter, M. Gosper, & J. Hedberg (Eds.), Electric dreams (pp. 231–235). Sydney, Australia: Macquarie University. Freeman, S., O’Connor, E., Parks, J. W., Cunningham, M., Hurley, D., Haak, D., … Wenderoth, M. P. (2007). Prescribed active learning increases performance in introductory biology. CBE Life Science Education, 6(2), 132–139. Good, M. E. (2006). Differentiated instruction: Principles and techniques for the elementary grades. San Rafael, CA: School of Business, Education, and Leadership at Dominican University of California. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/ content_storage. Hake, R. (1998). Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six thousand student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American Journal of Physics, 66(1), 64–74. Hardman, N., McKnight, K., & Arfstrom, K. M. (2013). The flipped learning model: A white paper based on the literature review titled a review of flipped learning. Retrieved from https:// flippedlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/WhitePaper_FlippedLearning.pdf.

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Hehir, T. (2009). Policy foundations of universal design for learning. In D. T. Gordon, J. W. Gravel, & L. A. Schifter (Eds.), A policy reader in universal design for learning (pp. 35– 45). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U. S. C. § 300 (2004). Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Knight, J. K., & Wood, W. B. (2005). Teaching more by lecturing less. Cell Biology Education, 4, 298–310. Koegel, L. K., Koegel, R. L., Frea, W., & Green-Hopkins, I. (2003). Priming as a method of coordinating educational services for students with autism. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 228–235. Lawrence-Brown, D. (2004). Differentiated instruction: Inclusive strategies for standards-based learning that benefit the whole class. American Secondary Education, 32(3), 34–62. Lo, C. K., & Hew, K. F. (2017). A critical review of flipped classroom challenges in K-12 education: Possible solutions and recommendations for future research. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-016-0044-2. Lo, C. K., Hew, K. F., & Chen, G. (2017). Toward a set of design principles for mathematics flipped classrooms: A synthesis of research in mathematics education. Educational Research Review, 22, 50–73. Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing. Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159–167. Negorski, L. (2015, March 8). The flipped classroom and UDL/UDI principles [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/mlvuuz0eyskr/the-flipped-classroom-and-udl-udiprinciples/. O’Dowd, D. K., & Aguilar-Roca, N. (2009). Garage demos: Using physical models to demonstrate dynamic aspects of microscopic biological processes. CBE Life Science Education, 8, 118– 122. Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 223–231. Sarathy, P. (2012, April). Access and attain: Active learning for students with severe and multiple disabilities. Paper presented at the Annual Conference for Council for Exceptional Children, Denver, CO. Tomlinson, C. A., Brighton, C., Hertber, H., Callahan, C., Moon, T., Brimijoin, K., … Reynolds, T. (2013). Differentiating instruction in response to student readiness, interest, and learning profile in academically diverse classrooms: A review of the literature. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 27(2/3), 119–145. Villanueva, J. (2016, April 19). Flipped classroom: An action research. Retrieved from https:// scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/40822/1/Flipped_Inclusion_Classroom_ Action_Research_Jeanette_Villanueva.pdf.

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The Flipped Computer Science Classroom: A Modern Approach to Programmed Instruction Jilian L. Reynolds and Desiree Tan

Pre-meeting I Short videos with content created for basic terminology, sample problems, etc.

Step-by-step videos are especially useful for demonstrating Computer Science procedures, e.g., app creation

Pre-meeting II Quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class

Students receive immediate feedback from successful or failed computer program execution

In-Class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration

Pseudo-gamification of learning: Writing and editing code iteratively to produce a working program

J. L. Reynolds (&) Old Dominion University, Norfolk, USA e-mail: [email protected] D. Tan National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_8

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Introduction One Solution: Programmed Instruction Writing over three decades ago in 1984, preeminent behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner believed that most of the problems in the American school system could be easily solved if students were able to learn twice as much content, yet with the same amount of time and energy (Skinner, 1984). To this end, he described the following benefits of what he labeled as programmed instruction (or programmed learning), which are also found today in what we now know as flipped instruction: (a) Clear goals and expectations (b) Student advances at his own pace (c) Instant or quick feedback Skinner had previously highlighted programmed instruction with the use of a teaching machine in 1958. This machine was similar to a computer, but it did not have the capacity to compute. Instead, the teacher filled the machines with slips of paper containing handwritten correct answers, and each student worked with a machine individually within the classroom. The students would be responsible for reading the question and then typing an answer into the teaching machine. Immediately after, the machine would present the student with the corresponding answer paper slip for the student to check if their answer was correct or incorrect— they would receive instant feedback. This was all completed while the teacher acted as a facilitator, and was a classroom environment that closely relates to the 1:1 technological device classrooms we see today. Regarding the machines specifically, Skinner cautioned that not all computers were teaching machines. If students use the devices to play Pac Man or complete word processing activities, they are not working with a teaching machine. However, Skinner drew a parallel between motivation regarding games and well-constructed instructional programs: With regard to games such as Pac Man, motivation is increased due to the desire to simply complete the game. Similarly, as students progress through—or, as Skinner emphasized, “gobble up the assignments” (1984, p. 952)—programmed instruction or flipped classroom learning modules, they are consumed with self-motivation to complete the task at hand. When students progress through well-constructed computer programs at their own pace, motivational problems are more apt to be combatted (Skinner, 1984). Contemporary pedagogical perspectives tend to recognize and cater to the importance of internal processes of the individual to produce more student-centered learning (Magliaro, Lockee, & Burton, 2005). However, given the parallels between the teaching machine proposed by Skinner’s programmed instruction and current-day flipped pedagogy, we feel that providing historical context in an examination of computer science teaching is relevant, elegant, and interesting for fellow practitioners and researchers.

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Programmed Instruction and Flipped Classrooms Programmed instruction closely relates to the flipped classroom method of instruction and is a teaching pedagogy based on the theory of behaviorism. According to Jaehnig and Miller (2007), programmed instruction “uses principles of shaping, prompting, discrimination training, stimulus fading, and feedback” (p. 219). Bostow, Kritch, and Tompkins (1995) drew links to behaviorism as well, stating that “[t]ruly programmed instruction is the sequential arrangement of learning units, otherwise called contingencies of reinforcement” (p. 229). These classroom settings offer students the opportunity to complete activities while obtaining instant feedback. Flipped classrooms also provide instant feedback for students, like programmed instruction. At the same time, the role of a teacher changes as computers may take over some sections of instruction such as lectures, replacing them with videos distributed either before the content, during the content presentation to serve as a guide, or after the content presentation for review purposes. Furthermore, the automation of a flipped classroom may free the instructor from the tedious aspects of teaching and as a result, more time is left for the instructor to serve more of a mentor role while assisting students based on individual needs (Bostow et al., 1995). In a programmed instruction study by Tudor and Bostow (1991), students worked side by side, but were always working at different points in the program to design programmed instruction frames for teachers and their students. This is similar to a flipped setting where students have the option to review lessons outside of the classroom, working at their own pace. Additionally, students in this study followed specific guidelines when creating the instruction. They created frames while addressing questions including: “Does the first frame contain at least two sentences? Does the first frame adhere to the format selected (deductive or inductive)? If no format was selected, check ‘no’ column. Does the first frame contain a blank? (programmed instruction type)” (Tudor & Bostow, 1991, p. 364). This compares to the flipped classroom’s highlighting of the importance of the details and structure of the course. It is important to approach a flipped classroom strategically and not simply distribute videos for students to view. Effective flipped classrooms mimic the concepts of programmed instruction. Ultimately, in future research, the question may be, “Can teachers design frames that actually change behavior? (In other words, can students use a washing machine correctly after completing a program?)” (Tudor & Bostow, 1991, p. 367).

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Literature Review Flipped Classrooms and Computer Science Instruction The Mobile Computer Science Principles (CSP) Course (http://www.mobile-csp. org) was developed and tested at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. It was strategically designed for high school students with the dual goals of increasing student exposure to computer science content and guiding teachers with little to no prior computer science experience in delivering a flipped model of instruction to their students. The Mobile CSP Course is funded by the United States National Science Foundation and prepares students for the high school level Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles exam, a pass in which can be converted to undergraduate credits. The Mobile CSP Course is organized into seven units with a total of 60 lessons. Twenty-eight of these lessons include the creation of highly user-friendly apps using the App Inventor programming language. All of the app creation lessons are accompanied by tutorial videos, and students are encouraged to work at their own pace and on their own schedule. Other lessons include concepts such as cryptography, searching algorithms, binary numbers, the Internet, parity error, and sorting. As has been previously mentioned in this book, a common approach to delivering instruction within a flipped setting is the use of instructional videos. Additionally, instructional videos have been more effective than reading materials in assisting K–12 students with lesson preparation (Lo, Lie, & Hew, 2018). Capitalizing on this effect, the Mobile CSP Course is almost entirely composed of videos which students watch both before and after instruction. Apart from allowing students to have the opportunity to become familiar with lesson components, the videos also serve as a guide to the lesson material for teachers new to computer science and programming while they prepare for the class. In 2015, a professional development course was organized to train ten educators in the use of the relatively new Mobile CSP Course (Morelli, Uche, Lake, & Baldwin, 2015). Close to 300 students were involved in the administration of the course, the majority of whom reported an overall increase in “confidence as problem solvers” (p. 372). The teachers also reported a student grade average of 88% for the mini projects and creative performance tasks. Apart from these promising results, a finding of note from the study was the poorer performance of students in situations where the material was not covered adequately in class even though the videos were still available to students. Therefore, it is evident that in a computer science classroom, flipped instruction may not rely on videos alone. Another paper in 2015 by Maher, Latulipe, Lipford, and Rorrer described their computer science flipped classroom experiences when teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. They noted that video instruction assisted with concept learning when preceding lessons, class lab activities allowed scaffolding to occur while preparing students for homework assignments, and quizzes provided students a pathway to discover misconceptions. However, the authors found that flipped

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classrooms require more preparation by the instructor when compared to regular classroom settings. As videos are viewed at home by students in preparation for the in-class lessons, students are able to better interact with their instructor by participating in meaningful discussions (Tsai, Shen, & Lu, 2015). In computer courses, the flipped setting is so meaningful in that it provides students who ordinarily would not have the opportunity to apply learned computing skills in their everyday lives with the chance to participate in problem-based learning tasks, improving their critical thinking skills (Tsai et al., 2015). In a 2014 literature review of extant flipped classroom studies at the university level, Giannakos, Krogstie, and Chrisochoides identified six key benefits regarding the use of the flipped classroom approach for computer science instruction: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

increases learning performance, increases positive attitudes, increases engagement, more classroom discussions are able to occur, cooperative learning is emphasized, and better learning habits form.

Furthermore, flipped learning provides students with self-paced opportunities for differentiated instruction, which may fit their specific learning needs and preferences and thus provide them with a more flexible learning environment. Through flipped classrooms, students can also learn to be more accountable for their tasks and take a more active role in their learning (Giannakos et al., 2014).

Conceptual Frameworks and Instructional Design Computer science instruction in the flipped environment, especially with regard to the Mobile CSP Course, appears to have strong ties with Constructivism in the following aspects (Table 8.1). In reference to Constructivism, Jonassen (2000) states, “Perhaps the strongest predictor of problem-solving ability is the solver’s familiarity with the problem type” (p. 69). What better way to familiarize oneself with the task than to view

Table 8.1 Mobile CSP constructivist elements Pair programming design—Students work in pairs while rotating the “driver/navigator role.” The driver is the person typing while the navigator is instructing the typist as to how the computer program should be executed App creation Students keep a digital portfolio and reflect on every project they design

Cooperative learning

Problem-based learning Reflection

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videos before the task is even distributed? This activity lies at the center of a flipped classroom. In addition, Jonassen stresses that problem-solving requires not only knowing what to solve but also how to monitor the process. This practice assists with increasing the metacognitive skills of students and teaches students how to strategize to solve problems. These skills can be learned (Jonassen, 2000). As flipped classrooms allow for self-discoveries, exploration of content, peer collaboration, and reiteration of topics, students practice how to structure and organize their learning through this pedagogy. Most importantly, “[a]mong the most fundamental beliefs of instructional design is that different learning outcomes require different instructional conditions” (Jonassen, 2000, p. 82). Flipped classrooms offer students an array of instructional conditions, providing students the chance to achieve various learning outcomes. From a situated cognition perspective, flipped classroom environments closely relate to characteristics of cognitive apprenticeship in several ways. By embarking on a task after becoming familiar with the content, students are assisted through scaffolding and knowledge legitimization. Further, different solutions to problems are welcomed and encouraged in the flipped classroom. By allowing students to create their own procedures for solutions, they can obtain access to becoming “creative members of the culture of problem-solving” (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). This results in the creation of an effective classroom culture and a progressive working environment.

Best Practices Four specific instructional design challenges are evident with regard to the computer science flipped classroom: “How to structure the student’s preparatory work; how to deliver the instructional content out-of-class; how to design active learning activities to use in-class to scaffold learning, identify misconceptions, and allow students to practice critical skills; and finally, how to structure student interaction to best leverage social learning and peer instruction” (Maher et al., 2015, p. 218). All of these challenges must be addressed with course flexibility, depending in large part on the needs of the learners and the available resources, among others. One major decision involves video length. A significant number of flipped courses utilize videos created by the instructor, especially in computer science. Maher et al. (2015) recommend that videos should be between 15 and 30 min, to retain student interest for the entire sitting.

Immediate Feedback More specifically, flipped classrooms may include tasks that provide immediate feedback to learners. For instance, in an activity that this chapter’s first author utilizes in a high school Advanced Placement CSP course, students learn Python

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Fig. 8.1 Computer Science Principles eBook

through eBook lessons by typing a certain code, fulfilling a certain task, and then clicking the “save & run” button to see if the correct response was achieved. An example of this process can be seen in Fig. 8.1. Some researchers have explored the concept of delayed feedback as well. It is thought that through delayed feedback, superior performance is obtained due to the learner concentrating on the question during the delay (Jaehnig & Miller, 2007). In that sense, flipped environments would be highly effective in that they allow for self-discovery and a bit of constructivism. Due to students having the opportunity to view instructional videos and create their own assumptions, they are not receiving immediate feedback at the beginning of each module. This is also beneficial for learning. “Elaboration feedback and post feedback delays with the question and feedback in view appear to be the most effective forms and are worth exploring further” (Jaehnig & Miller, 2007, p. 228).

ADDIE The designing of flipped classrooms should include the ADDIE structure: Analyze: Clearly determine instructional goals Design: Verify appropriate testing methods Develop: Validate learning resources Implement: Prepare the learning environment and engaging instruction Evaluate: Assess the instruction before and after implementation (Branch, 2009)

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Furthermore, in comparison to the components of ADDIE approach listed above, post-lesson revision of the lesson plan is the essential key to the programmed instruction environment because it is representative of the iterative process. This is important because participants should be an essential part of the designing of instruction through feedback.

Merrill’s First Principles According to Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002), the following components increase student learning: • tasks which progress from simple to complex and are relevant, consisting of real-world problems; • students being prompted to recall prior knowledge; content being demonstrated in a meaningful way; • students performing real-world tasks and receiving feedback; and • students being encouraged to integrate what they have learned by reflecting, discussing, or presenting knowledge. While educators and curriculum designers often structure their lessons and courses with many of these principles in mind, these principles deserve to be reviewed often to prevent lapses.

Supporting Data and Discussion Despite the Mobile CSP Course having been designed for high school students aiming to pass the Advanced Placement CSP exam—the equivalent of introductory undergraduate modules—the first author of this chapter has successfully taught the course to Grade 8 students (14–15 year olds). This indicates the promise of flipped classrooms being scaled for lower levels than the intended audience, and has implications for the future of flipping across multiple content domains and learner levels which will be further discussed in a later section.

Course Structure The Grade 8 class comprised 16 students from West Pine Middle School in West End, North Carolina. In the year-long course, all seven units of the Mobile CSP Course were covered as designed: 1. Getting Started: Preview and Setup 2. Introduction to Mobile Apps and Pair Programming 3. Creating Graphics and Images Bit by Bit

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4. 5. 6. 7.

Animation, Simulation, and Modeling Algorithms and Procedural Abstraction Communication Through The Internet Using and Analyzing Data and Information (https://course.mobilecsp.org/ mobilecsp/course)

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The students experienced varying levels of interest and difficulty in the units that had been designed for more mature students. One unit that was particularly engaging for them was Unit 2, where they watched a step-by-step video on how to create their very first app using a visual image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a sound file of a segment of Dr. King’s iconic “I have a dream” speech. Students were able to rapidly make connections between the programming aspect and what that truly looked like from a user interface perspective, through the use of such inspirational material that remains relevant to the current day. The teacher felt that this unit was crucial in the curriculum as it set the stage for the rest of the course—the students were instantly hooked and wanted to learn more, even on their own time, which is key for the success of a flipped environment. Another unit that was highly motivating for the students was Unit 3, which featured a card game simulation activity relating to error detection. The aim was to figure out a card trick that can only be detected when a bit is flipped, which was portrayed as a poker card being face down instead of face up. While the original Mobile CSP Course intends for the simulation activity to be completed in groups of four, this chapter’s first author chose to take a whole-class approach to the activity instead. As a result, the teacher could ensure that all students were engaged in the class and adequately supported. On the other hand, Unit 5 was found to be particularly challenging for the students because it contained a section on sorting algorithms, namely bubble sort, merge sort, bucket sort, and radix sort. As sorting algorithms are advanced concepts even at the high school level, it was natural that the students encountered difficulties with the content. However, the use of videos involving poker cards and children dancing and running to upbeat music helped engage students to a greater degree than would otherwise be expected. Thus, the Grade 8 course shows how interesting material (be it the actual learning content or the activities engaged in) is critical for student engagement, and how activities can be adapted as necessary to fit the learners. Despite the differing levels of challenge and student involvement across the seven units, the class reported that they enjoyed this method of classroom learning due to the numerous videos throughout the course that were extremely welcoming and clear, which they willingly viewed outside of regular class time. Motivation through engaging material, it seemed, was the secret to success in this first author’s Grade 8 course. Apart from the coursework units, the Advanced Placement course features another compulsory component: two performance tasks to be created for a digital portfolio. The tasks consist of the Explore Task, in which students research and write about an innovative technology, and the Create Task, where students design their own app using the App Inventor programming language. However, in the

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course that this first author taught to the Grade 8 class, the performance tasks were not completely included in the curriculum, with some subcomponents being undertaken as group work or by the entire class working collaboratively, or even omitted entirely. For instance, while the Grade 8 students did execute the app creation component of the Create Task, they were not required to produce a write up of their created app, unlike in the Advanced Placement course. Through the slight paring down of the high-school level course, the middle school learners were able to succeed and enjoy their first experiences of computer science. Finally, the Grade 8 students neither take the actual Advanced Placement exam nor any practice exams, each of which consists of 74 multiple choice questions. Some studies have found that multiple choice questions tend to produce surface learning (see Scouller, 1998) as they are often assessment of learning, i.e., summative assessment that provides little to no feedback for the students. In comparison, while the Grade 8 students were still assigned grades for each completed assignment (usually the created apps), the more important and useful feedback they received was the success (or lack thereof) of their apps while they were programming. Similar to the way Skinner’s teaching machine provided its student with instant knowledge to confirm or negate their conclusions, the correct procedure in app programming would result in apps that ran, allowing the student to move on to the next step, while apps programmed incorrectly would not run, requiring the student to analyse and problem solve iteratively until they were successful. Instead of assessment of learning, these activities served as assessment for learning through which students improved their understanding and skills.

Instructional Design The Mobile CSP Course, both as written and as adapted for the Grade 8 learners, had various features of instructional design that improved students’ uptake of the material. Apart from the copious use of videos in the units, the immediate feedback received by students while app programming was perceived by the teacher as being one of the main student motivators as well as key reasons for the course’s success. Instead of the grades awarded by the teacher for their final products, the true feedback which the students craved was what they could accomplish while programming—either their program would work and they would receive a sharp spike of pleasure, or their program would not work and they would relentlessly try to manipulate the lines of code to achieve a working program. To the teacher watching while her students wrote and edited code, it seemed as if she were watching a group of teenagers trying to beat the levels of a video game while learning at the same time. Students were simultaneously highly engaged, challenged, and learning— what more could an educator desire? Another consideration was the ADDIE structure (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) that the Mobile CSP Course had been designed around. Each unit and subunit generally follows the structure, and revision of the course in response to participant feedback is a built-in component. Similarly, the course

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intrinsically incorporated Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. Every task within the original course began with a problem that needed to be solved, most of which involved the creation of an Android app. As a result, no changes to the instructional design of the Mobile CSP Course were required on the part of this chapter’s first author to further improve the learning experience of her students in this regard. A third consideration that is not often within the control of educators is class size. This teacher felt that the Grade 8 class size of 16 students was highly beneficial, in contrast with the high school class size of 30 that the Mobile CSP Course is usually taught to. With fewer students to monitor and assist, this first author could provide more attention to each student as necessary—some students required individualized attention which would have been much less attainable in a larger class. While this consideration was extraordinarily important due to the younger level of the class, even at the intended age range of the course, a higher frequency and quantity of attention for certain students would be extremely beneficial.

Effectiveness The main measures of success and effective learning in the flipped classroom are usually observed in student opinion and behavior as well as teacher feedback. While no formal questionnaire surveys were conducted during the period of the Grade 8 course, informal qualitative data collection revealed that students felt that watching videos at home before and after the in-class lessons helped them understand the material and made creating apps easy. They also reported feeling very confident after viewing videos at home before each lesson because they were able to both answer questions in class as well as ask more relevant questions. Simultaneously, this teacher felt that the Mobile CSP Course videos were imperative for her successful execution of the Grade 8 course. As a new Computer Science teacher at the beginning of the year, the accessibility and clarity of the curriculum’s videos provided essential guidance and support. Finally, although no documented statistics are available for comparison in the relevant school district, this chapter’s first author was able to ascertain that 90% of her Grade 8 class went on to take the Advanced Placement CSP course in high school. Unfortunately, no data is available on their achievement in the Advanced Placement exam. In general, the adapted course showed the relevance and utility of the Mobile CSP Course curriculum for younger learners than the course had been intended for. Features of note are the interesting and personally relevant content, engaging activities, immediate feedback, the ADDIE structure and Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction, the promotion of student confidence in their personal responses (especially intellectual) to the material, the support of teacher comprehension and course execution. Teacher actions that had positive impact on the students included adaptation of the curriculum to suit learner levels and a focus on assessment for learning instead of assessment of learning. Besides these pedagogical considerations, the smaller class size likely allowed for better outcomes than could have otherwise been hoped for.

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Implications and Conclusions Computer science instruction requires strong problem-solving skills in learners, given the iterative nature of programming. The flipped classroom instructor must consider how to best structure the course to take full advantage of the strengths of this pedagogy, while remaining cognizant of specific learners’ needs. Younger learners, in particular, might benefit more from personally relevant content, greater scaffolding, and explicit teaching of new and/or higher level critical thinking. While direct instruction is currently regarded as being controversial (Magliaro et al., 2005), Computer Science teachers may benefit greatly from considering Skinner’s (1984) beliefs about the true representation of a teaching machine. Two specific elements of instructional design are addressed by the flipped classroom model: 1. Applications of cognitive models of the knowledge structure of various subject matters. 2. Of learning and problem solving to construction of tests that identify process underlying test answers, analyze errors, and provide information about what students know and don’t know, and strategies for integrating testing information with instructional decisions (Skinner, 1984, p. 949). While it may be time consuming to research, analyze, and map links between cognitive models and the specific subject matter at hand, both teaching and learning will become more comprehensible and cohesive. At the same time, the use of appropriate and relevant assessment and feedback will enable teachers to better support their students, and students to more deeply understand the material. Bearing in mind Morelli et al.’s (2015) finding that instructional videos alone were insufficient for student learning, educators cannot become complacent and rely solely on the use of technological substitutes. Instead, all material should be adequately discussed and analyzed in class, and students should always be evaluated before moving on to the next topic. This, however, does not mean that students should focus on preparing for the quiz or exam. Assessment can occur in ways other than tests—for instance, students can create applications or visual images to display their learning, as is found in the Mobile CSP Course. More generally, policymakers and institution leaders should try to pave the way for students to more easily learn in flipped classrooms by fostering interest and initiative in teachers for experimenting with various pedagogical techniques and theoretical considerations, with organizational support and patience. Decision makers can also create more engaging curricula and frameworks within which they exist, minimize class sizes, and provide the necessary resources for more advanced teaching and learning.

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In this chapter, we have examined the use of a Computer Science curriculum for American learners of a younger age than intended. As the course incorporated various best practices of instructional design, it was relatively easy for this chapter’s first author to adapt it to suit younger learners. We strongly encourage all educators, especially those in other countries and from different cultures, to adapt the lessons from this test case to their individual contexts.

References Bostow, D. E., Kritch, K. M., & Tompkins, B. F. (1995). Computers and pedagogy: Replacing telling with interactive computer-programmed instruction. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 27(2), 297–300. Branch, R. M. (2009). Instructional design: The ADDIE approach (Vol. 722). Springer Science & Business Media. Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational researcher, 18(1), 32–42. CS Principles: Big Ideas in Programming. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://interactivepython.org/ runestone/static/StudentCSP/index.html. Giannakos, M. N., Krogstie, J., & Chrisochoides, N. (2014, November). Reviewing the flipped classroom research: Reflections for computer science education. In Proceedings of the Computer Science Education Research Conference (pp. 23–29). Berlin, Germany: Association for Computing Machinery. Jaehnig, W., & Miller, M. L. (2007). Feedback types in programmed instruction: A systematic review. The psychological record, 57(2), 219–232. Jonassen, D. H. (2000). Toward a design theory of problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(4), 63–85. Lo, C. K., Lie, C. W., & Hew, K. F. (2018). Applying “first principles of instruction” as a design theory of the flipped classroom: Findings from a collective study of four secondary school subjects. Computers & Education, 118, 150–165. Magliaro, S. G., Lockee, B. B., & Burton, J. K. (2005). Direct instruction revisited: A key model for instructional technology. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 41– 55. Maher, M. L., Latulipe, C., Lipford, H., & Rorrer, A. (2015, February). Flipped classroom strategies for CS education. In Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 218–223). Kansas City, MI: Association for Computing Machinery. Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43–59. Morelli, R., Uche, C., Lake, P., & Baldwin, L. (2015, February). Analyzing year one of a CS principles PD project. In SIGCSE 2015—Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 368–373). Kansas City, MI: Association for Computing Machinery. Scouller, K. (1998). The influence of assessment method on students’ learning approaches: Multiple choice question examination versus assignment essay. Higher Education, 35, 453– 472. Skinner, B. F. (1958). Teaching machines. Science, 128(3330), 969–977. Skinner, B. F. (1984). The shame of American education. American Psychologist, 39(9), 947–954.

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Tsai, C. W., Shen, P. D., & Lu, Y. J. (2015). The effects of problem-based learning with flipped classroom on elementary students’ computing skills: A case study of the production of ebooks. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education (IJICTE), 11 (2), 32–40. Tudor, R. M., & Bostow, D. E. (1991). Computer-programmed instruction: The relation of required interaction to practical application. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24(2), 361– 368.

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Pre-meeting I Materials provided for students to review.

Start of Class Quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class.

Students receive material before class to read and should come to class prepared.

Students take these assessments quite seriously and the quizzes are a direct reflection of the teacher focus on objectives for the lesson. This is quite important in the system.

In-Class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration.

X. Yang (&) The Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China e-mail: [email protected] J. Wang The Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_9

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Introduction and Background The Flipped Classroom in Mainland China The China Ministry of Education issued the 10-Year Development Plan for Informatization in Education (2011–2020) in 2013 (Planning and Editing Expert Group, 2012). The policy clearly pointed out that ICT should be integrated into education and teaching, and that ICT should have a revolutionary impact on the development of education. It also emphasized that the development of education informationization should focus on the innovation of learning styles and education modes. This policy has greatly promoted the practice of the flipped classroom teaching model in schools and universities in Mainland China. In this information era, if the instruction relies solely on factual knowledge transmission, it is immediately unable to meet the learning needs of students. More and more students use smart devices such as mobile phones, computers, and tablets to acquire knowledge, search for information, and share and communicate with their peers before classroom lessons. They also like to learn through online learning platforms (Salman, 2014). These web-based learning platforms have micro-class videos, test exercises, lesson plans, and classroom supportive interaction tools that also perfectly match the school’s teaching content. Meanwhile, the teaching beliefs of many schools in Mainland China are beginning to change. More and more schools are trying to integrate ICT into teaching practice (Zhang, He & Li, 2013), producing numerous online courses that have been developed by schools and prominent educators in Mainland China. A large number of web-based learning resources have been gathered to provide broader teaching platforms and a variety of teaching resources for implementation of the flipped classroom (Fang, 2018). For example, schools have put forward a suitable flipped classroom teaching model based on their own flipped classroom teaching experiment in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Chongqing in 2011. Those schools’ experiments provided valuable experiences for the extension of the flipped classroom teaching model in Mainland China. As the flipped classroom model is now widely used in educational practice, educational researchers have also started to pay attention to this research topic in Mainland China. Initially, some scholars (Guo, 2014; He, 2014; Wang, 2016; Zhong, Song, & Jiao, 2013; Zeng, 2012) discussed the connotations, characteristics, and theories of flipped classroom model. Subsequently, more and more researchers focused on the design and implementation of the flipped classroom teaching model, which involves a wide range of subjects in schools and universities (Liu, 2015; Shen, Liu, & Xie, 2013; Wang, Zhao, & Sun, 2013; Wu & Zhao, 2014; Zhang, Wang, & Zhang, 2012;Zhang & Ma, 2015; Zhang & Li, 2012). This research mainly focused on three issues.

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1. How could the teacher–student interaction in the classroom be enhanced by flipping the classroom instructional design in order to improve the efficiency of classroom teaching? 2. How could students’ initiative and enthusiasm be stimulated by flipped classroom teaching? 3. How could students’ abilities such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and innovation be stimulated by the flipped classroom teaching mode? Although the flipped classroom teaching model has its own pros and cons (Fulton, 2012), as the flipped classroom teaching model has become popular in Mainland China, a discussion of how to make use of the advantages of the flipped classroom teaching model (Milman, 2012), how to implement the flipped classroom teaching model, and how to evaluate flipped classroom teaching in Mainland China appears more relevant at this time.

The Flipped Classroom Teaching Design of K–12 Schools in Mainland China An effective teaching design is very important to the effective classroom. Although the implementation of the flipped classroom teaching model has achieved remarkable success, there are still many problems and much confusion we need to deal with in the K–12 schools of Mainland China (He, 2014). For example, how teachers should design the teaching procedure of the flipped classroom in order to meet the teaching goals, how instruction should focus on the student’s active learning in the flipped classroom model, and how teachers can be effective and successful in the flipped classroom model, among others. To this end, scholars have tried to construct a flipped classroom teaching model which is suitable for different subjects or teaching contexts. For example, the game-based learning concept was incorporated into flipped classroom design (Zhang et al., 2012). Zhong, Sun, and Jiao (2013) combined the flipped classroom concept, the Taiji idea1 in traditional Chinese culture, and Bloom’s classification theory of teaching objectives to construct a Taiji circular flipped classroom model. This model divided the flipped classroom into four stages: 1. preparation before class; 2. memory and understanding; 3. application analysis; and 4. comprehensive evaluation. In parallel, Zeng (2012) put forward three key steps of flipped classroom design: 1. Learning before watching the videos for discussing and asking questions; 2. Learning while watching the videos for finding the answers according to the questions; and 3. Learning after the videos for problem-solving and exploration. Besides, this model aimed to promote the interaction between teachers and students and guide students to apply what they learned to the practice context in order to promote the internalization of factual knowledge. 1

Taiji (Tai Chi) represents the fusion or mother of yin and yang into a single ultimate.

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Simultaneously, Shen et al. (2013) explored a more specific flipped classroom model based on electronic schoolbags,2 cyber-learning spaces, and other technologies. This model used electronic schoolbags as the core technical support for helping students watch teaching videos and establishing the relationship between students, tools, and teaching resources. Besides, Chongqing Jukui Middle School explored the flipped classroom teaching model earlier than other schools. It is called the “three reverse-four rings-five steps-six excellence” model. This model has become widely used in the schools of Mainland China (Zhang & Li, 2012). In addition, scholars also focused on putting forward opinions and suggestions to improve the flipped classroom design. First, the content of teaching videos should be brief and attractive. Teachers should record or select short and focused videos according to the teaching content (Fang, 2018; Zhao, 2015). Second, the teaching video offered to students before the classroom should not only be sequential, but also give students sufficient time to watch and learn. In the instructional videos, the teacher should provide enough guidance to learners. The appropriate length of pauses, the degree of repetition and questioning, the questions that guide learners to think, and the avoidance of unnecessary, distracting information are all important issues that teachers need to consider (Fang, 2018; Zhao, 2015). Third, we should design the flipped classroom based on the learning theories from developmental and cognitive psychology. For example, the flipped classroom teaching design based on the mastery learning theory provides more opportunities for students’ active learning and thinking. The goal-oriented learning theory can also be used to flip classroom teaching design, making the students’ learning more purposeful and directional (Wang et al., 2013; Wu & Zhao, 2014; Zhang & Ma, 2015). Meanwhile, Zhong (2016) has also pointed out that the implementation of the flipped classroom model in Mainland China is different from the United States as more attention is paid to the textbook than to student learning in the Chinese flipped classroom. It is undeniable that there have been some obstacles in the practice of flipped classrooms in Mainland China, such as the classroom atmosphere not being active, relatively lower student enthusiasm for speaking, lower efficiency of group cooperation, students not sufficiently reviewing the provided material before class, and so on (Guo, 2014; Zhong, 2016). Therefore, the flipped classroom without the effective teaching design is only the time reversal and it is only armed by the technology. However, teaching beliefs, teaching strategies, teaching procedures, and teaching evaluations are highly different between the flipped classroom teaching model and the traditional classroom teaching model. Although many teachers have begun to practice the flipped classroom teaching model, they still experience much trouble in Mainland China. Therefore, much work needs to be done on how to design flipped classroom teaching effectively for the Chinese context.

2

Electronic schoolbag is a kind of personal portable learning terminal widely used in K–12 schools in China. It has the functions of reading e-textbooks, managing learning resources, and recording individual learning process, etc.

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In this chapter, the following questions were examined: 1. How do teachers design flipped classroom instruction for a high school? 2. What factors affect teachers’ design of flipped classroom teaching?

Method Selection of School and Participants San Sha Yuan Race to Top School is located in Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province, in western Mainland China. It is a private boarding school. Small-size teaching is their recruitment propaganda. The school was built in 2015 with a total investment of 400 million RMB. The school began to enroll students on July 1, 2016. At present, the school has 67 classes, more than 2100 students, and 256 teaching staff. The school has modern network classrooms, campus network centers, and electronic reading rooms. The experimental building is equipped with specialized experimental equipment for physics, chemistry, and biology. Each classroom in the teaching building has electronic whiteboard facilities and other audiovisual equipment. The philosophy of schooling emphasizes that education should return to the origin of teaching and focus on students’ lifelong development. We have been working with this school to practice the flipped classroom teaching for 2 years. The five focal teachers did a great job in their classroom teaching reform. Four of them act as subject team leaders to guide the teaching reform of the entire subject group. They have accumulated a wealth of experience in flipping classroom teaching design (Table 9.1). Table 9.1 Summary of five focal teachers Names

Subject

Grade

Gender

Length of teaching

Education background

Position

Teacher A

Math

Tenth grade

Female

Ten years

Bachelor degree

Teacher B Teacher C

English

Tenth grade Eleventh grade

Female

Three years Eight years

Master degree Master degree

Subject team leader Teacher

Chemistry

Male

Teacher D

Physics

Tenth grade

Male

Six years

Master degree

Teacher E

Chinese

Eleventh grade

Female

Nine years

Master degree

Subject team leader Subject team leader Subject team leader

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Data Collection A survey was conducted for data collection in the September 2018–November 2018 period. The data for this study include teachers’ narrative stories, focus group discussions, visual documents, semi-structured interviews, and field classroom observations. The data were triangulated (Denzin, 1978) with textual, visual, and verbal documents. These strategies were chosen to improve understanding of the teachers’ instructional design process of flipped classroom and its relevant factors in the high schools of China. The total dataset included 10 narrative stories, 567 photos, 23 videos, 10 field visits, 10 audio recordings of focus group discussions, 10 semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002), 1 month of classroom observations, and 20,000 words in various teaching program documents. A total of ten narrative stories were collected from the focal teachers on the topics of “My flipped classroom teaching design journal” and “What’s holding me back.” Two rounds of focus group discussions occurred with the five teachers before and after the classroom. Within the group discussions, the teachers talked about their teaching plans, including teaching objectives, content, teaching methods, and teaching evaluation before the classroom. After the classroom lessons, the teachers talked about the differences between their instructional plans and their real teaching experiences. They were also asked to analyze the risk factors that had contributed to those differences, and asked to give some suggestions for improvement. All the flipped classroom lessons of the five teachers were recorded on video. Both the researcher and the participants took thematic photos to record their process of flipping the classroom. For example, we took photos to catalogue the course preparation process of the teaching and research group, students’ performance in class, and peer evaluation. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with each targeted teacher, in which they were asked to check the accuracy of their narrative stories, the focus group discussion records, their classroom records, and the photos taken. The main purpose was to further probe their stories and interpretations during private one-on-one interviews and triangulate each information source. The five teachers were also observed in the flipped classroom and in their weekly subject research group meetings. These observations were triangulated with the participants’ self-representations of their experiences. A total of 20,000 words in teaching plan documents were collected. In addition to the data collected from teachers, a random selection of ten students in the five focal teachers’ classes were asked for their opinions on the flipped classes they experienced, especially in comparison to the traditional classrooms they had grown up with. Each student interviewed before the classroom and after the classroom by the researcher. Also two round semi-structured interviews were conducted with each student.

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Data Analysis Both teacher and student’s conversations in this study were conducted in Mandarin. Audio recordings of the focus group discussions and the semi-structured interviews were transcribed with the assistance of an external transcribing agency in China. The transcriptions were then reviewed and edited by the researcher. In accordance with the work of Krippendorf (2010) and Gee (2011), the data were subjected to textual and discourse analyses with two rounds of coding. Therefore, in analyzing the data collected in this study, it was important to produce thick descriptions (Geertz, 2008) of the process of flipping the Chinese high school classroom. Gee’s (2011) big “D” discourse tool contends that a person conveys his or her identity through ways of acting; interacting; believing; valuing; dressing; and using various objects, tools, and technologies. In this study, the big “D” discourse tool was applied to analyze the collected data. The researcher conducted two rounds of coding to examine teachers’ language and behaviors and student’s learning experience. The resultant findings were generated based on the emergent themes, and suggestions were made for how teachers can best flip their classroom and improve teaching efficiency.

Findings and Discussion

1. The process of flipped classroom design (1) The selection of instructional objectives In the flipped classroom teaching mode, knowledge transfer is achieved through students’ active knowledge construction before the classroom lesson, while knowledge internalization is achieved through the interaction between teachers and students in the classroom. The flipped classroom provides students with more opportunities for autonomous learning and more mutual communication opportunities in the classroom between teachers and students. Hence, the instructional objectives for the flipped classroom are very different from that of the traditional classroom, and this selection is the first important decision to be made by teachers. I always pay a lot of attention to the determination of teaching objectives, because this is the basic necessary condition for an effective instructional design. In the flipped classroom, the teaching goals should have different levels. Now, concept memorization and understanding was originally learned by students on their own in the night classes through the use of guided learning plans and videos. But in the classroom we need to complete the knowledge application, analysis and creation goals which are harder to achieve. What’s more, each teaching objectives must be specified in the flipped classroom in a way that can be understood by students of different levels. —Teacher C-Chemistry-11-M-I

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We see that the participants became aware that they should pay more attention to students’ advanced cognitive skills, in the process of determining the teaching objectives of the flipped classroom. The ability to apply, analyze, and create knowledge was the focus of teaching goals in the flipped classroom model. Before the students learn new content, I take some time to tell them exactly what they should know about each part. The teaching goals offered to students are very specific and detailed. In addition, we also need to consider the relationship between each specific teaching goal and the corresponding knowledge. The more clearly and specifically you tell students, the more focused and purposeful their extracurricular studies will be. I think this is very conducive to improving the effect of extracurricular learning of students. —Teacher E-Chinese-11-F-I

The teachers all knew that students needed to be informed of the teaching goals clearly in the process of autonomous learning, especially in the flipped classroom model. Those goals needed to be refined and structured. The teacher should refine the overall teaching goals into small goals. It is necessary to have detailed descriptions of those goals. (2) The revision of teaching content In the traditional teaching mode in Mainland China, factual knowledge such as concepts, principles, and theorems is explained in the classroom. However, the comprehensive application of knowledge is placed after the class. The attainment of advanced cognitive ability depends entirely on the students themselves. It is difficult for teachers to help their students solve problems during this learning process. However, the classroom reversed by ICT—the flipped classroom—is drastically different. Teachers can help students to complete the process of knowledge internalization through sharing, discussion, cooperative learning, and so on. To obtain this result though, flipped classroom teaching requires reorganizing and being selective of the teaching content provided by the textbooks (Table 9.2). In the past, I usually prepared teaching materials and questions for examination purposes. That was usually enough for a classroom. But now, I need to first prepare the teaching materials and the quiz. Then I need to edit my materials and quiz according to the students’ performance in the pre-class tasks. In the next round of preparation, I focus on the common problems appearing in their online learning to again redesign my lesson. —Teacher A-Math-10-F-I

With the use of ICT, the information to be memorized has been moved out of the classroom in this teacher’s lesson design. As a result, the teacher has more time and energy in the classroom to focus on solving students’ learning difficulties in order to develop their application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creative skills. It is thus crucial for teachers need to find new ways to integrate and organize their lesson material, plan, and resources to improve teaching efficiency in the flipped classroom.

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Table 9.2 Sample flipped classroom instructional design plan by Teacher A Algebra: part 2 (45 min total) Teaching objectives

1. The student can calculate the algebraic value 2. The student knows that the algebraic value will change as the value of the letter changes

Knowledge points

Teaching focus: Students understand the corresponding ideas of algebraic value and letter value Teaching difficult points: Students can learn the relationship between changes in letter values and changes in algebraic values

Teaching analysis

Students can further study how to find the algebraic value and understand the changing laws of algebraic value based on the definition and meaning of algebraic expression

Online learning feedback

1. Students cannot write down formula correctly 2. Students cannot calculate the value of algebraic expressions

Teaching process and steps

1. Review online homework (2 min) Question 1: What is the concept of algebraic expression? Question 2: What students should pay attention to in algebra? Question 3: What is the meaning of algebraic representation? Question 4: Complete the first question in the tutorial plan Dealing with “problem 1 of autonomous learning” 2. Start lesson Teaching activity 1 (5 min) Group study: Can you figure it out? The study found that if the height of the father is A meter and the height of the mother is B meters, then the adult height of the son is (A + B) 2  1.08 m, and the height of the daughter is (0.923A + B)/2 m. The seventh grade male student Richard’s father height is 1.76 m, the mother’s height is 1.6 m. Can you predict the height of Richard’s adulthood? Can you predict your adult height from the height of your parents? Ask the team to show their calculations after the group cooperative learning. Teaching activity 2 (6 min) (1) Show slide one: ask the students to answer question 1 (2) Show slide two: ask the students to answer question 2 (3) Show slide three: show your group members how you calculate the value Teacher explains the process of algebraic calculation to the students Teaching activity 3: Practice in the classroom (10 min) Example 1 According to the given value of X, Can you calculate the value of-5X + 1? (1) x = 4; (2) x = −2 Example 2 The volume of the cylinder is equal to the bottom area multiplied by the height. If h is used to indicate the height of the cylinder, r is the radius of the bottom surface, and V is the area of the cylinder (1) Please write the volume formula of the cylinder with the letter h, r, V? (2) Calculate the volume of a cylinder with a radius of 50 cm and a height of 20 cm? Teaching activity 3: Group discussion (10 min) (1) Show slide four: ask the students to answer question 4 (2) Show slide five: ask the students to answer question 5

(continued)

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Table 9.2 (continued) Algebra: part 2 (45 min total) Let students find out: The algebraic value varies as the letter takes a different value Teaching activity 4: Consolidation exercise (5 min) The student completes the fourth question on page 85 of the textbook independently and shows your calculation process Teaching activity 5: Quiz (5 min) Complete the second and third questions in the workbook Teaching activity 6: Class summary (2 min) Ask students to summarize what have we learned in this lesson 1. You can calculate the value of the algebraic expression 2. Know that the value of an algebraic expression varies with the letters taking different values 3. There is a correspondence between the value of an algebraic expression and the value of a letter

(3) The selection of teaching method/techniques Students sit and listen quietly to receive teaching content same place at the same time. In this process some of them couldn’t catch up the teaching schedules, while some of them were bored. In this kind of classroom, lecture-based learning method was used most of the time. Inspired by the flipped classroom teaching model, I have deeply realized the simplicity of lecture-based teaching methods. When designing teaching activities, I now usually choose appropriate teaching methods according to the type of material to be taught. For example, I will set up exercises to guide students to explore and summarize conceptual knowledge, but will choose group cooperative learning for more complicated knowledge. —Teacher E-Chinese-11-F-I

In the flipped classroom, teachers need to adopt multiple teaching methods that are chosen according to the type of learning task. Students are also encouraged and allowed to choose different methods to acquire knowledge online, and make their own learning plans according to their personal learning abilities. Hence, it is not feasible to use only the unidirectional, teacher-centered, lecture-based method in the flipped classroom, if at all. I adopted the flipped classroom teaching mode in my first class here. I really agreed with the flipped classroom idea and I also devoted a lot of time and energy to take in. I also practiced different teaching methods in my own classroom. For now, I will choose teaching methods according to difficulties emerged in students’ self-learning process. For example, I will use lecture-based teaching method to solve difficulties which most students will encounter in their self-study stage. In this situation I find this method is very helpful. Also, I will use group cooperation learning in order to guide students to discuss the inquiry questions. Besides, the individualized counseling is used for individual students’ problems. —Teacher B-English-10-F-I

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The study found that teachers should choose the most suitable teaching methods for students’ learning according to different teaching contents, students’ self-study situations, and the type of problem encountered by students. It is very helpful to encourage students to participate in the flipped classroom activities. Furthermore, teachers can cultivate students’ learning interest and enhance students’ learning enthusiasm through the use of different teaching methods. Besides, teachers can help students develop personalized learning plans, choose curriculum resources, make appropriate pre-class learning programs, and achieve efficient communication with diversified teaching methods. (4) Classroom assessment The pen-and-paper test is the most widely used evaluation method in Mainland China. The focus on evaluating a student’s merits and demerits and differentiating students by scores is the dominant, mainstream concept of student evaluation. However, if students play a larger role in their own learning evaluations, it is difficult to enact the positive, diagnostic, guiding role of assessment. I think that evaluation is not only a mean of testing teaching and learning, but also an effective measure to regulate and motivate students in the flipped classroom. It is necessary to change the traditional idea of evaluation. I usually combine formative assessment with summative assessment, focusing on the pre-class and in-class evaluation. —Teacher C-Chemistry-11-M-I

In the flipped classroom model, teachers advocate a wider range of evaluation, more diversified evaluator, more comprehensive evaluation content, and more various evaluation methods. The evaluation of students’ learning needs to be comprehensive and to show off the students’ differences and diversity by process evaluation in the flipped classroom. Besides the comprehensive evaluation of students’ academic performance and classroom performance, I also pay attention to guiding students in evaluating their own learning activities. It is very conducive to cultivating students’ self-learning abilities, which is one of the important abilities for ensuring students’ deep learning in the flipped classroom. —Teacher D-Physics-10-M-I

Teachers need to optimize the evaluation system from the perspective of the student’s learning in the flipped classroom. Meanwhile, teachers also should try to help students play a more important role in teaching and learning evaluation. In this process, the student will learn to self-monitor their own learning process and reflection.

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2. Influencing factors of flipping classroom implementation (1) Changes in teachers’ teaching belief I am an experienced teacher and I resigned from a public school two years ago. Then I joined this school. At the beginning, I was very uncomfortable with the teaching philosophy of this school. I used to dominate the classroom and there was no time left for student discussion. In my teaching design, I think the most important thing is changing my teaching belief now. If your teaching philosophy concept changes, it will help you really understand the flipped classroom model and redesign your classroom. I still need to work hard on this part. —Teacher D-Physics-10-M-I

The prevailing teaching mode is the “teacher–book–classroom–student” model. It mainly relies on teachers’ oral explanation, and blackboard and chalk to transfer factual knowledge to students in Mainland China. In contrast, the flipped classroom model is “video–student–classroom–teacher” which affirms students’ autonomous learning abilities and enables students to use online teaching resources for personalized learning. It requires teachers to update their teaching beliefs and change their understanding of learning. In the course of transitioning to a flipped classroom, teachers realize that the bulk of teaching and learning activities is, in reality, carried out by students, and that they should give students the autonomy to learn and trust them to do so with the right instruction design. I just graduated from college a year ago and I agreed with the teaching philosophy of the flipped classroom. I also think that teachers’ teaching beliefs play an important role in the process of learning instructional design. Those beliefs help me design every step of the teaching. It also asks me to take care of every student as much as possible in the classroom and encourage them to participate actively in learning activities. So students can really take the lead role in learning. —Teacher B-English-10-F-I

In the flipped classroom model, teachers first need to change their teaching beliefs. Teachers should help students solve problems in the classroom, encourage students to participate actively in learning activities, and enhance their self-learning experiences and practices. Teachers also need to set up learning contexts to encourage students to question, discuss, and express themselves in the learning process. (2) Changes in student learning styles and methods Besides changes in teachers’ beliefs, students’ learning styles change from mechanical acceptance to active learning in the flipped classroom. This form of instruction encourages students to choose their learning methods critically and selectively in the learning process.

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In our school, all science courses and some liberal arts course are taught with the flipped classroom mode. I notice that students’ learning style has changed greatly from passive acceptance to active inquiry. Before the classroom lesson, the students have already learned the necessary factual knowledge through the tutorial plans and videos. In the classroom, teaching mainly focuses on solving problems which appeared in the students’ autonomous learning process. At the same time, the teacher guides students to conduct independent inquiry, group cooperation, mutual evaluation, and other activities in order to achieve the teaching objectives. —Teacher C-Chemistry-11-M-I

The changes of teacher’s teaching methods also require corresponding changes of student’s learning style. In this process, teachers help students master different learning methods in the flipped classroom, according to students’ learning attitude, motivation, interests, and other factors. Whether students can master a variety of learning methods and flexibly change learning methods according to their learning needs is one of the necessary factors for successful flipped classrooms. When I was in junior high school, I was used to waiting for the teacher to tell me something new in the classroom. I seldom previewed the teaching content on my own before the in-class lesson. But now I really want to know the learning objectives of the lesson before the class. It can help me to know what I should learn. —Student X in ZHJ’s classroom In the self-study stage, I will note the questions which are problematic for me. Teachers will help us solve these problems in the classroom. You can also ask teachers or classmates for help through the online software. Most of the factual knowledge can be learned via the tutorial plans and videos. In this process, my strongest feeling is that I am truly studying by myself. —Student Y in ZHJ’s classroom

Thus, students’ learning methods are more diversified in the flipped classroom model. Autonomous learning and group cooperative learning play more important roles in the process of students’ learning. Communication between teacher and students is more frequent and easier with the help of ICT. In the flipped classroom model, students can master their own learning rhythm and time, and can adjust or formulate their own learning methods. Moreover, the use of diverse learning methods can help students develop their critical thinking skills and innovative thinking. (3) Diversified classroom evaluation Compared with the prevailing teaching evaluation, the evaluation of flipped classroom needs to deal with more abundant classroom activities and reversed instructional process. So, diversified evaluation systems need to be constructed for the flipped classroom. At the beginning, I just reviewed the student’s classroom workbook and the after-school workbook. Soon I realized that it is not good enough for flipped classroom evaluation. So I began to give extra points to individuals or groups according to their performances in the

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classroom. Then I found that students’ interest in learning has gradually improved. In the flipped classroom, I need to evaluate students’ performance comprehensively. This also helped to improve students’ motivation and the classroom teaching atmosphere. We also need to guide students to self-evaluation in the flipped classroom. It let students to reflect their own shortcomings in the learning process. In this process, students can really develop their lifelong learning ability. —Teacher B-English-10-F-I

Teachers must consider three dimensions for the construction of multi-evaluation system for the flipped classroom. Firstly, teachers need to use diagnostic evaluation and formative evaluation in the flipped classroom. Instead of correcting students’ learning errors afterward, teachers can use real-time formative evaluations for helping students not make mistakes at the beginning. Secondly, teachers are no longer the only evaluators in the flipped classroom mode. To make a comprehensive assessment of students’ learning, the evaluative roles of teachers, students, groups, parents, and other participants should be harnessed. Thirdly, the flipped classroom teaching mode needs diversified evaluation methods such as students’ self-evaluation, teachers’ evaluation, group evaluation, students’ mutual evaluation, and students’ evaluation of teaching, etc. Evaluation data is collected from classroom observation, conversation records, online learning records, student’s paper works, and so on. It can not only truly and comprehensively evaluate the learning process of students, but also can review the learning situation at different learning stages. (4) Construction of new teacher–student relationship The essence of teacher–student relationship is the communication between teachers and students. Due to the reversal of knowledge transfer order and teaching process, the relationship between teachers and students has changed in the flipped classroom mode. It has transferred from the static relationship between to dynamic “symbiosis and mutual learning” relationship. In the flipping classroom, the communication between me and the students is more frequent and deeper. Students trust me more now and they are freer to communicate with me about the difficulties encountered in their studies. I also can immediately understand their emotions and situations in the classroom. It is undoubtedly very helpful for designing teaching activities effectively. —Teacher E-Chinese-11-F-I

Teacher–student relationship will affect the design of teachers’ learning resources and the planning of learning tasks. A good teacher–student relationship can help teachers understand the student’s learning style, learning progress, and confusions in the self-learning stage. In the flipped classroom, teachers can more accurately feel the individual differences based on the effective cooperation between teachers and students; and teachers can give students timely help in the classroom.

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Students can get a good emotional experience and they are more willing to cooperate with me in the flipped classroom. In this process, they treat me as a friend. We all enjoy this relationship. Meanwhile, I also regard them as friends. We are equal in the flipped classroom. —Teacher C-Chemistry-11-M-I

The flipped classroom provides more time and space for deeper interaction between teachers and students. It also provides the possibility for the construction of a new type of teacher–student relationship in Mainland China. Students have more opportunities to get help from their teacher in the whole learning process. Students can also cooperate and communicate actively with each other. It helps to create harmonious teacher–student relationship.

Implications 1. Proper understanding of flipped classroom teaching beliefs The essence of flipped classroom is returning to the logical starting point of teaching activities. Teaching is the condition, learning is the noumenon. The purpose of teaching is to benefit students’ learning, and learning activities are the real logical starting point of all education (Wang, 2016). The flipped classroom highlights the learner’s dominant position in the learning process. It mobilizes students’ sensory system and creates students’ cognitive conflict with multimedia information technology (Lage, Platt & Treglia, 2000). The flipped classroom is not just the reversal of teaching steps, but also a redesigning of the teaching process that is the innovation of traditional teaching beliefs (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). The aims of the flipped classroom are to improve students’ learning ability and individualized leaching. Only understanding and believing in flipping classroom teaching beliefs can help teachers’ better practice flipping classrooms (Fulton, 2014). 2. Reasonable design of flipped classroom teaching activities The flipped classroom teaching mode reverses the learning process of traditional classroom. The rational design of teaching activities is an important guarantee to realize the goal of learning and teaching. In the process of designing teaching activities of the flipped classroom, teachers need to develop teaching resources, select teaching methods based on literature and professional organizations (Herreid & Schiller, 2013). Through the task-driven, setting questions, peer interactive communication, and other methods, the classroom teaching activities are reversed. In the process of students’ autonomous learning phase, teachers guide students’ learning according to the teaching objectives on (Sams & Bergmann, 2013), evaluate students’ learning process timely, and give pertinent suggestions on line.

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In the classroom, teachers need to establish a reasonable monitoring mechanism, which can infiltrate project-based teaching, problem-based learning, discovery learning, and autonomous learning into the teaching process of the flipped classroom model. Teachers encourage all students to participate in the learning activities by means of random sampling, taking the lowest group achievement as the final group achievement, intergroup challenges, answering the teacher’s questions in sequence, and so on. After the class, teachers should pay attention to the evaluation of students’ comprehensive ability. Diversified evaluation subjects, evaluation contents, and evaluation methods should be used. Furthermore, only by improving the teaching design ability of teachers can we fully integrate multimedia technology and subject knowledge (Siegle, 2014). 3. Help students transform their learning The flipped classroom mode pays more attention to cultivating students’ self-learning ability through active learning strategies (Roehl, Reddy & Shannon, 2013). So students’ learning style needs to be changed from passive acceptance to active group participation in the flipped classroom (Garrow, Hotle, & Mumbower, 2013). This requires teachers to help students change their learning styles and guide students to actively participate in teaching activities in order to adapt to the reversal classroom teaching. In the stage of students’ autonomous learning, teachers carefully design and select high-quality teaching resources for students’ learning (Eisner & Freeman, 2013). Teachers also plan reasonable task list to help students gain the key knowledge of teaching. In this process, we can train students to master the autonomous learning method. In flipped classroom teaching, the design of learning activities depend on teaching objectives and students’ autonomous learning performance. At the same time, students’ personality, learning attitudes, and learning level should be considered in the division of cooperation group. Teachers can help students divide their learning task and guide students to support each other in the cooperative learning process in order to build cooperative learning community. In this process, we can train students to cooperate with others and master inquiry-based learning method. As the flipped classroom aims beyond mere knowledge memory, students’ independent learning experience is required. Teachers should not only help students acquire knowledge, but also teach students the learning methods for gaining the ability of lifelong learning. 4. Let students become the agent of evaluation in flipped classrooms In the flipped classroom, the purpose of teaching is to promote students’ development. Teaching evaluation should not only focus on teacher’s teaching, but also focus on student’s learning. Teachers evaluate students’ learning process through classroom observation in the flipped classroom model. Evaluation can diagnose and

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guide students to learn. Consequently, self-orientation, self-evaluation, selfregulation, and self-improvement are useful way to help students become the agents of evaluation in the flipped classroom. In addition, teachers also need to guide students to actively participate in peer assessment. Students can be inspired to deeply understand themselves from different aspects and learn from others. Teachers should give comments on students’ self-evaluation, peer-to-peer evaluation, and comprehensive evaluation of students’ overall performance. By continuous feedback on students’ learning process and performance, teachers will guide students to get self-evaluation skills (Walvoord & Anderson, 1998). Finally, we should use the qualitative and quantitative evaluation paradigm in the flipped classroom. Through this, we can not only pay attention to the development of students’ learning behavior and outcomes, but also increase students’ benefit from course (Mok, 2014). 5. Actively construct the new teacher–student relationship With the way of knowledge dissemination changing, the authority of teachers is no longer determined by the relationship between teachers and knowledge, but by the relationship between teachers and students in the information society. The absolute authority relationship between teachers and students has been facing enormous challenges. In the flipped classroom, the teacher’s role changes from the leader of teaching activities to participant equal to the students (McDaniel & Caverly, 2010). The relationship between teachers and students become more harmonious and trustful through communication, dialogue, and deep interaction in the flipped classroom. Firstly, teachers are helpers for students’ learning. Teachers should respect the students’ right to speak and change the traditional relationship in Mainland China. Secondly, on the basis of equal dialogue, teachers can design teaching activities more reasonably so as to support students’ learning. Teachers can actively use internet technology to strengthen communication with students in multiple dimensions and channels. Finally, the teacher should also participate in the classroom teaching activities as a learner and establish a new type of teacher–student relationship in the process of cooperative learning with students (Mazur, 2009; Wallace, Walker, Braseby, & Sweet, 2014; Westermann, 2014). Through an equal dialogue with students, teachers can also help students form good personalities.

Conclusion The implementation of flipped classroom in high school faces many challenges under the pressure of college entrance examination in mainland China. However, San Sha Yuan Race to Top School’s flipped classroom instruction design practice accumulated valuable experience in those 3 years. It provides lessons for the high school student-centered teaching reform in Mainland China.

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The findings show that the flipping classroom design process consists of four main steps. There are the selection of instructional objectives, re-organization of teaching content, the selection of teaching methods, and the orientation of classroom assessment. Furthermore, the risk factors affecting teachers’ flipped classroom design include the change in teaching beliefs, the change in student learning styles, diversified classroom evaluation, and the construction of a new teacher–student relationship. Also in this chapter, some strategies are suggested for teachers’ flipped classroom instructional design in Mainland China.

References Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. International Society for Technology in Education. Denzin, N. K. (1978). The research acts: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Eisner, E. W., & Freeman, S. (2013). Notes on composing and composition. Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue, 15(1/2), 1–9. Fang, Q. G. (2018). The technology of flipped classroom and micro course production. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. Fulton, K. (2012). Upside down and inside out: Flip your classroom to improve student learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(8), 12–17. Fulton, K. P. (2014). Time for learning: Top 10 reasons why flipping the classroom can change education. Corwin Press. Garrow, L., Hotle, S., & Mumbower, S. (2013). Flipped classroom. OR-MS Today, 40(4), 10. Gee, J. P. (2011). How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit. New York: Routledge. Geertz, C. (2008). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In The cultural geography reader (pp. 41–51). Routledge. Guo, P. F. (2014). Rational thinking on flipped classroom in foreign countries. China Information Technology Education, 15, 13–16. He, K. K. (2014). On the future development of “flipped classroom” in China from the perspective of the essence of “flipping classroom”. e-Education Research, 7, 5–16. Herreid, C. F., & Schiller, N. A. (2013). Case studies and the flipped classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), 62–66. Krippendorf, K. (2010). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (2000). Inverting the classroom: gateway to creating all inclusive learning environments. Journal of Economic Education, 31, 30–43. Liu, Y. L. (2015). Flipped classroom: How to realize effective flipping. China Higher Education, 19, 57–59. Mazur, E. (2009). Farewell, lecture? Science, 323(5910), 50–51. McDaneil, S., & Caverly, D. (2010). The community of inquiry model for an inverted developmental math classroom. Journal of Developmental Education, 34(2), 40–41. Milman, N. B. (2012). The flipped classroom strategy: What is it and how can it best be used? Distance Learning, 9(3), 85. Mok, H. (2014). Teaching tip: The flipped classroom. Journal of Information Systems Education, 25(1), 7. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Planning and Editing Expert Group. (2012). Interpretation of the ten years of China Education Informationization Development Plan (2011–2020). People’s Education Press.

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Roehl, A., Reddy, S. L., & Shannon, G. J. (2013). The flipped classroom: An opportunity to engage millennial students through active learning strategies. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 105(2), 44–49. Salman, K. (2014). Khan College of flipping class. Hangzhou: Zhejiang people’s Publisher. Sams, A., & Bergmann, J. (2013). Flip your students’ learning. Educational Leadership, 70(6), 16–20. Shen, S. S., Liu, Q., & Xie, T. X. (2013). A model of flipping classroom teaching based on electronic schoolbag. China Educational Technology, 12, 107–111. Siegle, D. (2014). Technology: Differentiating instruction by flipping the classroom. Gifted Child Today, 37(1), 51–55. Wallace, M. L., Walker, J. D., Braseby, A. M., & Sweet, M. S. (2014). Now what happens during class? Using team-based learning to optimize the role of expertise within the flipped classroom. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3–4), 253–273. Walvoord, B. E., & Anderson, V. J. (1998). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Wang, J. (2016). The essence of flipped classroom. Journal of Higher Education, 37(8), 53–59. Wang, H., Zhao, W., & Sun, L. H. (2013). The design of flipped classroom teaching model: Analysis based on typical cases at home and abroad. Modern Educational Technology, 8, 6–10. Westermann, E. B. (2014). A half-flipped classroom or an alternative approach?: Primary sources and blended learning. Educational Research Quarterly, 38(2), 43–57. Wu, Z. L., & Zhao, L. (2014). Study of instructional model of the flipped classroom supported by e-Learning space. China Educational Technology, 4, 121–126. Zeng, Z. (2012). The characteristics, practice and problems of inverting teaching. China Educational Technology, 7, 114–117. Zhang, X. M., He, W. T., & Li, Z. Y. (2013). Flipped classroom based on QQ group and PC. E-Education Research, 8, 68–72. Zhang, Y. G., & Li, J. C. (2012). “Three-four-five-six”: The practice of flipped classroom. Information Technology Education in Primary and Secondary Schools, 11, 86–87. Zhang, W., & Ma, X. F. (2015). Research on teaching design of flipped classroom based on micro course. Educational Information Technology, 3, 3–9. Zhang, J. L., Wang, Y., & Zhang, B. H. (2012). Introducing a new teaching model: Flipped classroom. Journal of Distance Education, 4, 46–51. Zhao, G. D. (2015). The practice of micro course: Flipped classroom and MOOCs. Beijing: Peking University Press. Zhong, Q. Q. (2016). The new environment of flipped classroom. China Educational Newspapers. 05–05(06). Zhong, X. L., Song, S. Q., & Jiao, L. Z. (2013). Instructional design based on the idea of the flipped classroom in ICT environment. Open Education Research, 19(1), 62–63.

Part II

Higher Education and Adult Learning

Flipped Learning at the University Level

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The common conception (possibly a misconception) of teaching at the university level in America (among other Western countries) is that of the quintessential “Sage on the Stage.” In essence, this preconceived view takes the form of the wise and learned professor standing in front of over two hundred students sitting in an auditorium, and lecturing to them about whatever topic is on the agenda for that particular day. The reality, of course, is much more nuanced and encompassing of the wide and varied instructional strategies that are found throughout educational settings at every level. Guzmán-Valenzuela (2013) points out that the obviously oversimplified and false dichotomy between “content-centered” learning and “student-centered” learning hides an array of alternative approaches that lie between those two ends of the continuum, and an analysis of the actual teaching styles of university professors shows that teachers are taking advantage of the full range of instructional approaches across that continuum. Some of this, clearly, is dependent upon the format in which the course is instructed (e.g., online, blended, face-to-face), but it is also a function of the learning spaces themselves. In “brick and mortar” settings, the physical layout of the classroom setting will play a very large role in the type of interactions that are possible among the participants in the learning events. For example, a large lecture hall such as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter would be necessary for a class with a large number of students enrolled. This very fact, however, would impact the ability of the teacher to incorporate student-centered learning within that physical space. In this particular case, the number of students enrolled, the size of the physical space, and the limitations presented by the stadium-style seating usually found in these kinds of spaces all work against the idea of having student-centered events occurring within that location.

P. M. O’Shea (&) Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_10

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None of these constraints and affordances preclude the use of a traditional flipped classroom approach to the educational event, though. After all, even in a large lecture hall the students could read and/or view materials before arriving. The constraints do, however, have a large impact on what can be done in terms of creating a student-centered environment once the students are present. This is just one of the options found in physical classroom settings. More flexible, smaller spaces with movable furniture and integrated technology capabilities (e.g., small classrooms, conference rooms, laboratories, and operating theaters) allow for a more fluid and dynamic approach to student-centered learning. As Guzmán-Valenzuela points out, though, instructors are grappling with these issues and attempting to fully leverage their physical spaces to provide meaningful learning experiences for their students. Of course, this does not mean that the students and teachers are “on the same page” in terms of the approaches fostered in their respective educational settings. Jõgi, Karu, and Krabi (2015) found that there are significant differences in opinion about the nature of the educational experience depending on whom you ask. In their study, undergraduate students perceived their own educational experiences to be hierarchical, with teachers “passing on” information, while teachers perceived those experiences to be more collaborative in nature. There are many possible reasons for such disconnects between participants. Perhaps the students were misreading the types of activities due to unfamiliarity or other issues. Or, perhaps the teachers were not as self-aware as they thought. One other possible reason is tied to the fact that many academics are hired based on their research abilities as opposed to their teaching skills. Becker and Denicolo (2013) ascribe this to the mistaken belief by many in higher education that good instructional practices extend from deep content knowledge. In essence, simply knowing the content is good enough to convey it to others. Clearly this is not the case, as any first-year teacher can attest. It is important that, when considering any new pedagogy, leaders of higher education consider how they can develop their faculty and staff as well. Research done by Korhonen and Törmä (2014) concluded that university teacher practices were very closely tied to the teacher’s identity and development. Through their work they found that those teachers who had a stable teacher identity were not only more comfortable, but also recognized their own developmental challenges. Those teachers who were not stable in their teacher identity struggled with the practice of teaching overall. An important point to be made here is that the stability of a teacher’s self-identity is not necessarily a function of their experience. Teachers who are new to the profession can have stable instructional identities, just as more senior teachers can have unstable teaching identities. Of course, there is not necessarily a “right” or “wrong” answer in these cases. Just because a person perceives something to be the case that does not mean that case is objectively true. However, regardless of the reasons behind the perceptual disconnect, the onus is on the teacher to make adjustments to ensure that their intentions are actually realized. Teachers are the people who are in control of the classroom dynamic, and they not only have the ability to set expectations that students should meet, but more significantly they have the responsibility to do so. This is particularly important due to

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the fact that these perceptions have real-world consequences concerning the success a student has and the value that students place on the educational experience. If Jõgi et al. (2015) results are any indication, many university teachers want to utilize collaborative approaches for learning. Regardless of whether students perceive this to be the case or not, the desire is inherent in the findings. Effective teachers at the university level do not want to be the sole source of knowledge, and more pointedly they recognize the inherent impossibility of being the only knowledge source in a classroom beset on all sides by different, alternative sources for information. That being the case, the flipped approach to learning holds great potential for actualizing this desire in a concrete way, and perhaps even impacting the perceptions of students within the setting. This chapter is dedicated to an exploration of the current use and potential of flipped learning at the university level. This will begin with a short exploration of the current practices that have been outlined in the literature, including an assessment of the results of research into those practices. Although this isn’t intended to be a full review of the literature, it can serve as a foundation upon with the practices at the university level can be understood. Following upon that, several examples will be examined in order to provide context for the potential for using these practices at the university level.

Background of Flipped Learning at the University Level The background of flipped learning has been covered previously in Chaps. 1 and 2, but it is worth repeating that this educational pedagogy initially took form in K-12 settings. In fact, a meta-analysis of flipped learning studies at the university level conducted by Bishop and Verleger (2013) found only 26 studies up to June 2012. The earliest of these studies was from 2000, but that is a bit misleading given the fact that 20 of the 26 reviewed studies were less than five years old at the time of the analysis. This would indicate that while the initial forays into flipped learning at the university level were undertaken in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the practice did not really begin to take off at the undergraduate level until late into the first decade of the twenty-first century. Academic studies into the effectiveness of flipped learning at the university level only started to become common in 2013 and 2014, and those articles tended to be concentrated in the medical and mathematical fields. The results of the research that has been conducted on the effectiveness of flipped learning at the university level have been mostly positive in terms of both academic performance and student perceptions. Similar findings demonstrating positive academic impact and student perceptions have been found in areas of study as diverse as Mathematics (Dove & Dove, 2015; Love, Hodge, Grandgenett, & Swift, 2013; Sahin, Cavlazoglu, & Zeytuncu, 2015), Computer Science (Enfield, 2013; and Tanner & Scott, 2015) and Library Sciences (Johnston & Karafotias, 2016; Rivera, 2015).

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More recently, the literature indicates that the concepts associated with flipped learning have begun to firmly take hold in the area of English language learning in Chinese institutions. The proceedings from both the 5th and the 6th Annual Northeast Asia International Symposia on Language, Literature and Translation (2016, 2017) include separate research initiatives by Guo (2016), Zhao, Hui Zhao, and Liu Wen (2016), Zhaoyang, Qi, and Haiyan (2016), Wang and Wang (2017); Guixin (2017); and Peng and Zhu (2017) that all focused on the relative merits of flipped learning models for teaching English language to Chinese students. While focusing on areas as distinct as how flipped learning environments impact student satisfaction, engagement, academic outcomes, the use of hybrid flipped/MOOC pedagogies, and gender expectations, the authors found in each case that the flipped classroom model provided opportunities and benefits for the English language learning needs of university students in China. All of this means that research on the effectiveness of flipped learning at the university level is still in its infancy, and that there is a great deal of opportunity in exploring this area. Work is still being done on the use of this approach at the university level; however, the most shocking gap in the literature may be the relative dearth of articles concerning its use in schools of education. When one considers that pedagogy also serves as a content area in schools of education, it is interesting to see the focus of this type of approach being used more in other content areas.

Examples of Flipped Learning at the University Level The following sections of this chapter will present a few concrete examples of how flipped learning is being used at the university level. It is important to understand that the intended audiences of the flipped interactions described below tend to be located in Western-style university settings, and may include non-traditional students. For example, the double-flipped professional development approach described in the next section is designed to be implemented with university faculty who would be adult learners, and addresses a wide variety of special instructional needs. Further, while the two instructional examples described below are used with undergraduate or graduate student populations, these settings also include students of different needs and may include non-traditional students (e.g., adult learners, those with special needs, etc.).

Flipped Learning for Professional Development Kehoe, Schofield, Branigan, and Wilmore (2018) describe a unique approach to using flipped learning in higher education. Confronted by the difficulties associated with busy faculty who “have limited time available to undertake professional development or achieve formal qualifications in learning and teaching” (p. 1), the

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authors developed a semester-long flipped learning program of professional development for faculty at their Australian university to undertake. The goal of what they called a “double-flipped” approach was to model effective instructional practices through the professional development series, with the hope that the participants would then begin to use the same techniques in their own instruction. This is particularly important given the tendency to hire faculty based on their content knowledge and research efforts rather than their teaching skills. The professional development was specifically focused on addressing what the authors called the “fourfold nexus of problems: • • • •

Unfamiliar higher-education language and concepts; Discomfort using unfamiliar technology to educate students; Lack of familiarity with research in higher-education pedagogies; and Resistance to change due to the high value placed on academic independence” (p. 1).

It is particularly interesting that Kehoe et al. designed their efforts with an understanding that the language of education needed to be central to their professional development offerings. The logic behind this is centered on the fact that if teaching skills are not central to the hiring process, the likelihood is high that personnel who are hired will not understand the terminology surrounding educational practices. As such, it is imperative for professional development to incorporate the vocabulary used in education so that all participants are working with the same understanding of the concepts. The training itself took place over the course of twelve weeks, and incorporated a three-week rolling structure that involved a week for pre-workshop tasks, a week during which the workshop itself was held, and a third week that included post-workshop tasks. The twelve-week training covered the following four topics: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Learning outcomes and curriculum; Assessment design; Blended learning and online tools; and Career advancement.

As can be seen, the topic of “flipped learning” was not covered explicitly during the training, but the model that was used throughout the semester was a flipped learning structure. This provided the opportunity for the participants of the training to learn the content of the professional development course while also being exposed to the pedagogical approach of flipped learning. One of the greatest benefits to teaching teachers is that the nature of the instruction itself is the content to be covered. In other words, the leader of the professional development was not limited to talking about flipped learning as a theoretical construct. Rather, the nature of the learning could serve as an object lesson for the desired outcomes of the training.

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While Kehoe et al. article only documents the results of this approach with one university professor, the results were striking. The teacher, who had been hired based on an extensive research record, had very little teaching experience before being placed into a very challenging classroom setting. The first year of student evaluations for her teaching were very low, and thus she took part in the double-flipped program. After her participation, she began to incorporate more effective instructional and assessment strategies, and her student evaluations improved dramatically. Obviously, it is not appropriate to draw generalized conclusions from a single case study, but the concept of using flipped learning for professional development at the university level is promising.

Student-Generated Videos One of the most forward-leaning methodologies through which flipped learning can be implemented is to have students create their own videos. Annie Prud’homme-Généreux provides one such example in a 2016 article entitled “Student-Produced Videos for the Flipped Classroom.” This article describes work that Prud’homme-Généreux has done in her university biology course to have the students produce their own videos rather than consume pre-packaged content developed by her or others. Although she indicates that the traditional approach to flipping the classroom is powerful, she also states that the materials that instructors make or use tend to be one-dimensional. According to her, “(a)lthough these videos are of good production quality and deliver content clearly, they suffer from the same problem that afflicts the majority of faculty-produced videos: They are recorded lectures. Such a format is not particularly engaging to watch” (p. 58). Anyone who has watched a “talking head” video would likely agree with Prud’homme-Généreux’s point. Her argument is that it is far better for students to create the videos because they naturally develop materials that follow a more narrative model, which she views as more effective for learning and appropriate for the educational setting. According to Prud’homme-Généreux, students haven’t been inculcated with the faculty mindset of communicating information in a lecture. Something happens in the course of our academic training that results in the loss of our instinct to use narrative to share information. Stories are what our students find relatable. Because students still have the ‘storytelling instinct,’ I propose that the best producers of videos for the flipped classroom are students, not faculty. (p. 58)

The assignment’s goal is very simply “to research a topic and present it clearly, accurately, and engagingly to peers” (p. 59), whether from a list of pre-approved topics or on a topic of their own choice. Students are allowed to work in partnership with other students or individually. In addition to having clear and easily understood goals, she makes certain to introduce the assignment to her students very early in the course semester. This allows the students ample time to become familiar with the task and to tackle the production. Understanding that there may be some

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reticence from her students, Prud’homme-Généreux is very careful to provide detailed instructions not only about the goals of the assignment but also on the process through which the assignment can be completed. She finds that a great deal of the stress that students experience about the assignment is tied to its technical aspects. As such, she provides exemplars for her current students from the videos submitted by previous students, the class dissects the videos to discuss what makes them effective in their ability to convey the messages meaningfully, and she explains how technologies as simple as PowerPoint can be used to create an effective video that fulfills the requirements of the assignment. Prud’homme-Généreux finds that walking the students not only through the nature of the project but also through the potential technologies that they can utilize to create their video can assuage the fears associated with moving out of their comfort zones; however, that is not enough to ensure success. The students must be supported throughout the process, and Prud’homme-Généreux has found that the most meaningful element of the process for ensuring successful completion is to require each group/individual to submit a detailed storyboard ahead of time. Graded as a Pass/Fail, this storyboard provides the opportunity to provide feedback on the content and structure of the presentation before any of the stress-inducing technical production aspects are undertaken. Prud’homme-Généreux identifies several benefits of this approach, such as students gaining content knowledge and production skills, a sense of ownership over the content, and the motivation to develop a product since the students know it will be shared with their peers. Additionally, but not incidentally, she gains a more diverse and extensive library of videos to share with future students.

Other Flipped-Content Production Perhaps the greatest benefit of using Prud’homme-Généreux’s work as an example is that it broadens the conception of how flipped learning can function. If we move away from the idea of students as consumers of content and toward a sense of them being active producers of materials, then it becomes possible to envision a wide variety of activities as part of a flipped learning experience. Another example of this type of alternative approach to the flipped classroom has been demonstrated through work done by O’Shea, Onderdonk, Allen, and Allen (2011). Their work describes a flipped learning experience where students authored their own textbook using wiki technologies. In this project, more than 200 students enrolled in an undergraduate educational foundations course were tasked with collectively writing their own course textbook. Based on their experience teaching the course and a review of other textbooks, the instructors of the course outlined 77 topics that a traditional undergraduate introductory textbook would include. As the course enrolled more than 200 students, the instructors designed the process in such a way as to have up to three students write submissions for a self-selected topic. Each submission was expected to be at least 1000 words long and include various required elements (e.g., multiple-choice questions and academic citations). Using

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this system, the student textbook was written during the first three weeks of the semester. The remainder of the semester was dedicated to a structured reading schedule that required readers to rate each student submission on a three-point scale (good, average, and poor). This rating system was used to identify the “best” of the three potential submissions, which was then included in the official version of the textbook for assessment purposes. This project has morphed over time to include more formative feedback between and among the student authors, but is still being used, and each semester a new version of the textbook is authored by the students in the class. Now, clearly this project does not fit the traditional mold of flipped learning as practiced through videos viewed outside of the classroom. However, it is just as clearly an effort to create a student-centered learning experience in a very concrete manner. Additionally, this methodology includes each of the key components of flipped learning as indicated by Moran and Milsam (2015), who stated: (a)lthough there is no one particular model to the flipped classroom, Pearson and the Flipped Learning Network (2014) described a few key characteristics of flipped learning. First, instructors must be selective in what they require the students to learn on their own and what is best processed within the classroom through active learning strategies. Another characteristic is a shift from a culture that is teacher centered to one that is student centered. In essence, the instructor is focused on best meeting the needs of each individual student. A final characteristic is the importance of a flexible environment that allows instructors to address various student learning styles. (p. 33)

Firstly, the instructors selected “what they require the students to learn on their own and what is best processed within the classroom” (p. 33) through the intense review and textbook outline development processes. Secondly, it is self-evident that this project is obviously “a shift from a culture that is teacher centered to one that is student centered” (p. 33). And thirdly, because this activity includes elements of student choice in both the content that they provide and the form that submission takes, along with a student-empowering rating system, it demonstrates a “flexible environment that allows instructors to address various student learning styles” (p. 33).

Implications There are several important implications that arise from this review of what types of flipped learning experiences are being undertaken at the university level. The first of these would be that it appears that university level use of this approach lags behind its use at the K-12 level. The relatively limited use of this methodology could have many causes (for example, a tendency to focus on content knowledge rather than pedagogical skills when hiring university faculty), but without greater research into why this is the case, it would be difficult to address the problem fully. The work that Kehoe et al. (2018) conducted illustrates not only the importance of why the model should be used to the benefit of university students, but also a means to move

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forward toward making sure that university instructional faculty are prepared to use flipped learning. As mentioned previously, faculty who are hired at the university level based on their research abilities and record are going to be confronted with the difficulties associated with effective teaching. The key means through which that difficulty will be addressed is the process of improving their pedagogical skills and approaches. This will require support from the institution to ensure that the faculty is receiving appropriate, high-quality professional development. For example, financial incentives to participate may be needed to motivate disinterested or unprepared faculty members. Flipped learning is one pedagogy that these individuals may potentially want to incorporate into their own classrooms, but for whatever reason they have not. More meaningfully, there are implications for the institution in that flipped learning processes can be an integral part of the professional development offerings, thus helping to address other pedagogical deficiencies while demonstrating its ability and practice as an instructional methodology. The flexibility of the model to meet the needs of the learner where the learner is cannot be underestimated. Second, and more tellingly, the use of this approach that does happen appears to be focused in the sciences, medical, and mathematics content areas (at least as far as the reporting in the academic literature is concerned). In and of itself, that is neither good nor bad; however, it is important to realize that schools of education seem to be using this process less than other content areas. More recent literature documenting the use of flipped learning processes in English language instruction in Asia would seem to imply that the field is expanding and that there is an audience of teachers who are willing and able to effectively incorporate flipped learning and document those efforts. The relatively low frequency of the documented use of this instructional method in schools of education would imply that either schools of education lag behind in actually using this methodology, or they lag behind in reporting the usage of this methodology. Either way, it is surprising that such a powerful instructional tool has not been more widely used or discussed in settings that are dedicated to training future teachers. After all, if schools of education are to effectively prepare future teachers, then it is imperative that these kinds of pedagogical approaches be utilized within colleges of education. Additionally, the faculty of these institutions, those who have the research skills to appropriately evaluate these types of approaches, must become more involved in studying their own practices. Perhaps this can be accomplished through internal grant funding associated with innovative teaching practices, which would act as a catalyst to undertake and evaluate flipped learning instructional design efforts. Having said all of that, though, the third implication is arguably more important than any other. Namely, the third implication is that the methodology is adaptable and can expand beyond simply having students view videos outside of the classroom. In essence, if we can think of having students create materials (be they videos, audio, text, or something else) then we can begin to think of how that creation process can be used to flip the classroom. That is where the true benefit of this approach will take root as it will put the student at the center of the creation/consumption process, which will engage them in the course content in a

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way that simply consuming pre-existing materials will not—no matter how well-made or informative those sources. Likewise, if we can think about how these methodologies can be used to facilitate the professional development of university instructors, then we can begin to more effectively model what we hope they will incorporate within their own practices. We can develop professional development opportunities that adapt to the scheduling and practical needs of the participants, which may potentially overcome some of the difficulties that stand in the way of academics in their efforts to improve their own professional practices.

Conclusion As this chapter has hopefully demonstrated, there is understandable excitement about how flipped pedagogies are being used in universities. However, there are clearly difficulties that must be overcome. The opportunities exist to change the educational dynamic that too often is the fallback position for under-prepared university instructional faculty, but that is entirely dependent upon how participants in the system view the utility of instructional practices like flipped learning. To be clear, this is not intended to be an indictment of individual instructors—particularly if they are valued more for their research and grant-writing abilities than for their teaching acumen. Rather, this is simply to state that flipped learning can be used to address some of the structural problems that institutions of higher learning face. Namely, flipped learning would seem to be ideally situated to address the issues associated with disengaged learners (who are treated as passive consumers of information in an age where creation is more valuable) and the issues of overtaxed instructors (who are not fully prepared for the rigors of teaching). All that is needed is the institutional will to recognize these issues and face them head-on. Such institutional will would likely initiate the practices and policies to support faculty in their efforts to become familiar with and implement flipped learning.

References Becker, L., & Denicolo, P. (2013). Teaching in higher education. New York: Sage. Bishop, J., & Verleger, M. (2013) The flipped classroom: A survey of the research. Presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Atlanta, GA. Dove, A., & Dove, E. (2015). Examining the influence of a flipped mathematics course on preservice elementary teachers’ mathematics anxiety and achievement. The Electronic Journal of Mathematics and Technology, 9(2), 166–179. Enfield, J. (2013). Looking at the impact of the flipped classroom model of instruction on undergraduate multimedia students at CSUN. TechTrends, 57(6), 14–27. Guixin, M. (2017). Applied research on the flipped classroom teaching model from the perspective of SPOC. In The Sixth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, June 9–11, 2017, Datong, China.

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Guo, J. (2016) The application research of flipped classroom in college english teaching. In The Fifth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, May 26–29, 2016, Langfang, China. Guzmán-Valenzuela, C. (2013). Challenging frameworks for understanding teaching practices in higher education: The end or the beginning? Qualitative Research in Education, 2(1), 65–91. Jõgi, L., Karu, K., & Krabi, K. (2015). Rethinking teaching and teaching practice at university in a lifelong learning context. International Review of Education, 61(1), 61–77. Johnston, N., & Karafotias, T. (2016). Flipping the classroom to meet the diverse learning needs of library and information studies (LIS) students. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 57(3), 226–238. Kehoe, T., Schofield, P., Branigan, E., & Wilmore, M. (2018). The double flip: Applying a flipped learning approach to teach the teacher and improve student satisfaction. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 15(1), 1–17. Korhonen, V. and Törmä, S. (2014). Engagement with a teaching career—How a group of finnish university teachers experience teacher identity and professional growth. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 40(1). Love, B., Hodge, A., Grandgenett, N., & Swift, A. (2013). Student learning and perceptions in a flipped linear algebra course. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 45(3), 317–324. Moran, K., & Milsom, A. (2015). The flipped classroom in counselor education. Counselor Education & Supervision, 54, 32–43. O’Shea, P., Onderdon, J., Allen, D., & Allen, D. (2011). A technological reinvention of the textbook: A Wikibooks project. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 27(3). Peng, X. & Zhu, Y. (2017). Application of flipped classroom in college english writing course in an underdeveloped region in China. In The Sixth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, June 9–11, 2017, Datong, China. Prud’homme-Généreux, A. (2016). Student-produced videos for the flipped classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 45(3), 58–62. Rivera, E. (2015). Using the flipped classroom model in your library instruction course. The Reference Librarian, 56, 34–41. Sahin, A., Cavlazoglu, B., & Zeytuncu, Y. (2015). Flipping a college calculus course: A case study. Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 142–152. Tanner, M., & Scott, E. (2015). A flipped classroom approach to teaching systems analysis, design and implementation. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 219–241. Retrieved on September 26 from http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol14/ JITEv14ResearchP219-241Tanner1840.pdf. Wang, F., & Wang, H. (2017). The impact of the EFL flipped classroom teaching model (FCTM) on student engagement. In The Sixth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, June 9–11, 2017, Datong, China. Zhao, L., Hui Zhao, Y., & Liu Wen, T. (2016) Gender Differences on Student Satisfaction in the Flipped Class. In The Fifth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, May 26–29, 2016, Langfang, China. Zhaoyang, H., Qi, J., & Haiyan, W. (2016). An analysis of the process of the internalization of english word pronunciation through chinese learning english in the listening flipped classroom. In The Fifth Northeast Asia International Symposium on Language, Literature and Translation, May 26–29, 2016, Langfang, China.

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Improved Learning Performance Based on a Flipped Classroom Concept—A Case Study Based on the Course Introduction to Management Accounting for Business Engineers Soeren Dressler and Thomas Rachfall

Pre-meeting I Students assimilate and process new information via video lectures and classroom readings

Every week, the authors upload theory and practice videos about the week’s topic to the learning management system (in this case, Moodle) for students to watch before the in-class lesson. This new topic would have been introduced at the end of the previous lesson, facilitating students’ ease of uptake and motivation to begin the new topic.

Start of Class Quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class

In-Class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration

On Moodle, students are also provided with electronic exercises related to the topic of the week. The students watch the videos and solve the exercises.

During the in-class lesson, teachers answer questions and solve some exercises together with all students. The increased time spent on coursework before class leads to students being less hesitant about contributing to discussions, as they are “not afraid of disgracing themselves in class nor paralyzed by the performance requirements”. This is especially crucial for business engineering students who often lack business/finance backgrounds and often require increased levels of motivation.

S. Dressler University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW), Berlin, Germany T. Rachfall (&) University of Applied Sciences Merseburg, Merseburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_11

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Introduction Management accounting has become a rather important discipline in business education in Germany. While accounting was initially seen more like a necessary evil and something which needed to be done to be compliant with specific laws and tax filings, management accounting has evolved into a much more business-oriented discipline. Mainly driven by the research work of Horváth (1979), management accountants have advanced to business partner roles and nowadays the analysis-driven accountant has become an internal advisor to the decision-makers. Thus, education and training have become crucial for accounting professionals. They need to understand business requirements and state-of-the-art analysis techniques at the same time. Also, in order to reconcile data and reports with the financial reporting, sometimes even advanced knowledge in local regulations and laws as well as international reporting standards is required. On top of this, management accountants have to apply relevant IT tools and need to work with big data. In all, the education of business-ready management accountants has become quite challenging due to the expectations from industry. In his viral convocation speech at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2016, Donovan Livingston (Osborne, 2016) quoted a well-known sentiment of Horace Mann (1848): “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equaliser of the conditions of men”. Without a doubt, education is one of the key success factors for any progress. And the world of education is changing from classical to digitally supported lectures. As a result of this development, some universities support teachers with ideas about flipped classroom lectures. These hybrid lectures include classic frontal teaching combined with digital content, and ensure an active exchange and quick feedback. But how is this applicable to the specific context of management accounting education? Management accounting is a complex topic, taught at higher educational institutions. Despite the fact that management accounting is taught relatively early in the education of business students, its content is often seen as rather complex, challenging and difficult to comprehend. In particular, students in the area of business engineering very often tend to favour engineering and technology classes and invest less energy into fully embracing accounting topics. However, the job market prefers a well-balanced combination of engineering knowledge with business contents and graduates in business engineering are often selected due to their ability to enable managerial decision making in technology situations. Deep and profound comprehension of management accounting and reporting is a key pre-requisite for this. Therefore, the course on management accounting at Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (HTW Berlin) is mandatory for bachelor-level students in business/industrial engineering. These students mainly have backgrounds in technology and engineering professions and aim for future careers in sales (for technology products and/or engineering services), engineering project management, and research and development. Finance and accounting classes are not often seen as preferred subjects and the learning strategies are more

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often designed to “pass” the course requirements instead of successfully embracing the field. As a result, the university believes that job market requirements are not being sufficiently addressed, preventing its graduates from succeeding in the typical job profile of business engineers. As industry hires business engineers to work in engineering project controlling, determines make-or-buy decisions and conducts cost–benefit analyses, the graduates could potentially fail in the business-related tasks of their jobs. Business/industrial engineers are much better suited to challenge the engineering departments in cost analyses than a business controller due to their more advanced technology comprehension. However, the learning workload for business/industrial engineers development of new technology, learning behaviouris already decisions and conducts costsubstantial and the program has to be as targeted and effective as possible. With more content being added to the curriculum, maintaining a high level of management accounting education for business/industrial engineers became more and more challenging. The average grade obtained by students began worsening and instructors started to reduce class content despite the requirements of the job market. This challenge was the starting point for launching the flipped classroom concept. As the use of this pedagogy is now in its fourth year of application at HTW Berlin, this chapter addresses the learning and improvements that have developed over this period.

Background and Literature Review The influence of new media on learning behaviour is a topic of high interest, and scientists have analysed it extensively during recent years. Under the influence of an increasing number of enrolled students and the development of new technology, learning behaviour is—without a doubt—changing. Therefore, this chapter begins with a short section about student motivation (2.1) as well as an introduction to the topic of learning success factors (2.2). Subsequently, this chapter introduces the educational situation of the analysed course: introduction to management accounting (2.3) and the new concept as well as the digital tools used in the course (2.4).

The Flipped Classroom Approach Within Business Studies Within business studies, the flipped classroom is a methodical concept in which the typical lecture and self-learning elements of a course are flipped or, better, reversed. The differences between the new and the classic concepts are explained in the following figures. The classical lecture in Fig. 11.1 consists of frontal teaching (step 1), then a self-learning phase at home (step 2). During this second phase, the instructor is passive and cannot sufficiently support students. According to Dressler and Rachfall (2012), more than 70% of the lectures within management accounting courses are still classical ones (frontal teaching combined with case studies, for example).

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Fig. 11.1 The classical lecture. Source Heise, Schneider, and Jahn (2016), with permission from Linda Heise

Fig. 11.2 The flipped classroom concept. Source Heise et al. (2016), with permission from Linda Heise

Within the flipped classroom concept (Fig. 11.2), instructors provide different learning materials to the students (often short videos) before lectures. This shift leads to more time for engagement and application during the lectures. Students are thus able to familiarise themselves with the theory at home, then ask questions and exercise the learnt knowledge during class. Furthermore, through this new approach, the professor is able to identify the low performing students who require more help (e.g. using learning analytics). Another advantage of flipped classroom lectures is that the student is still present in the classroom. A recent meta-study of general university-level classes found that students’ results are linked to their attendance frequency (Schulmeister, 2015). Especially within business lectures, practising is very important because this can simulate different real-life situations, while even more important is the exchange of knowledge through discussions. In the out-of-class component, students can learn at their own speed. Videos can be stopped and replayed as often as the student wishes. The flipped classroom concept offers some other advantages. Because of the reversed order, it can be assumed that students have the same level of knowledge. During the lecture, the instructor can start from this level. Furthermore, the students can be active during the lectures. Based on their knowledge they can ask questions

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and apply their knowledge. This can be supported by class response systems (CRS) which are also known as audience response systems (ARS). With such a tool, the instructor can lead his discussions and exercises based on live and direct feedback. Therefore, it is possible to detect weaknesses and react immediately. Of course the concept also has challenges. Spannagel (2011), for example, mentioned the high investment of time to prepare the learning material and the dependence on software and hardware.

Learning Success Factors and Student Motivation From Hattie’s (2012) ground-breaking research, Zierer (2014) identified three main factors for learning success. He states: (1) the cooperation between students and lecturer is of particular importance; (2) structural aspects are a necessary but insufficient condition; and (3) it is when the lecturer is able to bring this structure to life through passionate teaching, inspiring and motivating the students, that the structure can succeed. The insights of our research support Hattie’s and Zierer’s approach. However, as shown in Fig. 11.3, we cluster the influence factors in two different dimensions. The teaching form and design of the management accountant class make up the structural dimension (2). The cooperation between lecturer and student (1) as well as the passionate teaching of the lecturer (3) make up the individual dimension. Every performance which differs from the daily routine decisions of a student requires abilities and effort. This basic assumption can be found in different models regarding learning performance (e.g. Helmke & Weinert, 1997; Rheinberg,

Fig. 11.3 Impact factors for learning success. Adapted from Hattie (2012), Gebhardt and Jäger (2008)

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Fig. 11.4 The classical psychological model of motivation. Source Based on Rheinberg et al. (2001), with permission from Falko Rheinberg

Vollmeyer, & Burns, 2001). According to Rheinberg et al. (2001), these models include two important factors: cognitive competence (e.g. intelligence, knowledge) and motivational factors (e.g. self-concept, instrumental motivation). Another approach from Deci and Ryan (2000) identifies different types of motivation. They are based on the perceived locus of causality, which can be internal, external, or impersonal. It is, therefore, important to consider that classical motivation psychology is based on interactions. The behaviour of a person is, therefore, a result of interactions between personal and situational factors. These personal factors are known as motives and can be explained as attributes which lead to a preference of stimuli. Situational factors on the other hand describe the chance to reach the preferred stimuli in a specific situation. If situational factors fit with personal factors, a current motivation can accrue. Only the current motivation (and not the motives) directly influences the behaviour of a person, thus increasing the performance of the behaviour (see Fig. 11.4). If these basic assumptions are adopted in the university classroom, there are two possibilities for influencing student motivation: adjusting the motives or offering stimuli.

The Educational Situation Within the Course: Introduction to Management Accounting Management accounting is a complex topic taught at higher educational institutions, in particular to students who are not majoring in business and/or finance. In the case study presented in this chapter, an introductory management accounting course is mandatory for bachelor-level students in business engineering. These students have very different backgrounds, mainly in technology topics, and are focused on careers in technology sales, project management and engineering tasks. Finance and accounting classes are not necessarily preferred subjects, and the thought models

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behind finance and accounting differ very much from typical engineering and technology courses. However, the learning workload for business engineers is substantial and the education has to be as targeted and effective as possible. Over the years with more and more content being added to the curriculum, keeping the higher institution education in managing accounting for business engineers on a high level has become even more challenging. The average grade has been worsening and instructors have started to downsize the course content despite the fact that cost-benefit assessment skills are of vital importance to these graduates. This challenge has paved the way for the introduction of the flipped classroom model.

Applying the Flipped Classroom Concept Within the Course: Introduction to Management Accounting The authors of this chapter teach the course, Introduction to Management Accounting, at the HTW Berlin-University of Applied Sciences. The main focuses of the course are product costing methods, special cost analysis methods and budgeting methods. Furthermore, relevant topics, recent developments and international aspects are discussed. The course before the 2015/2016 academic year (when there was a change to the flipped classroom structure) consisted of around 50–60% classical frontal teaching and 40–50% exercises. The structure and content of the course reflected a typical German management accounting course (Dressler & Rachfall, 2016b). An analysis of the course statistics shows an average drop-out rate of 20% and an average grade of 3.01 over the five years prior to the change. This average performance was problematic as business engineers are often employed in technical sales and large project accounting tasks in which proficient management accounting capabilities are required. There was thus a latent risk that our university’s graduates were not being optimally educated for the current job market. Due to this and the relatively high drop-out-ratio, the authors decided to explore the new concept of flipped learning. To support the learning process of the students—without lowering the high level of the course content—the authors changed the course from a classical lecture format to a flipped classroom design. Several different tools are part of the new concept: • Theory videos: To increase the effectivity of the lectures, 12 theory videos were produced. They cover the 12 most important lectures and are based on the previous PowerPoint slides of the lectures. Each of the videos lasts for approximately 20 min and is uploaded in advance. Therefore, every student has the opportunity to be well-prepared for the lecture (e.g. structure first questions about the topic). Furthermore, the students are able to learn at an individual pace and they can repeat the videos for as many times as they wish. 1

A 3.0 can be translated as satisfactory—a performance which meets the average requirements. The corresponding equivalent would be C.

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• Presentations: Moreover, the PowerPoint slides of each lecture (14 lectures in total) are uploaded (as a PDF file). Every student can take notes, make comments and formulate questions on their own. • Exercise videos: Additionally, 31 videos were produced to demonstrate different exercises to students. These Excel-based videos last for around 6 min each. Based on these videos, it is possible to understand and reproduce the content and approach of the exercises. This means that students can practice information recall and practise skills use. • Class response system (CRS): Following the students’ desire to perform more exercises, the authors introduced a CRS. The system selected and used is called “Moodle”. At the moment, the platform contains more than 110 exercises and questions which deal with the content of the lecture. Moodle offers advantages for both students and lecturers. The former can test their knowledge and gain more practice, while the latter now have the ability to monitor their students’ level of knowledge. As a result, weaknesses can be identified and eliminated. Consequently, relevant information is transferred from lecturer to student efficiently and successfully. In combination, the different tools should foster students’ continuous engagement throughout the course. Figure 11.5 shows the general structure of a typical course week.

Fig. 11.5 A typical course week. Source Dressler, Rachfall, Förster-Trallo, and Kapanen (2017)

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Methodology The objective of this chapter is to analyse the impact of the newly incorporated flipped classroom concept on our students’ learning performance.

Sample and Data Collecting Process The participants in this study are the students of the course “Introduction to Management Accounting” at the HTW Berlin. The students are usually in the second year of their bachelor’s degree: Industrial Engineering. Industrial Engineering is an interdisciplinary course of studies consisting of engineering and economic science parts. The course is regularly separated into two groups of 40–50 students. Not all registered students participate in the classes each term. Therefore, only a part of all registered students participate in the data collection process—the total sample thus far is 191. For three terms, a questionnaire was used to collect data two weeks before the final exam: in February 2016, August 2016 and February 2017 (Fig. 11.6). The advantage of a questionnaire tool is that it provides standardised answers that simplify data compilation. Because the topic is a very complex one, quantitative (4-point Likert scales) as well as qualitative data were collected to triangulate findings. The collected data were analysed with the objective of establishing links between students’ learning performance and the combination of multiple digital tools with classroom training. Furthermore, a correlation analysis was performed. The data were analysed with SPSS and Excel.

Fig. 11.6 Overview of participants. Source Dressler, Rachfall, Förster-Trallo, and Kapanen (2016)

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Table 11.1 Scale overview (source authors) Scale

Number of items

General questions about the class Questions about theory videos Questions about lecture notes Questions about Moodle tool

9 5 4 9

Questions about procrastination

4

Questions about motivation and emotion Questions about Moodle tests Questions about quantitative workload

10 9 8

Source Self developed Self developed Self developed Based on Grönemeyer and Thielsch (2004) Based on Grönemeyer and Rist (2014), Höcker et al. (2013) Based on Rheinsberg et al. (2001) Self developed Base on Siegrist (2009)

Measures To test the influence of the newly developed digitally enhanced flipped classroom concept on student learning performance, participants were asked about different topics. The items used for the quantitative analysis were either original or adapted from the work of various researchers (see Table 11.1). Furthermore, old feedback forms were used. These feedback forms were given every semester by the university to the students. They asked for example, how much time students spent on learning within a specific course.

Results and Discussion The main question of this chapter is whether the newly developed flipped classroom concept has a positive impact on student performance in the business management classroom. According to Hattie (2012), student performance depends on several factors. These can be clustered into two influence groups (acceptance and learning strategies (4.1) and motivation (4.2)). The influence of the flipped classroom concept on these issues was analysed over three terms. In addition, the time that students spent on coursework (4.3) and student performance was analysed (4.4). These data enable the research team to review the longitudinal results of the approach and to identify new developments. Finally, this chapter ends with an overview about the authors’ experiences (4.5).

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Fig. 11.7 Acceptance of the new concept. Source Dressler et al. (2016); Likert scale from 1 = no to 4 = yes

Acceptance The findings of the acceptance of the new concept show that the majority of the students prefer a mix of digital and frontal teaching (see Fig. 11.7). Furthermore, the students became familiar with the new concept immediately, with just a few being confused by the use of new media. Some of the qualitative data over the three terms support these findings too. In the questionnaire, respondents are given the chance to explicitly mention positive and negative aspects of the class. Over all three terms, 27% (52 out of 191 participants) alluded to the “beneficial teaching style and structure of the course”. The students also stated that they “liked the ability to watch the videos repeatedly” (28%), because this allowed a continuous learning progress. Only 12% of all participants stated that “the videos were too long” or that “they are too many videos”. Considering the results over time, it can be concluded that students improved their acceptance of and ability to cope with the structure of the class. However, the students’ overall levels of confusion about the course content had already been rather low. Apart from student acceptance of the new course structure, a more general question can be answered. The comparison between different teaching concepts in Fig. 11.8 shows a preference for flipped classroom lectures. This is supported by some of the qualitative data. 14% of the students liked the possibility to complete “exercise[s] whenever and wherever they want”, while 23 students (35%) stated that they were “highly motivated because of the provided tools”.

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Fig. 11.8 Preferences for different teaching styles. Source Dressler et al. (2017); Likert scale from 1 = no to 4 = yes

Motivation Motivation affects student performance as well (e.g. Hattie, 2012; Helmke & Weinert, 1997 read in Rheinberg et al., 2001). As mentioned previously (see Chap. 3), different scales were examined via a correlation analysis (Pearson coefficients; n = 121 *P < 0.05). Two significant correlations were detected, between the scales of “concept” and “motivation” (correlation coefficient 0.58), and between “motivation” and “tools used” (correlation coefficient 0.52). For more details please see the publication Dressler and Rachfall (2016a). Therefore, the results of the research imply that flipping and the digital tools used both have a positive effect on student motivation. Figure 11.9 shows, how different tools in the course helped and motivated the students. All tolls achieved a relatively high score. As shown in Fig. 11.10, over the three terms the percentage of highly motivated students constantly increased. These increases are likely linked to the digital tools used during the course. In the first evaluation (during the winter term of 2015/2016), 35% of the students stated explicitly that they were highly motivated, with this value increasing to 55% in the summer term of 2016 and 59% in the winter term of 2016/2017.

Time It can also be determined that the new pedagogy of flipping and the digital tools used also have a positive effect on the time that students invest in the course (Fig. 11.11). Students spent up to 3 h a week to prepare for the course and complete

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Fig. 11.9 Tools and motivation. Source Dressler et al. (2016); Likert scale from 1 = no to 4 = yes

Fig. 11.10 Highly motivated students. Source Dressler et al. (2017); Likert scale from 1 = highly unmotivated to 4 = highly motivated

the exercises. Before the introduction of the new approach, students only spent 1.3 h on average on coursework. From this increased effort it is expected that the performance is increasing as well (please see Chap. 4). Furthermore, the qualitative data students stated that they “were not afraid of disgracing themselves in class nor paralyzed by the performance requirements, because they invested so much time in preparing”.

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Fig. 11.11 Invested time. Source Dressler et al. (2017)

Effects on Student Performance Furthermore, this chapter analyses the results of the different concepts (classical lecture and flipped classroom concept) by comparing the average grades. German universities use a 5-point grading system, ranging from 1 (very good) to 5 (insufficient/fail). As shown in Fig. 11.12, average grade improved from 3.1 to 2.8, based on 784 exams taken before (7 semesters from Winter 2010/2011 to Summer 2014) and after (6 semesters from Winter 2014/2014 to Winter 2017/2018) the implementation of the flipped classroom.

Fig. 11.12 Average grade. Source Authors

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Fig. 11.13 Drop-out rate. Source Authors

Finally, the results of the different concepts (classical lecture and flipped classroom concept) can also be seen through a comparison of drop-out rates. As shown in Fig. 11.13, the drop-out rate improved from 22% (classical lecture) to 12% (flipped classroom concept). This represents a significant change.

Educators’ Perspective For the authors, teaching management accounting has become more stressful over the past years. On the one hand, due to the Bologna Reforms, more content had to be fit within a tighter schedule while on the other, requirements and expectations from industry with regard to the skill set of graduates have steadily risen. The stretch to fulfil these two opposing goals led to the multi-year effort to develop a flipped classroom approach in our course. After an initial effort to design the new concept and to develop the required tools such as videos and online exercises, the new approach has by now been refined over multiple terms and is relatively easy to apply. However, constant monitoring of student progress is required. At the same time, continuous motivation of the students’ needs to take place to satisfy the requirements of a flipped classroom. If a student no longer follows the e-learning schedule and drops the routine of attending classes, the likelihood that he or she will fail the course rises dramatically. Self-learning in management accounting is not an easy task for students. Methods, calculations and algorithms are rather complex, and without sufficient self-discipline and motivation students will not study all online content by themselves. This creates a key challenge for the developer of the e-tools. They need to be educational and entertaining at the same time, despite the fact that the discipline is mainly driven by accounting data and perceived as being rather dry. Advanced monitoring tools can help the teachers to identify low participation rates in e-exercises so that they can specifically approach and motivate certain students to re-engage.

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An educator who is about to implement a flipped classroom approach should plan to make continuous, gradual improvements to the new system for at least two full teaching years before the new teaching format becomes stable, proven and reliable. Only then will it deliver the expected performance results. Teachers who expect less teaching load eventually should think twice: While it is true that flipped classrooms reduce the effort of teaching certain content over and over again, however, with more content being provided online, the type and quality of in-class discussions will change and become more complex. At the end, teaching quality improves significantly. Education in higher institutional institutions is at a crossroads these days. Many instructors still prefer classical classroom formats for various reasons: They are most experienced in this education method, the teaching is consistent and reliable, and its effectiveness has been proven over many years. Lastly, the efforts required to introduce a full-blown flipped classroom approach or even transition to digitally enhanced teaching are significant. Professors and lecturers with extremely busy research, teaching and administrative schedules often simply do not have the capacity on hand to accomplish this. One key recommendation to address this issue would be to grant workload reductions or even sabbaticals for instructors to have the chance to adapt their lessons. The results of the research described in this chapter demonstrate clearly that new ways of knowledge transfer can be used in order to reach the latest generation of students and to satisfy the requirements of changing job markets. Additionally, the self-perception of the university instructor is about to change. Traditionally, teachers see themselves as content transmitters, which requires a typical classroom format with the instructor presenting content and the students asking questions. This role is transforming as students need to comprehend increasing amounts of content and, even more importantly, must learn how to apply that knowledge in the real world. New digital media greatly facilitate this transformation process: Content transmission can be accomplished via videos and online exercises, leaving classroom sessions for the improvement of student comprehension and the deepening of knowledge. The instructor’s role changes from content presenting to coaching or even consulting, supporting students in their knowledge application. A key recommendation that would support this role-changing process is the provision of specific training by higher education institutions to familiarise their instructors with the new model of an instructor’s role. Also, the skillset of instructors needs to be enhanced—besides pure expert knowledge, now technical expertise and even coaching abilities are now required of university educators.

Conclusion The findings emphasise the importance of a flipped classroom learning approach. The fact that students significantly prefer the combination of frontal lectures and digital tools to a single teaching method indicates that both things are very

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important for students. Classroom teaching has been the traditional method of teaching for centuries and is the most common form of teaching in many contentand methodology-driven disciplines like management accounting. While digital learning was only introduced to external and management accounting 25 years ago, a diverse range of software-based learning tools has developed since the early 1990s (Gabele et al., 1992). However, no digital tool has revolutionised teaching methodology nor prevailed as the single best method. Students utilising computer-based self-training tools need to maintain extremely high levels of motivation and self-discipline in order to complete the course. Moreover, despite the fact that most self-training tools provide students with the ability to monitor their learning progress, very few choose to do so. They thus miss out on the chance to adjust their learning according to their self-test results. Without any external control mechanism, motivation tends to decrease, jeopardising learning success. Observations from the classroom confirm this assessment—students are often daunted by merely the theory and exercise videos alone. Only by being encouraged in the classroom do students feel motivated enough to run through the additional exercises and recognise their individual learning progress. To that end, the use of a class response system has proven to be very effective. Students can individually work on exercises and control the knowledge and skills they acquire. Furthermore, instructors are able to identify significant learning and comprehension gaps, and can react accordingly in the classroom. It appears that a flipped classroom approach consisting of regular classroom sessions combined with theory and exercise videos and supported by a class response system is a highly effective lesson structure. Certain opportunities for improvement were identified by the instructors and subsequently confirmed by the students in their survey responses. One structural improvement related to class organisation aims to ensure a better distribution of the workload over the entire semester. Students were downloading videos but not effectively learning with them as the course progressed. Instead, they often only internalised all content towards the end of the semester, as part of their preparations for the final examination. Due to the sheer amount of class material, this was an insurmountable task which overstrained their knowledge absorption capacity. Therefore, their learning progress will now be monitored via four to six milestones over the course of the four-month-long semester, in the form of short computer-based tests. The need to study for these tests will require students to progressively internalise the course content, ensuring more consistent learning. Another improvement opportunity is also related to the quantity of course content. Due to the rate at which videos, exercises and classroom training are encountered, the amount of learning required by the course is extremely intense and tends to surpass the bounds of what most students can cope with. This often causes stress for the students. As a result, monthly recap sessions will be introduced to summarise and clarify the content.

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Flipped classrooms are a new way to increase the effectiveness of university training. However, as digital media and tools constantly develop into new forms, the flipped classroom concept needs regular review and updates to ensure that it remains in step with the latest technology. It will very likely not last for as many centuries as the traditional frontal classroom lecture has, perhaps to be replaced by the next new pedagogy that develops in response to our increasing technology use and complexity.

References Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. Dressler, S., & Rachfall, T. (2012). Die Controlling weiterbildung der Zukunft. Zeitschrift für Controlling und Weiterbildung (No. 3, pp. 209–213). Dressler, S., & Rachfall, T. (2016a). Improved learning performance based on a flipped classroom concept—A case study. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Higher Education Advances 2016 (pp. 219–227). Valencia. Dressler, S., & Rachfall, T. (2016b). Wie Controller sich weiterbilden. Controlling und Management Review, 5/2016, 26–34. Dressler, S., Rachfall, T., Förster-Trallo, D., & Kapanen, A. (2016). Improved learning performance based on a flipped classroom concept—A case study about improved learning performance due to a digitally enhanced course structure. In EDULEARN16 Proceedings (pp. 570–575). Barcelona. Dressler, S., Rachfall, T., Förster-Trallo, D., & Kapanen, A. (2017). Improved Learning Performance based on a flipped classroom concept—Results after three consecutive courses. In Proceedings of IAC-TLEI 2017 (pp. 249–258). Budapest. Gabele, E. & Fischer, P., & Zuern, B. (1992). Kosten- und Erlösrechnung als interaktives Lernprogramm. Gowalla, U. & Schopp, E. Hypertext und Multimedia: Neue Wege in der computerunterstützten Aus- und Weiterbildung (pp. 58–66). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. Gebhardt, A., & Jäger, A. (2008). Internationale Bedingungen des Selbstgesteuerten Lernens— Eine quantitative Analyse bei Studierenden der Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, BWP Ausgabe 13. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers. Maximizing impact on learning. 1. publ. London u. a.: Routledge. Helmke, A., & Weinert, F. E. (1997). Bedingungsfaktoren schulischer Leistungen. In F. E. Weinert (Ed.), Enzyklopädie der Psychologie (Vol. 3, pp. 71–176)., Psychologie der Schule und des Unterrichts Göttingen: Hogrefe-Verlag. Heise, L., Schneider, A., & Jahn, V. (2016). Blended learning meets flipped classroom: ein didaktischer Ansatz in der Weiterbildung. NWK 17. Höcker, A., Engberding, M., & Rist, F. (2013). Prokrastination. Ein Manual zur Behandlung des pathologischen Aufschiebens. Therapeutische Praxis; 70. Göttingen: Hogrefe. Horváth, P. (1979). Controlling (pp. 3–15). München: Verlag Vahlen. Osborne, S. (2016). Harvard student gives emotional graduation speech that goes viral, independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/havard-student-givesemotional-graduation-speech-that-goes-viral-a7053841.html. Accessed 9 Dec 2018. Rheinberg, F., Vollmeyer, R., & Burns, B. D. (2001). FAM: Ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung aktueller Motivation in Lern- und Leistungssituationen. Diagnostica, 47, 57–66.

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Schulmeister, R. (2015). Abwesenheit von Lehrveranstalungen. Hamburg, pp. 2–57. Siegrist, U. (2009). Der Resilienzprozess. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Spannagel, C. (2011). Der flipped classroom auf dem #clc11. https://cspannagel.wordpress.com/ tag/flippedclassroom/. Accessed 12 May 2016. Zierer, K. (2014). Kernbotschaften aus John Hatties “Visible Learning”. Sankt Augustin: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Eine Veröffentlichung der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V).

Flipping the Business Administration Classroom

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Lenka Klimplová

Introduction and Background It was not until 2014 that the regional Dalarna University in Sweden started to explore, more systematically, flipped classrooms as a teaching method instead of traditional lecture-based, teacher-centered approaches. Aiming at students’ active learning and inspired by David Black–Schaffer from Uppsala University and his presentation about flipping the classroom in an introductory Information Technology (IT) course (Black-Schaffer, 2013), the then-new teaching approach was implemented by a few teachers in selected courses at Dalarna University in 2014. One of the subjects in which this approach has been introduced is the field of Business Administration and Management, particularly the undergraduate-level Organization Theory course and the graduate-level Knowledge Management course. Without access to any advanced IT platform for making interactive videos or collecting advanced statistics (e.g., ScalableLearning), we used instead the university learning platform Fronter (for example, for pre-class quizzes) and YouTube video analytics to discover and apply the best means for students’ learning. On this road, we have encountered several obstacles and have resolved quite a few problems which we hope that others can learn from too. This chapter, thus, aims to provide readers with key thoughts and tips to consider before flipping the classroom, and to present examples of good practice of flipped classroom implementation in Business Administration and Management courses based on previous research findings in this field as well as the author’s personal experience of implementing the flipped classroom teaching design.

L. Klimplová (&) Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_12

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Literature Review Recent education research in the domain of business administration and management has shown how technological advances can enable active learning, increase student engagement, and (in some cases) improve student performance (Lancellotti, Thomas, & Kohli, 2016; Lento, 2016; Rollag & Billsberry, 2012, etc.). The flipped classroom is a particularly interesting pedagogy that can increase the active learning of students. Several studies evaluating the implementation of the flipped classroom have been conducted in the subject field of Business Administration and Management (see Appendix 1 for an overview of selected studies). These studies had different aims—most often, to assess the impact of flipped classroom on students’ grades or to assess students’ perceptions of/attitudes toward flipped classrooms or students’ motivation/engagement. Similarly, various research designs were used: quasiexperimental or experimental research design, comparative research, survey among students, qualitative interviews, and personal observation, among others. Overall, implementing the flipped classroom teaching in business courses appeared to produce positive outcomes. Research in this field suggests that the flipped classroom approach: – can increase student involvement, task orientation, and innovation (Prashar, 2015), as well as motivation and engagement (Dressler, Rachfall, Kapanen, & Förster-Trallo, 2016; Zhu & Xie, 2018). – is perceived by students positively and as beneficial (Butt, 2014; Klimplová, 2016; Philips & Trainor, 2014), and as improving their learning environment (Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014). – positively affects the evaluation of the perceived quality of the educator and course (Scafuto, Serra, Mangini, Maccari, & Ruas, 2017). Remarkably, the research focusing on the question of whether flipped classroom teaching results in better students’ grades does not provide clear findings. Whereas some researchers (Albert & Beatty, 2014; Dressler et al., 2016; Lento, 2016; Zhu & Xie, 2018) have found that flipped classroom design can improve students’ exam scores/grades, others claim there are no significant differences with regard to students’ grades when implementing the flipped classroom (e.g., Haughton & Kelly, 2015; Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014). There seems to be no clear explanation for the difference in findings. However, in both studies that did not find any effects of flipped classroom on students’ grades, the authors still suggest that using this pedagogy is valuable as it provides other benefits, such as better and more attractive and active learning environments for students (Haughton & Kelly, 2015; Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014). Thus, as presented, the overall outcomes of flipped classroom teaching seem to be encouraging. But as many researchers (Beatty & Albert, 2016; FindlayThompson & Mombourquette, 2014; Prashar, 2015, etc.) have noted, the flipped

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classroom needs to be carefully thought through and implemented to successfully achieve the positive outcomes mentioned above. The next section will present examples of good practice as well as highlight some issues to consider before and when flipping the classes in Business Administration and Management.

Good Practice Examples and Key Considerations When Flipping the Business Classes When implementing the flipped classroom, one has to be aware of certain challenges. Above all, thorough preparation is required—pre-class and in-class activities must be carefully integrated for students to understand the model and be motivated to prepare for classes (Albert & Beatty, 2014; Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014; Prashar, 2015). Video lectures outside the classroom are not enough to make this model successful (Tucker, 2012). The way in which teachers integrate video lectures and other pre-class elements (quizzes, assignments, etc.) into the overall approach is crucial (Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014). Moreover, out-of-class and in-class activities should be carefully integrated and aligned with the intended learning outcomes (cf. constructive alignment, Biggs & Tang, 2011). The following section will discuss the most common pre-class activities—video lectures, readings, and pre-class assignments—and give some tips on how a teacher can deliver more relevant in-class content using the outputs of these pre-class activities. Subsequently, in-class activities will be discussed together with the importance of students’ active (prepared) participation in classes.

Pre-class Activities The most common pre-class activities in flipped business courses are video lectures accompanied by slides, reading materials, and various types of pre-class exercises or assignments (e.g., online quizzes/tests; see Appendix 1). Some studies also used online feedback activity or forums to provide students with the chance to ask questions before the class (e.g., Beatty & Albert, 2016; Scafuto et al., 2017).

Video Lectures Versus Reading Video lectures are considered an important element of the flipped classroom model that facilitates students’ understanding of the written text and helps them orientate in required readings. Different teachers use various styles for making video lectures (e.g., screencasts, PowerPoint slides with voiceovers, etc.), and their video lengths also differ. Most videos in the studies reviewed are between 15 and 25 min, though some researchers recommend shorter videos (under 10 min) for keeping students’ attention and engagement (Hall & DuFrene, 2016; Lancelloti et al., 2016).

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What may be, nonetheless, even more important than the length of pre-recorded lectures is to make clear what their purpose actually is. Can the readings be completely substituted by the video lectures? Or is it necessary for students to read the course literature too? If reading of the course literature is regarded as essential, then the video lectures should not cover all of the concepts, models, and theories presented in course literature, because students seem to prefer learning by watching than learning by reading (Bishop & Verleger, 2013; Klimplová & Barcik, 2015). In our undergraduate Organization Theory course, the video lectures covered all the key material from the course book, resulting in half of the students in the course evaluation admitting they had not read the course book, instead only watched the videos available. On the other hand, in the Knowledge Management course the video lectures serve only as an overview of key concepts and perspectives, and instruct students regarding what to focus on while they read the course literature and prepare for class discussions. For instance, the video lecture on the concept of Communities of Practice (hereafter CoP) defines the concept and its difference from a formal work group, and describes intra-community knowledge processes. However, the questions of how to manage CoP and why this concept has been (might be) criticized are left for students’ own consideration with reference to their further reading and class discussions. If we want students to read the course literature which is considered as important for the development of their textual understanding and the critical assessment of theoretical concepts and perspectives, video lectures should be designed more as a guide for reading and increasing curiosity rather than as an explanation of everything stated in the literature (Klimplová, 2016).

Assignments Prior to Classes Besides readings and videos, students of business courses are also often assigned certain tasks prior to class meetings—online quizzes or pre-class tests, preparing answers for open-ended questions, case analyses, practical exercises (e.g., in accounting courses), etc. (see Appendix 1). For example, students in the Organization Theory course at Dalarna University have been asked to prepare answers for the following questions before one of the classes: 1. Choose a small organization in your city, such as a restaurant or school, and draw a chart showing its structure. Do you think the number of levels in its hierarchy and the span of control at each level is appropriate? Why or why not? 2. In what ways can the informal organization, norms, and values of an organizational culture affect the shape of an organization? 3. What factors determine the appropriate authority and control structure in (a) a research and development laboratory, (b) a large department store, or (c) a small manufacturing company? 4. When does bureaucracy become a problem in an organization? What can managers do to prevent bureaucratic problems from arising?

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Moreover, they are required to read one or two case studies from the course book and prepare answers for the questions related to these cases. Students, however, have come to consider that as excessive workload. In the traditional lecture teaching format, they just come to class and listen to a lecturer (the “sage on the stage”, as King wrote in 1993) without any need for preparation. As a result of the flipped approach though, they have suddenly been required to do something additional before class. This unfortunately results in many students either coming unprepared or even not attending non-obligatory classes at all (see also the discussion below). A different approach has been chosen in the Knowledge Management course where cases are presented to students in the class. Students only receive partial instruction through video lectures about what will be discussed in upcoming classes,1 without any formal pre-class assignments apart from reading course material and watching videos. In that respect, instructors should carefully consider which assignments actually must be completed before class, and what can be left to be done in class.

Delivering More Relevant In-class Content Pre-class activities might also help a teacher to deliver more relevant content to students during class. For instance, based on an analysis of students’ answers to a pre-class quiz, it is, in fact, possible to determine which topic(s) or concept(s) students find difficult, and to subsequently incorporate these points into class discussions. Figure 12.1 shows an example of a pre-class quiz question in the Organization Theory course which almost two-thirds of students answered wrongly. A teacher does not need to spend time discussing concepts which most of the students seem to understand (i.e., those with a high percentage of correct answers), but should instead devote time to concepts which students have difficulties comprehending. Another way to customize the content of in-class activities is to look at audience retention statistics to determine which particular topic(s) or concept(s) should be discussed with students in-depth during class because they might have problems with its/their understanding (Klimplová & Barcik, 2015). Figure 12.2 shows an example of audience retention statistics from YouTube analytics. From the time marked by the red vertical line (5:50) to around 6:20, the audience retention curve shows an upward trend, which indicates that students re-watched this particular part more often than the rest of the video (apart from the initial ten seconds of the video). That could indicate that students have problems in understanding the concept discussed during those 30 s.2

1

See the example of Communities of Practice above. In this particular case, it was a “product team structure”—a concept not so well explained in the course book—which students re-watched.

2

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Fig. 12.1 An example of a quiz question in the Organization Theory course which students had difficulty answering (white bar = right answer, black bars = wrong answers)

Fig. 12.2 Absolute audience retention showing how often each moment is watched, as a percentage of total views (for a video from the Organization Theory course). Source YouTube analytics of the “Dalarna University—Flipped Classroom” channel (videos created by Robert Barcik under the Creative Commons licence)

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In-class Activities and Students’ Attendance Typical in-class activities in business courses described in reviewed studies (see Appendix 1) involve “mini-lectures” or explanation of difficult concepts and theories (usually based on outputs from pre-class activities, see above), answering students’ questions, small group discussions, problem-solving exercises, case analysis (application of learnt concepts and theories), or going through out-of-class conducted exercises. All these activities are student-centered, often involving collaborative learning, developing students’ higher-level cognitive skills as problemsolving or critical thinking. As already mentioned, in-class (as well as out-of-class) activities must be thoughtfully aligned with intended learning outcomes (Biggs & Tang, 2011). Experience shows that the skills that students do not practise in classes are not (in most cases) sufficiently developed. For example, in business management courses students are often expected to be able to gain general knowledge in the particular field, including the understanding of the key concepts, models, and theories in the field and to apply them in case analyses (analyses of different types of organizations). Therefore, common in-class activities focus on small group discussions facilitating understanding of these concepts, models, or theories as well as on case studies analysis. An evaluation of learning outcomes for our Organization Theory course (fall term 2014) that related examination results to class attendance revealed several interesting points. Students participating in non-obligatory classes received higher examination scores compared to students who did not attend these classes, especially with regard to scores on the “case analysis” exam section which is designed to assess higher-level cognitive skills (applying, analyzing, evaluating) and which is practiced in classes (Klimplová, 2016).3 Interestingly, there is no such difference between the students who attended classes and students who did not attend classes when the assessment consists of multiple-choice questions (focusing on lower-level cognitive skills—remembering, understanding). See the Table 12.1. Class attendance, thus, seems to contribute efficiently to deep learning (developing students’ ability to apply concepts and models for case analyses), while learning without class interactions (for instance, only via reading, watching videos, or completing online quizzes) contributes in particular to surface or superficial learning (achieving high scores only on the “multiple-choice questions” section of the exam by remembering the answers). Another example can be given from the graduate Knowledge Management course. As previously noted, students are presented the concept of CoP in a video lecture and readings. To facilitate students’ understanding of this concept, they discuss these questions in the class: 3

Although other explanations might be also plausible—classes might have been attended by more motivated and skilled students who would achieve better scores even in courses which utilize the traditional method of teaching (Klimplová, 2016), or that “improvements in student learning […] is most likely due to increased time on task (aka learning time) and not on any specific media being used” (Beatty & Albert, 2016, p. 324).

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Table 12.1 Percentage of the full point score achieved by students attending the classes and students not attending them at the different sections of the exam in the Organization Theory course (fall term 2014) Exam section 1: multiple-choice questions (only one answer is correct) (%) Students attending 86 more than half of the classes Students not attending 76 any classes Relative differences in 10 scores

Exam section 2: Overall case study analysis exam (%) results (%) 62

74

43

59

19

15

– Try to identify a CoP that you have participated in. What are the benefits from participating in this community? – How to identify a CoP in an organization? – What are the challenges faced by organizations involved in attempting to manage a CoP? Students become familiar with the definition of the concept before the class, but in-class discussion enables them to comprehend what this concept really means. They give each other examples and discuss whether these examples really fit a definition of a CoP. As some students admitted, when they came to the class they had not seen themselves as a part of any CoP, but after discussing this concept and related questions with their fellow students and with the teacher in the class, they can see what the concept actually stand for and recognize they are part of several such communities. I dare to say they would never come to this understanding with a traditional lecture-based way of teaching.

Problem of Unpreparedness As shown, student participation in class is important for achieving intended learning outcomes, but students also need to prepare before the class for in-class activities. As pointed out by Zappe, Leicht, Messner Litzinger, and Woo Lee (2009), “[s]tudent success in active learning examples in flipped classes depends on students’ level of preparation for class” (p. 5). However, students might hesitate to invest their time for preparation as they might initially perceive it as more work with no impact on their grade (Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014). For instance, students in our Organization Theory course evaluation gave the workload as a reason for why they did not attend the non-obligatory classes. The number of tasks which students were asked to prepare for each class along with the uncomfortable feeling which comes from being unprepared made them skip classes. The average attendance in the Organization Theory course was only about 30% in fall term 2014 and 35% in spring term 2016 when the flipped classroom design was

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used. Only about half of the students attending the classes claimed they watch video lectures and/or read the course book before the class; the rest of them admitted to come unprepared. Besides the high pre-class workload, another explanation for the relatively low participation in the non-obligatory Organization Theory classes might be that the final written exam was scheduled in the last week of the 10-week course and students might not have felt motivated to devote time to studying gradually during the course weeks as the exam seemed to be in the distant future (Klimplová, 2016). It also possible that (some) students were unaccustomed to studying evenly during the course weeks and had not yet developed the ability to distribute their workload over a period of time, which is also documented by the Fig. 12.3. The unpreparedness of some students presents a challenge for teachers as they must be ready to tackle the problem of how to organise in-class activities and engage differently prepared students. One way to overcome this problem is to prepare different sets of activities/exercises for groups of students with different levels of preparation (to be determined based on the analysis of pre-class activities data or just simply by asking students in a class whether they had read/watched/did assignments before coming to the class).

Non-obligatory classes

Obligatory seminars

Written exam

Fig. 12.3 “Last-minute” learning—relationships between video views and course occasions in the Organization Theory course (fall term 2014), statistics taken from YouTube views. Based on Klimplová & Barcik (2015)

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Incentives for Active Participation Based on the reasons presented above, incentives to increase students’ active (prepared) participation in the classes seem to be crucial. These incentives might include participation points for in-class activities or quizzes as a “gate-check” to make sure students come prepared for the class (Hall & DuFrene, 2016; Zappe et al., 2009). Another way might be to ask students to post a question on the online forum related to the video lectures and/or readings before coming to the class or administer “regular test[s] over the course of the semester” (Dressler et al., 2016, p. 575). Albert and Beatty (2014) provide other examples of incentives in their Introduction to Management course. These incentives are designed “so students could increase their grade by as much as 10% through (a) correctly answering extra-credit multiple-choice questions focused on the video cases which were only available to view in class, (b) writing responses to one chapter application set of questions and sharing views of one question with the class […]” (p. 421). Furthermore, clear expectations should be presented to students at the start of the course, in order to reduce their frustration regarding the time needed for the pre-class activities. Students need to understand the benefits of active (prepared) participation in classes and be ready to take responsibility for their own learning (Albert & Beatty, 2014; Butt, 2014; Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014; O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). One way might be to convince the students of the benefits of active (prepared) participation in classroom sessions by showing them the relationship between attendance and examination results from the previous courses (see the Table 12.1), or by inviting students from the previous course occasions to explain to current students the importance of classroom participation for successful completion of the course.

Further Considerations Compared to the relatively low attendance in the undergraduate Organization Theory (OT) course (30–35%), the graduate Knowledge Management (KM) course had an average attendance of 70%. Moreover, these Master’s level KM students seemed to be better prepared and more engaged in class discussions than the OT undergraduate students. A possible explanation might be that these are more mature students who have already been studying for four years at university level and have (at least partly) developed higher-level cognitive skills and a true understanding of the term “learning”, and thus are better equipped for this pedagogical approach (Klimplová, 2016). Similarly, as noted by Strayer (2012), students in introductory courses might not have yet developed a deep interest in the subject at hand. Students in advanced classes, on the other hand, might be “more willing to persist in prolonged investigations and make connections with online learning experiences, provided that the

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structure of the course supports their meaning making in the activity” (Strayer, 2012, p. 191). Prashar (2015) also claims that as “students in the flipped classroom had more issues with the unstructured activities and unpredictable homework […] than their counterparts in traditional lecture-oriented class” (p. 132), the flipped classroom may therefore not be appropriate for introductory classes. However, other studies found positive outcomes from flipped classroom implementation even in introductory business courses (e.g., Albert & Beatty, 2014; Lento, 2016). In this respect, a recent experimental study conducted by Zhu and Xie (2018) on junior students majoring in electronic business is also interesting. The authors analyzed the similarities and differences in instructional effects (students’ motivation, attitudes, satisfaction, and grades in mid-term and final exams) from: – the traditional lecture-based teaching method with no pre-class activities, – a semi-flipped teaching approach that used pre-class activities of videos and written materials, in-class activities of lectures via PowerPoint and blackboards, and homework, and – a fully-flipped teaching approach with video and text materials and collaborative assignments before each class, and guided discussions in class to consolidate what students had learnt from the pre-class activities. Zhu and Xie (2018) found that the semi-flipped and fully-flipped classroom approaches produced better instructional effects, both subjectively (when assessed by asking students about their motivation, attitudes, satisfaction) and objectively (when assessed by the exam grades), than the traditional teaching method. However, the semi-flipped approach was more effective than the fully-flipped approach. As the authors note, the fully-flipped classroom approach only achieves its instructional effects after a period of time as students need time to adapt for this type of teaching. They suggest that the fully-flipped classroom, to some extent, “increases the perceived difficulties of course contents for students, which prevents the students from understanding and mastering the knowledge points” (Zhu & Xie, 2018, p. 53). Yet the positive outcomes are revealed once students get familiar with this teaching approach. Using a combination of different approaches to teach business courses is thus recommended. Dressler et al. (2016) found that a mix of digital and face-to-face teaching is preferred by students. According to the authors, this prevents students from being left alone while “navigating through the various media tools” (Dressler et al., 2016, p. 575). Prashar (2015) agrees, recommending that teachers consider the nature of the concept and the module context before determining the extent of the flip required for each class. His results highlight “the indispensability of integrating online and face-to-face components for the success of a flipped classroom model” (Prashar, 2015, p. 133).

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Implications and Conclusion What are the implications and conclusions regarding flipped teaching in business courses? Some recommendations based on my own teaching experience and the previous research findings on flipped classroom in business courses are to: (a) not cover everything in videos, but rather stimulate students’ curiosity for reading and participating in classes, for instance by referring to stimulating questions (e.g., ethical business dilemmas) and business cases to be discussed and analyzed jointly during the classes; (b) consider carefully what shall be done before the class and what can be done during the class (cf. Prashar, 2015), as overly extensive pre-class workloads decrease students’ willingness to prepare for and attend the (non-obligatory) classes; for instance, experience shows that case studies as an important element of all business courses, facilitating deeper learning and understanding, are better to be introduced during the class than asking students to read the cases before coming to the class4; (c) use the information from students’ pre-class activities (exercises, online quizzes, forum discussions, video retention statistics, etc.) to customize in-class activities (Butt, 2014, Dressler et al., 2016; Klimplová & Barcik, 2015); and (d) create incentives for student participation in classes (Albert & Beatty, 2014, Dressler et al., 2016, Hall & DuFrene, 2016; Zappe et al., 2009, etc.), as participation seems to be important for the development of higher-level cognitive skills (applying, analysing, and evaluating) which are the key skills of all graduates, including business graduates. In-class participation also contributes to increased social interactions, cooperation and collaborative learning of students (EDUCAUSE, 2012) which is essential for all business graduates who will work in any organization or on any project jointly with others. To illustrate how classes in an undergraduate business course can be flipped, Fig. 12.4 presents an example of suggested pre-class and in-class activities. Although some studies have pointed out that flipped classrooms might not be suitable for introductory business classes (Strayer, 2012; Prashar, 2015; Klimplová, 2016), others provide evidence of positive outcomes from the use of flipped classrooms even in introductory business courses (Albert & Beatty, 2014; Lento, 2016). It might be best to introduce the flipped classroom approach gradually, for instance by starting with semi-flipped teaching (Zhu & Xie, 2018) or by combining different teaching methods (digital and face-to-face teaching, e.g., Dressler et al., 2016, Prashar, 2015). Undergraduate students might appreciate more in-class time, face-to-face teaching, and instructor’s guidelines (how to do things “right”) to get 4

Besides decreasing the pre-class workload it also prevents the situations when some students come to the class without reading the cases before. In such situations, teachers had to give extra time to those unprepared students to become familiar with the case before starting the analysis and discussion in collaboration with other students.

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Pre-meeting I Students assimilate and process new information via video lectures and readings

Pre-meeting II Quizzes to ensure and assess initial encounter with new material before class

In-class Application exercises, generally requiring student collaboration

215

Students are asked to read a chapter (ca 30 pages) in the course book and watch approx. 8-10 videos presenting the key concepts, models and theories (including one introducing and one summarizing video); each video (screencasts with voice over) is about 7–10 min long. Estimated time for students to do this activity: 5–6 hours In general, videos to be designed to explain the basics, to stimulate students’ curiosity for further reading and to motivate them for in-class participation, e.g. by referring to interesting cases to be elaborated jointly during the classes.

Students are encouraged to put questions concerning the content of the videos or readings on e-learning platform forum. Moreover, students are asked to answer multiple choice questions via e-learning platform. Estimated time to do this activity: 1–2 h Forum questions and an analysis of the answers from the online pre-class quiz is utilized to deliver more relevant in-class content.

- Answering students’ questions (both from online forum and on the spot questions) - Explaining problematic concepts based on results from multiple choice quiz - In collaboration with fellow students (in small groups of 3–4), analysis of case studies using the learnt concepts, models and theories; group discussion on assigned questions (e.g. ethical dilemmas in business) and/or role plays (e.g. each group presenting an organizational unit negotiating on priorities of a joint work task) - Whole class summarizing reflections and conclusions (“lesson learnt”) - A short introduction of the next topic In-class time: 2 h

Fig. 12.4 Examples of pre-class and in-class activities for an undergraduate business course

familiar with the subject terminology, concepts, and models and the way they are expected to utilize them for business case analysis. Graduate students, on the other hand, can be left to resolve some tasks just with their peers without teacher’s presence and assistance, i.e., what Zhu & Xie (2018) calls a fully-flipped teaching approach with collaborative assignments before each class, and guided discussions in class (teacher’s role here is to be the “guide on the side”, King, 1993). At the end of the day, teachers must decide on their approach based on their course content and context including their students’ maturity, skills, needs, and previous experience with flipped classroom, with the goal of implementing the best possible teaching instructions for students’ learning.

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Appendix 1: Overview of Selected Studies on Flipped Classroom (FC) in Business Courses Authors and year

Country

Course (level/program)

Aim of the study

FC implementation (pre-class and in-class activities used)

Study design

Key findings

Albert and Beatty (2014)

USA

Introduction to management course (undergraduate level)

To assess and compare the impact of a FC versus a lecture class on student grades

Pre-class activities: Video lectures, slides, readings In-class: Application questions (50–60% of class time), video cases with application questions, movie clips focused on key concepts, other multimedia material

Quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent groups (N = 321 in treatment group, 596 in control group)

Grades on all 3 exams were higher in FC, and grades on 2 of 3 exams were significantly higher

Beatty and Albert (2016)

USA

Introduction to management course (undergraduate level)

To assess student perceptions of a FC and to determine the relationship between student perceptions and student grades

The same as in Albert and Beatty (2014), see above

Quantitative approach—survey assessing student perception; correlation analysis to explore associations between student performance and perceptions of FC

Significant differences in student perceptions of FC between successful (A–C grades) and unsuccessful (D– F) students— students performing better generally more positive

Butt (2014)

Australia

Actuarial techniques (3rd year in actuarial studies program)

To assess the value of traditional lecture format compared to other learning activities and assess students’ perceptions of the use of class time change after being involved in FC

Pre-class activities: lecture notes, feedback activity online (possibility for students to ask questions), exercises (handwritten or Excel) In class: Going through exercises, multiple-choice questions (online audience response tool)

Survey—first part N = 62 (importance of traditional teaching and expectations for FC), second part N = 50 (perceptions of the use of class time change after being involved in FC)

After experiencing FC student views became far more positive toward FC

Dressler et al. (2016)

Germany

Introduction to management accounting (3rd year students in business administration and engineering program)

To analyze the influence of the new developed FC concept on student learning performance

Pre-class activities: Theory videos, slides, exercise videos, class response system (ARSnova) In class: Students’ questions, explanations and hinds, solutions for ARSnova exercises, introduction on the topic for the next class, joint practising

Questionnaires, N = 65 Quantitative as well as qualitative data collected Comparison of grades of occasions with traditional learning and FC

Students’ acceptance highest if various methods of teaching applied The average grades and the no-pass rate improved when using FC Students appear to be more motivated and engaged in FC

Findlay-Thompson and Mombourquette (2014)

Canada

Introduction to Business Administration (undergraduate level)

To examine the data from actual results of FC

Not presented

Comparison of exam grades between 3 course sections (one section used FC, two sections traditional lecture-based teaching) Case study, interviews (N = 7) with open-ended questions

Academic results identical to all 3 course sections (no differences between FC and lecture-style teaching) Student views mixed, but students in FC reported better learning environment

(continued)

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(continued) Authors and year

Country

Course (level/program)

Aim of the study

FC implementation (pre-class and in-class activities used)

Study design

Key findings

Haughton and Kelly (2015)

USA

Introductory business statistics (undergraduate level)

To evaluate whether a flipped hybrid model of teaching performed better or worse than more traditional F2F approach to teaching

Pre-class activities: Short videos, online questions In class: Problem-solving exercises

Comparison of performance of students in hybrid (FC) classes and in traditional F2F classes— performance measured via final exam grades, the semester grade (including assignments, quizzes, mid-term exam), student responses about the course (N = 233 in spring 2013 and 232 in fall 2013)

In spring 2013, students in hybrid (FC) class performed better on the common final exam, but their semester grades and rating of the course did not differ significantly from those in traditional class In fall 2013, none of the outcomes measures significantly the difference between hybrid and traditional classes

Klimplová (2016)

Sweden

Organization Theory (OT) (undergraduate level) Knowledge Management (KM) (graduate level)

To reflect how various ways of implementation of FC can influence student engagement, the learning process and learning outcomes

Pre-class activities: Readings, video lectures, assignments (discussion questions and case analysis) to prepare for the class (only in OT course), multiple-choice online quizzes (only in OT course) In class: Students’ questions, explanation of problematic concepts, buzz groups discussion on discussion questions and case analysis

Student surveys/interviews, personal observation of a teacher, quantitative data analysis from the course management system and the exam results

Majority of students agree that FC facilitated their learning and they liked the FC design Attendance in classes seems to lead to better exam results, especially in the exam section assessing higher-level cognitive skills Problems with low attendance in non-obligatory classes, mainly in OT course (probably) due to perceived increased workload in FC

Lento (2016)

Canada

Introductory financial accounting (undergraduate level)

To describe implementation of FC and determine its efficacy

Pre-class activities: White-board voice-over videos (mini-lectures, take-up problems, walk through case solutions), online textbook tutorials, YouTube videos (additional online resource) In class: Case analysis, concept mapping, solving comprehensive problems, mini lectures with bookends, small group discussions Post-class quizzes

Quasi-experimental design (N = 97 in experimental group, 92 in control group), combined with student surveys

FC improved student grade point averages, final exam performance, and pass rates Both the stronger and weaker students benefited from the technologies and active learning strategies adopted in FC

Philips and Trainor (2014)

USA

Accounting courses (all levels)

To examine the FC approach to teaching accounting to the millennial generation of students and to explore accounting students’ attitudes toward FC

Not presented

Survey (N = 125, response rate 17%)

Students primarily exposed to the lecture-based methods of teaching, but prefer active learning approach; FC might be an effective method for engaging millennial students

(continued)

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(continued) Authors and year

Country

Course (level/program)

Aim of the study

FC implementation (pre-class and in-class activities used)

Study design

Key findings

Prashar (2015)

India

Operations management course module (MBA program)

To assess students’ actual and preferred preferences of two different environments (i.e., flipped and traditional)

Pre-class activities: online wikis, flashcards, videos (via engrade.com) In class: In-depth discussions, engaging activities

Single case study, quasi-experimental design (N = 25 in treatment group, 25 in control group), mixed methods— quantitative data (CUCEI—the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory), qualitative data (focus groups)

A FC scores higher than a traditional, lecture-oriented design on the following criteria: student involvement, task orientation, and innovation FC promotes collaborative learning FC might not be suitable for introductory classes

Scafuto et al. (2017)

Brazil

Management courses (MBA program)

To analyze the individual impact of out-of-class and in-class activities of the FC model on the perceived performance of educators and courses

Pre-class activities: virtual book with videos and written materials, forum activities and pre-assessment content tests In-class activities: use of structured activities with videos, case studies, and other student-centered collaborative activities

Quantitative study —questionnaire (N = 981); testing of hypotheses using linear regression

The evaluation of the perceived quality of the educator and course is positively affected by the use of the flipped classroom

Zhu and Xie (2018)

China

Electronic business course (undergraduate level)

To analyze experimentally the similarities and differences of instructional effects (students’ motivation, satisfaction, attitudes, grades in mid-term and final exams) among traditional teaching method, semi-flipped classroom approach and full flipped classroom approach

Traditional teaching (teaching-centered): Nothing before the class; In-class: lectures using PowerPoint, blackboard, assigning homework; After class completing homework independently Semi-flipped teaching (learning-centered): Pre-class: videos, written materials In-class: lectures using PowerPoint, blackboard, assigning homework; After class completing homework independently Full flipped teaching (self-learning centered): Pre-class: videos, written materials; communicating with collaborative learning team (6 students) In-class: Guided discussion to consolidate what students learnt After class completing homework

Experimental research design (N = 211) Traditional teaching group (N = 70) Semi-flipped teaching group (N = 69) Full flipped classroom (N = 72) Questionnaire to assess students’ motivation, satisfaction, attitudes (the instructional effects scale) Examination papers for assessing grades Analysis of variance and non-parametric test method

Semi-flipped and flipped classroom approaches can produce better instructional effects relative to traditional teaching method Semi-flipped classroom approach is more suitable compared to full flipped classroom approach Flipped classroom approach only achieves its instructional effects after a period of time (students need time to adapt for this type of teaching)

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Scafuto, I., Serra, F., Mangini, E., Maccari, A., & Ruas, R. (2017). The impact of flipped classroom in MBA’s evaluation. Education + Training, 59(9), 914–928. https://doi.org/10. 1108/ET-06-2016-0097. Strayer, J. (2012). How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation. Learning Environment Research, 15, 171–193. Tucker, B. (2012). The flipped classroom. Education Next, 12(1). Retrieved from http:// educationnext.org/the-flipped-classroom/. Zappe, S., Leicht, R., Messner, J. Litzinger, T., & Woo Lee H. (2009). “Flipping” the classroom to explore active learning in a large undergraduate course. American Society for Engineering Education. Zhu, W., & Xie, W. (2018). Evaluating instructional effects of Flipped Classroom in University. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 16(1), 45–55.

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Flipping the Classroom in Teacher Education Matt Smith and Paul Gurton

Pre-Class Meeting Students access and process new information via curated content on virtual learning environments, alone or in learning groups

Start of Class In session, students discuss and practice applying ideas and techniques previously encountered through their individual learning in the pre-f2f phase

Post Class Students work on further tasks following the input and discussions with tutor and colleagues in order to embed understanding.

Students on initial teacher education programmes access carefully curated and created materials that introduce them to subject knowledge and pedagogical ideas in engaging ways, freeing tutor time for more personalised support in sessions.

Students are not faced with fact-based lectures, but engage in meaningful learning, with more active learning activities in session, putting into practice ideas encountered in out-of-class learning.

Students spend time either on their own or in social groups working on further applications of the pedagogies they encountered in sessions: for example, problem-solving or developing their own learning and teaching materials.

M. Smith (&)
P. Gurton University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 Z. Walker et al. (eds.), Flipped Classrooms with Diverse Learners, Springer Texts in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4171-1_13

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“Getting them to read something before they come to class? Didn’t we use to call that ‘homework’?” Despite the attitude of some practitioners, Flipped Learning is beginning to pervade the province of teacher educators. In the United Kingdom, Advance HE (previously the Higher Education Academy [HEA]), citing Hamdan, McKnight, McKnight, & Arfstrom, 2013, notes that “Flipped learning has not been rigorously evaluated as a pedagogy in higher education, but case studies are emerging, in ever greater numbers, which document measurable improvements in student and teacher motivation, increased attendance in class, and better grades, as a result of using the flipped approach” (HEA, 2018, online). Although not as far advanced in its implementation as in the US, the HEA report that the concept has clearly gained traction in the UK, quoting Sharples et al. (2014) who state that flipped learning can be seen as a pedagogy with “the potential for high impact in the HE sector in the medium term (2–5 years)” (HEA, 2018, online). There is, as yet, not a wealth of literature focusing on the use of flipped learning within initial teacher education or with preservice teachers. This chapter will look at the extant material and, combined with experience and reported results, offer some insights into current practice and potential future uses of flipped learning in initial teacher education (ITE).

Introduction In the UK, students undertake teacher training by following one of two main routes: those studying to be secondary school teachers predominantly follow a one year postgraduate course, whereas those training to be primary or elementary school teachers have a choice of either this route, if they have a first degree, or an undergraduate award if not. No prospective student can begin teacher training— indeed, any University-level course—without having first gained the requisite grades in their Advanced Level examinations or equivalent. They also need to have demonstrated skills in English, mathematics and science at General Certificate level (GCSE) or equivalent, and to have passed Professional Skills Tests (sta.education. gov.uk). There are some differences in requirements for entry to these courses in the constituent nations (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland), as there are in their curricula. A brief summary of the possible routes is listed below. Further details for entry to training courses in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found on government websites—e.g. https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/; https://teachinscotland.scot/.

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Undergraduate routes: Primary Teaching: Bachelor of Education or Bachelor of Arts in Education (3 or 4 year-long courses); some Institutions offer specialisms, e.g. Early Years teaching. Secondary Teaching: A few Institutions offer undergraduate routes into specific secondary subject teaching, such as mathematics, physics, geography, etc. However, this is a much less common route into Secondary education than the PGCE (see below). Postgraduate routes: Primary Teaching: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE—a 1 year-long course); some Institutions offer specialisms in Early Years, Special Educational Needs, etc. Secondary Teaching: Postgraduate Certificate in Education in specific subject areas. In both Primary and Secondary PGCE courses there are variations—a school-sponsored PGCE known as School Direct Training and employment-based routes such as School Direct Salaried, Teach First and, more recently, Apprenticeships. For more, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teachertraining-criteria/initial-teacher-training-itt-criteria-and-supporting-advice

Traditionally taught through a mix of centre-based subject lectures (at University or other providers) and in-school experience, teacher education has always sought to blend the theoretical and philosophical with the practical. In this way, taught sessions (including theoretical underpinnings and the direct influence of the tutors) combine with the practical experiences in school situations to help shape the pedagogical beliefs of students. As they negotiate the course, they construct their burgeoning understanding of their role as teachers (Smith, 2017a), engaging and participating in authentic environments (Herrington, 2006). It is in these authentic environments in practice-based school placements that ‘situated learning’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991), or learning that takes place in the same context in which it is applied, best takes place. These different values, taken together, have been understood as the ‘signature pedagogies of the profession’ (Shulman, 2004): a combination of knowledge of how students learn, knowledge of the subject matter they need to learn and knowledge of the pedagogies to teach effectively. Learning to teach in schools clearly depends on working with children in classrooms. We will henceforth limit our discussion to what may be possible in the teaching and learning in the institutional classrooms in which students are taught rather than those in which they are expected to lead the learning. Drawing on a substantial research base, Husbands and Pearce (2012) make nine “strong claims”

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about the characteristics of highly successful pedagogies. These include giving consideration to pupil voice, scaffolding pupil learning, a focus on developing higher order thinking and metacognition, and making good use of dialogue and questioning in order to do so, the use of assessment for learning, and being inclusive. Their conclusion is that “outstanding pedagogy is far from straightforward” (op. cit., p. 12). Rather, in the complex and ever-changing realities of classrooms, successful pedagogies need to be sophisticated, reactive and adaptable. They describe the most successful pedagogies as developing when teachers use their understanding of their students in order to plan effectively and then teach based on that, using a wide knowledge base of these effective pedagogies to do so, “supplemented by a personal passion for what is to be taught and for the aspirations of learners” (p. 13). Current practice in Teacher Education typically includes a diet of whole cohort traditional lectures, covering generic issues such as safeguarding, planning and record keeping—usually known as “Professional Studies” or “Professional Learning”—and smaller group seminars which cover subject-specific knowledge and pedagogy. Lecture sessions which are to groups of a hundred or so students can often be predominantly didactic and more traditional, offering fewer opportunities for discussion or co-operative working. However, seminars, where student numbers can range from the very small to thirty-five or forty, depending on the route and/or subject specialism, provide opportunities for discussion, reflection on pedagogy and effective co-operative meaning-making. It is here that the trainer can model successful pedagogies (Husbands & Pearce, 2012) and encourage the student to begin to develop their sense of teacher identity and values (Dunne, 2011). It is here too that flipped learning works to best advantage. There are significant constraints on PGCE routes in the UK for both Primary and Secondary Education which mean that the balance between covering the subject content to be taught and priority areas such as assessment, behaviour management and pedagogy have to be carefully considered. Constant reform of the sector, with the introduction of new routes to gaining qualified teacher status (QTS) and changes to the Teachers’ Standards (DFE, 2011), can have a negative impact on the willingness of some to embrace new and innovative pedagogies, such as Flipped Learning. However, since the body of curriculum content and the necessary skills such as classroom management and assessment do not fundamentally change, this is not a significant issue in the sector. The major challenge to planners of PGCE courses is the fact that legal requirements stipulate that trainee teachers must spend at least 120 days (24 weeks) in school during their course. This reduces the available time for providers to a mere eight weeks. In some School Direct Salaried and Teach First training courses the input is less still, being between only four to six weeks. These exigencies mean that postgraduate students are taught often from nine to five for five days a week, leading to overload. Flipped learning can be used as a way to ensure there is effective coverage of key issues, subject matter and pedagogy which can otherwise prove difficult in such a short training period. However, in such intensive programmes the reality is that work set out of class is not always covered and students turn up unprepared. For those who have childcare commitments or need to hold down a job to fund their studies, these are very real threats to

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their ability to study beyond their University sessions. Within undergraduate programmes, however, even for those classed as ‘non-traditional’ students, this approach more often succeeds, as students spend longer blocks of time in the HEI and have time to engage in out-of-class study. Although not widespread, the use of flipped learning is now gaining ground in ITE. It usually takes the form of students reading, viewing a film clip or responding to a classroom scenario out of class and being prepared to discuss in seminar. For a number of years the Blended Learning approach has also been in widespread use. Defined as blending together “text-based asynchronous Internet technology with face to face learning” (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004, p. 95), Blended Learning has arisen from the effect that digital technology has had on the way we communicate and manage information. Garrison and Kanuka believe that digital learning challenges both our cognitive abilities and the traditional classroom paradigm (op. cit., p. 96). Indeed, some hold the view that online learning will eventually replace the face-to-face traditional classroom scenario entirely (see, e.g., Zhang, Zhao, Zhou, & Nunamaker, 2004). In teacher education there is a recognition that, whilst this approach can be very powerful, the need for face-to-face learning to develop social skills as well knowledge-building is not likely to disappear in the near future. But Blended Learning is used regularly and beneficially to include such activities as responding to forum posts requiring learners to pose solutions to dilemmas in case studies of classroom practice, for example. There are clearly overlaps here with flipped learning, and the complementarity of the Blended and Flipped approaches in ITE to face-to-face sessions has a specific function which supports the development of a key and necessary attribute of the teacher: the ability to work as part of a community to reflect on practice, participate in shared problem-solving and make adaptations to practice. These opportunities provide what Schön describes as the need for time to “break from the technical rational models of learning” and move towards “concrete problem-solving” (1991, p. 24). The informal support students receive from each other and their tutor model the informal and more formal support that they will receive when in school participating as an apprentice in ‘situated learning’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991).

Literature Review The very term “flipped classroom” describes how the locations for learning events are inverted (Wilson, 2013). Abeysekera and Dawson list six characteristics of flipping learning, most of which demonstrate a clear inversion of the more normative, traditional approach to learning activities, which they call “moving tasks in time and space” (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015, p. 2). They list some examples of this as transferring what would traditionally have happened in class (i.e. the teaching of the subject material) to an out-of-class activity, and conversely doing activities traditionally considered homework (such as working on problems after teacher input) in the classroom. These in-class activities emphasise active learning

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and peer learning, facilitated through pre- and post-class activities, and the use of technology (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015; Yough, Merzdorf, Fedesco, & Cho, 2017). Vaughn notes that with what she describes as “a classroom full of millennial learners” (Vaughn, 2014, p. 25) it is incumbent on teacher educators to meet their students’ changing learning needs through adjusting their pedagogical approaches. Flipping learning aims to engage student teachers with subject content in a new way: one that is explicitly designed to move away from the uninspiring and unedifying straight lecture approach (see, e.g. Cobb, 2016) and increase meaningful learning, allowing for more active learning activities in session, putting into practice ideas encountered in out-of-class learning (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Zappe, Leicht, Messner, Litzinger, & Lee, 2009). Doing this in session allows for a learner-centric, facilitative, socially-constructivist approach as student teachers work together to find solutions using unfamiliar concepts (see, e.g. Prince, 2004; Roehl, Reddy, & Shannon, 2013), rather than merely taking notes. It sounds great… but does it work? Vaughn (2015) states that it can—provided teacher educators both understand and can use “the technology needed to construct the ‘outside’ portion of the flip and the pedagogical strategies to make what occurs ‘inside’ the classroom meaningful” (Vaughn, 2015, p. 2622). Herreid and Schiller (2013, p. 62) describe what they term “the lure of the flipped classroom,” quoting Fulton’s (2012) excellent list of further advantages of the flipped classroom:

1. students move at their own pace; 2. doing ‘homework’ in class gives teachers better insight into student difficulties and learning styles; 3. teachers can more easily customise and update the curriculum and provide it to students 24/7; 4. classroom time can be used more effectively and creatively; 5. teachers using the method report seeing increased levels of student achievement, interest, and engagement; 6. learning theory supports the new approaches; and 7. the use of technology is flexible and appropriate for ‘21st century learning.’

Herreid and Schiller surveyed the 15,000+ members of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Listserv, asking whether any of them used flipped learning in STEM (Science, Technology and Mathematics) teaching sessions. Some two hundred teachers responded positively, and gave some further advantages to using this approach. These were

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8. they were able to spend more time to with students on authentic research; 9. students get more time working with scientific equipment that is only available in the classroom; 10. students who miss class for debate/sports/etc. can watch the lectures while on the road; 11. the method “promotes thinking inside and outside of the classroom”; 12. students are more actively involved in the learning process; and 13. they also really like it.

However, there is a cautionary aspect to their research too. The STEM case teachers who responded identified two major problems:

1. Students may not want, or be able, to engage with learning outside the classroom for a variety of reasons, leaving them unprepared for in-class learning activities and unable to join in with their colleagues, which can lead to resentment, further disengagement and alienation, and failure to progress at a similar rate to those who do participate in the flipped aspect. 2. The external aspect of the delivery (usually videos uploaded to virtual learning environments or, more simply, to YouTube) have to be carefully tailored to the student body, and be high quality. Finding these materials is very hard; many teachers are creating their own, which obviously has a time and labour cost attached to it.

Egbert, Herman, and Lee (2015) give some ideas for how to overcome these burdens of preparation: they are confident that flipped instruction can work well on teacher education courses provided the tasks can be designed and built by a large enough team to ensure each individual is not overburdened; where this is not possible, more support needs to be given. Despite the inherent difficulties, Herreid and Schiller (p. 65) conclude that the better a student is prepared, the more learning that can be achieved. The flipped classroom idea is not new. Teachers have forever struggled to get students to study on their own, either ahead of time or as homework; that is when the real learning happens, not when the teacher is lecturing, droning on and on. The flipped classroom, with its use of videos that engage and focus student learning, offers us a new model for case study teaching, combining active, student-centered learning with content mastery that can be applied to solving real-world problems. It’s a win-win.

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So what about teacher education courses more specifically? As we stated earlier, there is very little literature from anywhere in the world on flipping the learning inside teacher education classrooms—indeed, it has been stated with some certainty as recently as 2017 that “flipped classrooms have received scant attention in teacher education programs” (Yough et al., 2017, p. 4). However, Kurt has written recently about the situation in Turkey, and his own research. He describes what he calls a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental study, in which the effectiveness of a flipped approach to teaching a classroom management course on a preservice English teacher education programme was measured against a class taught more traditionally. The reported findings are “a higher level of self-efficacy beliefs and better learning outcomes for the experimental group in the flipped classroom compared to the control group in the traditional classroom” (Kurt, 2017, p. 211). Participants’ own perceptions of the flipped classroom were also positive. Vaughn (2014) describes a study that engaged preservice teachers through a flipped classroom model. She describes both a higher level of reflection and inquiry displayed by her students, and how more instructional strategies were enabled to be effectively modelled within the course through the use of flipping some of the learning. Yough et al., drawing heavily on Shulman, state that in teacher education, “it is imperative that course design, method of instruction, and classroom procedures align with the content” (Yough et al., 2017, p. 1). They note that flipping the classroom may be one way to try to achieve this, but warn that this teaching style’s effect on the basic psychological needs or learning outcomes of preservice teachers is unstudied and unknown. Their attempt to examine some of these outcomes with a relatively large number of participants on a course (263) revealed that “preservice teachers in the traditional section had significantly higher scores on two of the motivation outcomes (e.g., intrinsic and identified regulation), but that preservice teachers in the flipped sections had significantly higher scores on several indices of objective learning outcomes.” The conclusions and implications they reach are interesting in that the students reported some support for the benefits to their learning, but none for the motivational benefits of flipped classrooms. Some potential for flipped classrooms to promote student learning is thus evident, though they caution that by no means will flipping the classroom “serve as a ‘silver bullet’” (op. cit., p. 11), nor replace good student-centred teaching and interpersonal relationships in classes. Yoshida reiterates the point that students on a teacher education course found the flipped elements they encountered useful because “they can study through the video over and over again, they can study at their pace, they can stop the video whenever they want to, they can study though the video on their own time, and they report it enhances both their understanding and the effectiveness of classroom lessons” (Yoshida, 2016, p. 430). Ibrahim and Watts report that using a flipped teaching strategy had a “positive effect on preservice teachers’ test scores, self-efficacy and the majority of students are in favour of its use in technology integration course” (Ibrahim & Watts, 2015, p. 1223), specifically as it “promotes collaboration and hands-on activities during the class time… and that they do not have to sit and listen

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to an hour long lecture that ‘goes in one ear and out the other one’” (op. cit., p. 1223). Finally, Hao and Lee (2016) note the importance of “maximising student learning so as to promote the practice and development of those complex skills and practices required of them as future practitioners” (p. 260). Creating the optimal amount of class time to “practice and hone those discipline-specific skills” (p. 260) through “moving tasks in time and space” (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015, p. 2) to outside the classroom is one key way this can be achieved. Doing so, and thus “immersing” preservice teachers in “student-centred and technology-enhanced learning within their teacher training program will prepare them to teach effectively in our 21st century classrooms” (Hao & Lee, 2016, p. 260).

Best Practices There are clear implications here, then, for teacher educators. The idea of having students arrive with the basic knowledge, ready to begin practising skills with no need for a teacher introduction or didactic monologue has huge appeal for staff who are likely to already subscribe to the principles of Bereiter’s (2002) theory of knowledge building, Engeström’s (1987) theory of expansive learning, and Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) model of knowledge creation. These can be defined as “learning as participation; knowledge and skills being learned/produced that are not stable, not even defined or understood ahead of time; important transformations that are literally learned as they are being created” (Smith, 2017b, pp. 13–4). The idea here is that the approach allows for ‘horizontal learning’ through peer talk rather than top-down ‘delivery’ methods, developed through boundary-crossing interactions, e.g. between two interacting activity systems, such as formal and informal learning methods, or theory-based and practical activities (see e.g. Akkerman & Bakker, 2011), in a socially-constructive learning environment. The intellectual skills and cognitive strategies needed for such problem-solving or managing one’s own learning are supported by the prior knowledge, guidance and application gained in the pre-session tasks. Our colleague David Cousens at the University of Northampton conducted some research with his students on the blended approach to learning, and identified the three key phases of any given session, which they term the pre face-to-face, the face-to-face and the post face-to-face engagements. For simplicity, these are shortened to pre-f2f, f2f and post-f2f. One student is quoted as saying “I think the whole thing can be seen as one big learning event, I think this is the word used to describe the three part system; it’s almost an encouragement to do each of the three parts. It’s one big event, if you like” (Cousens, 2016, p. 34). We too have noted that at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, when students are given greater autonomy to engage with materials before the traditional in-class learning activities take place, those that choose to do so are more engaged, more active and more successful in both their endeavours and their outcomes. This

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comes, however, with two caveats. Firstly, not all students choose to engage in pre-f2f activities, for a variety of reasons, and we need to be alive to this in order to cater for their in-class needs. This will inevitably lead to more teacher time spent teaching the basics that could already have been covered in the pre-f2f materials (and potentially to teacher frustration that they’re having to) and less time supporting the facilitation of higher-level learning conversations with those who arrive ready to begin practising. Secondly, teacher educators will need to have time to create high-quality pre-f2f materials and resources. There is lots of evidence that students engage more with high-quality materials than with any old resource just put up on the virtual learning environment, or VLE (see e.g. Herreid & Schiller, 2013; Vaughn, 2015). It follows, then, that there are a series of characteristics of effective flipped learning that staff teams will need supporting in building their capacity to meet. We offer here a (non-exhaustive) list of these characteristics:

• An effective virtual learning environment • Engaging and high-class materials—preferably to a professional standard • A clearly mapped programme of in-class and out-of-class activities that complement and build upon each other • Staff who are able to motivate students to participate in pre- and post-f2f activities • Students who engage with pre- and post-f2f activities in order to maximise their opportunities to learn and to gain the most from in-class f2f sessions.

None of this will happen on teacher education courses overnight. Senior leadership at Institutional levels will need to be convinced of the necessity of these approaches and to commit to helping their staff teams to implement them through supporting these enterprises financially, technologically and in terms of staff workload. Creating a screencast or video of the material that is typically worked through laboriously in front of a slideshow will take time and expertise to complete to a high standard, and teacher educators will need to work on what may be new skillsets for some of them in order to do this. The elephant in the room may be staff willingness to accept this approach or to take the time needed to do it well. However, this can be dealt with relatively simply through the maxim “curation not creation” (see, e.g., Ibáñez Moreno & Traxler, 2016) whereby teacher educators point students towards well-created and high-quality content already openly available under free licence on sites such as YouTube, blog posts and podcasts. Where content is made available, and the students participate in the pre-f2f activities, it allows for practical sessions that otherwise would not be possible. Examples from our own experience in the UK include

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• allowing students to do micro-teaching sessions with each other individually and in groups following their learning in pre-f2f activities; • engaging in high-level debate and discussion on key issues, such as the appropriateness of the systematic synthetic approach to phonetic instruction that is currently the centrepiece of the UK strategy for early reading, without the need for teacher input at the start of the session, thus allowing for more time for the activity itself; • presentations of student-created non-fiction films for the English aspect of a primary teacher education course that were created in blended learning time out of class; • the in-class use of materials and practice of strategies introduced in pre-f2f videos that would otherwise have been impossible in the timeframe; and • the deeper and broader understandings of research phenomenology through engagement in specific tasks before undertaking undergraduate dissertations or Masters level work on the postgraduate programme.

It is important to note, however, that not everything on a teacher education course can be learned in this way—we can’t realistically or logistically legislate for practising pedagogical skills with children in all our lectures, so it’s not always appropriate to have practical sessions, and there are some elements of teacher subject knowledge that are best transmitted and learned in more a more traditional fashion, with a Vygotskian master-novice dynamic acknowledging the role of the lecturer as a skilled practitioner and, indeed, teacher. This is not to say it can’t be done in a facilitative and learner-centric way, using “flexible pedagogies” (HEA, 2013, p. 5; p. 14; cf. also Mazur in Lambert, 2012 who states that “learning interests him far more than teaching, and he encourages a shift from ‘teaching’ to ‘helping students learn’”), which focus on empowering learners through involving them in social co-creation of learning, creating an educational focus towards agency and competence, not just knowledge; and developing cultures and environments for learning outside of the formal curriculum, using collaborative activities and new and emergent pedagogies. However, having the lecturer in the room to turn to is an invaluable tool both for subject knowledge and for the pedagogical knowledge of how to teach it to children, and this must not be forgotten in any rush to move to online and out-of-class models. A further cautionary note comes from Cousens’ research with students. They report a far less enthusiastic response to post-f2f work. They can clearly see the benefits of pre-f2f, and are able to receive both the intrinsic pleasure of having done it, and the extrinsic praise and acknowledgement of their peers and lecturers. However, Cousens reports on student feedback being that it is “just a clarification” or “just going over the stuff we did in lectures” (op. cit., pp. 38–39) and that, moreover, there’s no

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clear motivation to participate (cf. Yough et al., 2017) as it is not referred to again, and they feel that they can “get away with” not engaging with it. However, overall these same students reported that engaging in these learning events across three phases, especially the first two (the pre-f2f and the f2f) led to greater autonomy and deeper learning. They also raised a series of positives that seem to have hitherto escaped the attention of researchers, leading us to wonder whether some of our readers may want to fill this gap. We explore these, and begin to wrap up, in the next section.

Supporting Data Referring back to the table on pX, in this section we expand on, and provide evidence for, some genuine experiences of flipped learning in ITE, with some honest feedback from both students and lecturers. On one of the courses that we run, which is a Level 5 (undergraduate second year) module on Primary English, we have built in a portfolio approach to much of our work. We make resources, tasks and content available online, and then students work in self-selected Learning Groups to engage with these tasks to complete their portfolios. We have adopted this approach to equally embed the principles of flipped learning and to allow students to build towards their module assignment grade. We have found that allowing students to continually add to their portfolios, and to know that they are building up credit towards their overall grade (up to 30% of the module outcome), has engaged them further and we have seen a clear increase in the average grades for the module:

Grades awarded

Pre flipped elements After flipped elements introduced (%) (% of cohort) (%)

70% or above (1st class) 14 60–69% (2.1) 47 50–59% (2.2) 34 40–49% (3rd class) 2