The ‘flipped classroom’ and video lectures

Sue Hardman

Teaching fellow in Accounting

Brunel Business School

A flipped classroom

‘’Inverting the classroom means that events that have traditionally taken place inside the classroom now take place outside the classroom and vice versa’’

(Lage et al, 2000)

Video lectures/assigned reading – outside

Practice exercises/ problem solving - inside

Pros

• Availability of information 24/7• Research showing video lectures slightly

outperform in-person lectures (Cohen et al 1981)• Amplification and duplication of information at a

low cost.• Enhances student experience• Delivers desirable skills, e.g. problem solving• Enables automation of suitable tasks, whilst

freeing classroom and contact time for ‘active learning’

Cons

• Are any form of lecture a good mode of informational transfer?

• What happens if students don’t do the preparatory work

• Do all students have equality of access to internet

• Could be seen as a reduction in accessibility of staff for students

• Why come to University if the material is all online.

• I am not very competent at using technology so I don’t know where to start to get these ‘video lectures’

Personal experience

• This was the position I was in last September.

• I wanted to solve some of the pedagogical: issues I had in two modules:– Year 1 Introduction to accounting

• 350+ in lecture theatre with poor behaviour

• Skills based module

• Transitional expection gap of students

– Year 5 Financial Reporting• Block teaching over 4.5 weeks (8hrs/week)

• International students (ESL)

• Reliance on passive transfer of knowledge

What did I want to do?

• Year 5– Foster a process of enquiry to encourage students to

read appropriate literature and engage in academic debate

– Move away from rote learning of exam answers

– Use active learning, i.e ‘engaging student in the learning process’ (Prince 2004)

But

controlling teacher in me feared sending students off to exams without covering the topic in class

What did I do

• Selected one of the theoretical topics

• Created a 30 minute video lecture covering the main arguments

• Asked the students to watch it over the weekend

• On the following Monday held a ‘whiteboard debate’

• Two teams were responsible for putting relevant points (incl. references), either for or against the use of ‘Fair Value Accounting’ on the two whiteboards

• Then held the debate

• Students photographed the whiteboards!

What happened

• A few students walked out!• Some students were watching the video at the

same time as constructing the argument on the whiteboard

• Some were googling on their ipads• We got two full boards of good points, had a

spirited debate• In the exam those students who opted to answer

a question on the topic wrote some excellent, well referenced answers

How did I create the video?Remember I am technologically challenged!

• Used ‘Preview’ (used to be called Panopto)

• A function of the lecture capture software ‘Revise’, which has two functions

– ‘Review’ is the function used to record your lectures in the lecture theatres at Brunel

– ‘Preview’ can be installed on your desk top PC so you can make your own video lectures

• Preview is what I am using now!

Preview

• This software enables you to capture/record three things at once

• Sound - voice

• PowerPoint presentation

• Video Camera

What do you need?

• The SOFTWARE installed on your PC.

• Your Blackboard modules added to revise.

• If you want to record more than a PowerPoint and voice – VISUALISER

• For best results – TWO MONITORS

• The telephone number of the AV Dept, on a sticky!

Once I started, I just couldn’t stop!

• I started to see this software solving all sorts of teaching problems

• I started making videos for all sorts of topics

e.g. Examination guidance

What about year 1

• This was a different problem from the Masters students

• I needed to combine inquiry learning with instruction as financial accounting at this level is largely low level, procedural, algorithmic concepts

• Students have 2x 1hour lectures per week plus a one hour problem based seminar.

• H001 is not equipped to demonstrate skills based learning

• Student feedback was that the lecture didn’t teach them anything and they didn’t feel prepared for their seminar

Analogy

• Some people may say accountants ‘cook the books’!• But a cooking analogy is quite appropriate• Have you ever watched a cookery programme and thought I

can do that.• Then halfway through realised you can’t remember what goes

in when and how long you whisk/cook etc• You look it up in a recipe book, but sometimes that doesn’t

help, e.g. it may not answer your query.• That’s why Delia now puts all her cookery demonstrations

online.• Its more effective.

• Let me demonstrate how easy this is using PREVIEW

MG1052 Introduction to Accounting

Video lecture

Calculating VAT

Question

How much VAT have I paid on a bill:

a. For £500 excluding Vat

b. For £600 including VAT

When VAT is 20%

Answers

a. £500 X 20/100 = £100

a. £600 x 20/120 = £100

"MG3600 on 2/23/2015 (Mon)" is now ready to view. Folder: C.MG3600.A.2014-5.YEAR: MG3600 Auditing and Assurance (A 2014/5 YEAR) View: http://lecture-capture.brunel.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=9ee6ae8f-183f-4b31-b646-e6a8010a8a38 Edit: http://lecture-capture.brunel.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Editor/Default.aspx#9ee6ae8f-183f-4b31-b646-e6a8010a8a38 Share: http://lecture-capture.brunel.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx?id=9ee6ae8f-183f-4b31-b646-e6a8010a8a38&modalPage=SessionShare Additional output formats: http://lecture-capture.brunel.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx?id=9ee6ae8f-183f-4b31-b646-e6a8010a8a38&modalPage=SessionOutputs

Email received when ready

Student feedback

• Thank you for getting in touch about Panopto. It would help me to understand why you find it a help? What is it about it that aids your learning? (Me)

• I have attended all your seminars and yet I still find it difficult to understand. one of the main reason is that when everyone discuss there (sic) point its really difficult for me take down all the notes in the class. Also during the presentation you add on points which I miss all the time (student with learning disability statement)

First year student feedback

Hello Sue,

I would just like to say, I have been revising the module, and I have discovered that the PanoptoLecture Recordings were extremely useful. Coming from a student who has never studied accounting before, such an example came extremely handy when I needed something to refer back to, and it made it a lot easier to visualise

First year student feedback

• Hey sue can u please do a video on ratios please as soon as you get this, I understand better from your practical videos. they have helped me so much without them I would have had trouble understanding the question I am really grateful thank you so much.

Reflection

• If, like me, you are interested in using aspects of the Revise software to address an issue in your practice, I encourage you to reflect on the following steps first:

• Step 1: Identify your current or desired teaching style.• Step 2: Ask yourself this question: Given my style, do I

currently use class time to teach any low level, procedural, algorithmic concepts?

• Step 3: If yes, you could use Preview to create opportunities for students to obtain this information outside of the classroom.

• Step 4: Could you use Preview to encourage reflection and synthesis of homework-based instruction

Good Practice?

As we are all aware, teaching can be a very powerful, and often very personal act, where the right way is as diverse as the students we are blessed to work with.

References

• Cohen, Ebeling & Kulik. A metaanalysis of outcome studies of visual based instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 29(1)26-36,1981

• M.J. Lage, G. Platt and M Treglia. Inverting the classroom: A gateway to creating an inclusive learning environment. Journal of Economic Education, 31(1):30-43,2000

• M. Prince. Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Enginneering Education – Washington, 93:223-232,2004