Abstract:

During the fall semester of 2017/2018 academic year, two of the MOOC Técnico courses (mooc.tecnico.ulisboa.pt) - Energy Services (esX) and Eigenvalues (vapX) - were used for flipped-classroom pedagogic strategies, which involved approximately 325 on-campus enrolled students in both undergraduate (vapX in a Linear Algebra course) and graduate (esX in Energy Management course) Técnico Lisboa courses. Both innovative pedagogic experiences were followed by us, the pedagogic-scientific team of MOOC Técnico, which first gave support to the design and production of the MOOCs, and then monitored and validated the flipped-classroom practices.

In this paper we’ll present and discuss the results of the two pilot experiments, analyzing the collected data from the final grades of the Linear Algebra (LA) and Energy Management (EM) courses, analytics data from MOOC Técnico platform, data from participants’ answers to online post-course questionnaires and interviews, and finally from observations leaded by the teachers in their classroom environment. Several relevant indicators emerged, among them we can refer the followings:
- Both teachers when applying the flipped-classroom methodology, stated that it enabled deepening the students’ knowledge and fostered a richer debate during presential classes, hard to achieve at a habitual pace of standard lectures.
- Of the 45 students from the LA unit who answered the final questionnaire, 70% appreciated or appreciated a lot the practice, and of the 44 students enrolled in EM class, 98% appreciated or appreciated a lot the flipping. They pointed as justification: the greater autonomy and awareness about their own method and pace of learning, the ongoing study that is promoted and the motivation that it brings.
- 73% of the LA students and 89% of the EM students that answered the final questionnaire considered the methodology essential in the preparation for the summative assessment presential final tests.
- When interviewed, all of the eleven LA students stated that they would recommend the use of this methodology to other teachers. In the questionnaire answered by the GE students, 84% of the 44 students stated that they would like this methodology applied to other subjects.
- The LA teacher underlined that she found very important to provide students a very detailed schedule, when to see each video (sequence of videos) so that they know where they are in the discussion during classes, and also to give more feedback in solving the self-assessment exercises integrated in the MOOC. The EM teacher refereed the need for students to be more encouraged to follow the flipped-classroom proposal: first visualize the contents of the MOOC and then take the doubts properly structured for discussion during presential classes.
- LA undergraduate students suggested a greater stimulus for participation in the MOOC discussion forums, and a broader discussion about the resolution of the exercises. In turn, the EM graduate students suggested a rapid extension to other curricular units, with a mobility student emphasizing the relevance of MOOC courses in English that can fully cover standard course curricula.

Based on the present analysis of the flipped-classroom practices, we have reasons to conclude that well design MOOCs, tutored by highly motivated tutors, who are at the same time the on-campus courses responsible teachers, can assure a successful implementation of the flipped pedagogical approach.

Keywords:

Flipped classroom, blended learning, MOOC Técnico, online courses, Linear Algebra curriculum, Energy Management curriculum.