Abstract:

In recent years many institutions are looking to explore the potential benefits of using innovative technology to stimulate pedagogic innovation. The ‘flipped classroom’ has become more common as a blended learning approach to providing foundation core subject material in advance of face to face discussion or focus on threshold concepts.

The presentation will focus on a pilot of Adaptive Learning for two courses within GeoSciences, Global Tectonics and Introduction to Geophysics. Students in each class are taught half of the subject material using Adaptive technology in addition to lectures and practical’s, and the remainder using lectures and practical’s only. Some students are taking both courses as part of their programme. This segmentation provides a layering of control groups for improved comparisons.
Information Services have provided some funding for staffs to help prepare course content and structure the online materials. The project was planned with four months from initial decision to launch.

An interesting focus of the pilot is that the course lecturers are using the adaptive tool in differing ways. One aims to use the material to scaffold lectures, and offer the adaptive materials for mastery and revision learning. The second approach will be based upon a flipped classroom model, enabling the lecturer to focus on areas where students have struggled or on real world case studies. Flipped or inverted’ class pedagogy and student preparations prior to class is emphasized by commentators e.g. as Cynthia Brame. (2) as key to improved learning outcomes.
The University are partnering with CogBooks who provide an adaptive learning solution. This is the first UK implementation of the product, and followed some market analysis:
‘Education Growth Advisors’. This analysis ‘Learning to Adapt’ (1)
The adaptive learning tool continuously captures click track data relating to students use of text, graphical and animated content. A dashboard of usage and students progress through online material is available to both staff and students in real time, so that students can monitor their own activity and staff can re-enforce or adapt teaching.
141 students are participating during semester 2, 2015. During and after the pilot students and staff are being surveyed to capture empirical data relating to the value and satisfaction they attribute to the adaptive solution and the differing pedagogic approaches.

The presentation aims to focus on the pedagogy comparisons. Student videoed interviews will be used to provide some real student perceptions relating to the personalised learning experience and the flipped model. The presentation will compare survey data from each course, aiming to show evidence to demonstrate pedagogic impact upon student and staff behaviour, satisfaction and learning outcomes. We will highlight how the different pedagogic approaches required a different content planning and quality assurance, with students interacting with subject content prior to lectures and practical’s, and the needed for content to be self contained, clear and rigorously quality assured.

References:
[1] Learning to Adapt, A Case for Accelerating Adaptive Learning in Higher Education (Education Growth Advisors, 2013)
[2] Flipping the classroom (Brame, C., Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 2013)

Keywords:

Pedagogy, innovation, flipping, comparative study, adaptive, empirical.