Learning & Teaching

Title of case study	Flipped classroom & JMS
College/School:	CoSE/School of Mathematics & Statistics
Lecturer(s):	Dr Eilidh Jack, Dr Mitchum Bock, Dr Craig Alexander, Robin Muegge & Stephen Villejo
Course:	Statistics 1Y & 1Z (STATS1002 & STATS1003)
Student Level:	1st year UG
Class size:	265-300 (each year the numbers grow)
Location:	On campus/in person

 

Brief summary

Statistics can sometimes be perceived as a boring or challenging subject at university. The level 1 Statistics teaching team used a semi-flipped classroom approach and the spaces in the JMS building to help students realise the importance of statistics in various disciplines. Targeted at 1st year undergraduate students, this method was used to bolster the students’ application of the theoretical knowledge gained through pre-class reading and formative quizzes, before applying that knowledge to real-world examples during the live sessions. In interactive lectures, students were given activities to work on in small groups lasting around 5-10 minutes, after which they shared their answers via Mentimeter. The results of this could then be discussed with the whole class and issues could be clarified. This method was used for every live session in the course, with the lecturer briefly revising the lecture topic, discussing some real-world applications and interspersing this with examples applicable to the topic for students to work through. Student feedback has been positive and there has been an increase in the number of students enrolling in Level 2 Statistics as more active learning is introduced in Level 1 Statistics.

 

Objectives  

Dr Mitchum Bock led a review of Level 1 Statistics courses before the Covid pandemic with a view to implementing active learning in response to student numbers increasing, where it becomes harder to get engagement with or between students. As you can’t have a one-to-one or a group discussion during a large lecture of up to 300 students, the semi-flipped classroom – incorporating the use of Mentimeter in the live sessions – helped us to uncover students’ understanding of the materials. Statistics was particularly suited to active learning methods as it is very application driven, and students are drawn into the subject through active learning.  As an ‘early adopter’ of active learning, Mitchum was able to secure priority status for Level 1 Statistics to use spaces in the James McCune Smith building, i.e. to enable them to teach in a way that the space supported.

The application of the semi-flipped classroom method aimed to improve the perception and promotion of the course and the whole Statistics degree to students. Previously and still to some degree, statistics can be perceived by students as boring or difficult.  We wanted to show students the practical application of statistics in various fields, not just theoretical concepts. This we decided to do via offering various real data cases from fields such as health, environmental, and others, which differed from those in the textbook. By virtue of working in groups, we wanted to incorporate collaborative learning so students could support each other, and because this is a skill that statisticians require in the workplace.

 

What is done?

Before the lecture, students are tasked with reading the online materials and completing online formative quizzes to check their understanding of those readings (quizzes embedded within H5P can allow students to assess themselves as they go, not just at the end of the lesson quiz). Participation is encouraged through gamification – using the LevelUp plugin in Moodle – to boost engagement. This is very popular with students who complete the pre-session activities to win prizes for participation. This success is mirrored in the attendance of the students in the lectures themselves. We had a lot of help from student interns; students from the School of Mathematics & Statistics who helped build the H5P resources and quizzes.

The approach is called ‘semi-flipped’ because while we originally adopted the flipped classroom requiring all students to engage in pre-session activities before coming to class, we realised that due to part time work or the demands of other subjects, not all students will do the preparatory work before coming to class. So, each live session starts with a bit of revision of the pre-class materials in order to explain the lecture topic to the students who haven’t done the pre-class activities. Students who prepare will get more out of it, and students who haven’t won't be left behind, and realise they need to do the reading afterwards.

In class, the students sit around tables of 8-10, typically forming two subgroups within that. Following a short revision of the pre-class materials, students are tasked with working through the examples given to them while using the methods and formulas for that week. Students publish their answers via Mentimeter, leading to a whole class discussion on the correct answer. The number of activities in each lecture will vary and where possible we walk around the tables to assess the level of the students’ understanding of the topic and answer their questions. The examples are always different from those in the textbook. Halfway through we deploy a ‘breaking point’. To allow for breathing space for the students, we use 5-10 minutes to give interesting statistics examples from more complex statistics topics taught in higher years and their applicability in everyday life, or students can choose to zone out. Feedback shows this break is greatly appreciated by the students, who further realise the practical application of statistics in different fields. The lectures are still recorded and uploaded online, but the attendance in person is still high.

 

What works well?

The method gives more freedom to showcase what statistics is capable of and how it can be applied in different disciplines. This makes it a lot more enjoyable for both the lecturer and the students. Another positive is that the lecture strikes a good balance between offering less complex examples for those who have no interest in statistics after finishing the course and some more complex examples for students studying for Maths/Statistics degrees. For the latter, students are pointed to additional resources should they wish to learn more about the underlying theory.

 

Benefits

Students

Staff

The quizzes first show how well students understand the theory behind the method. This understanding is then reinforced by the practical application of theory in real world scenarios. Improved professional skills, such as autonomy and teamworking skills, and students become more responsible towards their own studies. Being a part of the group, the students feel they have the responsibility to contribute and help solve the problems Students who don’t engage with the pre-class activities are still able to follow the week’s topic and engage in the activities. Enhanced motivation to engage and show up during the lectures thanks to the gamified pre-class quizzes. Students enjoy themselves, as the fast pace keeps them working on new examples throughout the lecture. This facilitates stable attendance throughout the course. Students form a better sense of community as they have to interact with each other. Students show enhanced performance in the quizzes and assessments.  Students have the benefit of attending extra drop-in sessions if they require them.

Increased understanding of the students’ learning and the learning process itself via the real-time feedback. This can lead to extra activities for the students to practice what they need to. Attendance is high throughout the entire semester of the course. Some students actually switch their degree to Statistics thanks to the active learning approaches in this course. Makes the lecture much more enjoyable rather than talking the entire time. Increased flexibility of being able to show things which can’t be demonstrated with the traditional style of lectures. Getting to know the students more. The lecture and cases preparation aren’t more time-consuming than a usual lecture.

 

Challenges            

Students

Staff

Some students might struggle engaging and don’t like the method because of their cultural differences, language barriers or their being shy. It’s hard to please everyone. It can be challenging if students coming from the high school approach of receiving information into university are also expected to engage with active learning. But it’s important to engage them with active learning early on so they get used to it as soon as possible.

During Covid, it was difficult to implement this online because of the limited space and disengagement of students to answer. The polls weren’t efficient enough to bolster groupwork.  Ensuring an open space lecture theatre is booked and available might be challenging.  It might be hard to judge the improvements of individual students, because you can’t interact with every one of them. It can be challenging to set up extra drop-in sessions in case students need additional support, but it allows for greater support for the students.  You can’t really know what the students are doing in class. You can tell them what to do, but you don’t know if they are actually doing the pre-class activities or not. You have to trust the students a lot more. But that is always going to happen. What is also difficult at times is knowing where to aim the material – not to make it too detailed but also not too simple.

 

What did you learn?

The course and its content, the way it is taught, is always changing thanks to the feedback the students provide, making the course flexible with tweaks occurring if necessary. For example, originally the lecture used to be fully flipped, but to make it work for students more, the semi-flipped model was adopted. At the same time though, you have to be confident in your convictions – if something doesn’t go quite well, it doesn’t mean you should revert to the original lecture style of teaching. You have to get out of your comfort zone – remain adaptable. For instance, this course itself changes slightly every year.

It is also important to realise the amount of pre-class workload asked of the students in order not to overburden them in comparison with their other courses or part-time jobs.

Potentially for the future, it would be beneficial to have tutors or graduate teaching assistants as near peers to support the lecture; however, that might not be possible given the limited resources.

 

What advice would you give to others?

Be willing to adapt and be flexible. Don’t be too hard on yourself if everything doesn’t go perfectly well. Take your time if you need to change something to find your feet within the method and its use. And allow for the same with students too. Despite this, it is not a reason not to give it a go! As a far more rewarding way of teaching, it is worth it and having a supportive team around you also helps a lot.

 

References

Jack, E., Alexander, C., & Jones, E. M. (2024). Exploring the impact of gamification on engagement in a statistics classroom. Teaching Mathematics and its Applications: An International Journal of the IMA. https://doi.org/10.1093/teamat/hrae009