My colleague, Alison Hughes, and I found that in our ENG 051 course, too much time was being spent on grammar instruction and not enough was spent on helping students learn to write. They were missing the connection between using proper grammar and the writing process. While eating lunch after a professional development event, we were both excited about the concept of the flip. Through discussion and collaboration, we put two great ideas together: "flipping the classroom" with Google Docs (specifically, Google Forms). We started simply by voicing over our classroom grammar PowerPoints. Our concept? The students watched the videos at home. After the video, they were instructed to complete the corresponding Google Doc. We decided to use the results to guide our instruction and better target at risk students. Watch the video to see how we started!
When a Google Form is created, it automatically generates a results page which can be viewed in a grid or as a summary of results. Since our students at Del Tech already have a Google account, once they completed the form, their username was automatically assigned to their individual results. Alison and I also created a question on each sheet that required the students to list their names. Google Forms allows teachers to create questions that are multiple choice, true/false, fill in, and checklist. This flexibility is great for grammar lessons as many of the concepts require quick identification and other practice requires actual correction of a statement.
The results page are displayed in a grid-style spreadsheet which I downloaded and printed from Microsoft Excel. I also printed the summary results as a quick reference to see which questions were answered incorrectly most frequently. I quickly highlighted incorrect answers from my Excel sheet so I knew which students were struggling the most. Sure, it takes an extra five to ten minutes to prepare before class, but as they say, "knowledge is power." I was able to use this information to better prepare my lessons by reviewing the most difficult concepts and hone in on struggling students as they practiced the concepts in class. Here are examples of what the two types of results pages look like (names and email addresses have been removed):
Example of a Google Form assigned for homework.
Grid results automatically generated by Google.
Summary results.
Print out and highlight of results for quick teaching reference.
Using Our Concept in the Classroom
During the next class, the students were expected to already have viewed the video and completed the practice page. Google Docs allows the students to email their homework to them and also gives them the option to print it out. We opened the class with an open discussion, asking the students for any questions or concepts with which they had trouble. We reviewed the areas with which most students had difficulty, projected the summary results onto the screen, and reviewed the answers. This way students could see the answers visually and were able to hear the explanation. If I knew a student answered a question incorrectly, I might randomly call on him/her to ask for the answer so that we could work through the issue as a class. I used the same process for students who answered questions correctly on their homework as most students learn best from their peers. We then moved on to the next classroom activity.
The Results
Keeping It Fresh
Alison and I were very happy with our results. Not only was it a fresh approach to teaching grammar, it gave us the opportunity to create more active and collaborative activities. We were able to use the SmartBoards to get the students up and moving instead of merely completing "skill and drill" practices. We were able to work more closely with students who did not understand the skill. Grammar is not the most fun topic in the world. And teaching grammar to adults is difficult. In my experience, students either learned the concepts as children and have tucked the information away under worried about jobs, children, and bills, or students simply never learned the parts and construction of a good sentence. Therefore, students are less than exited to learn about nouns and verbs in college. However, since Alison and I were excited and were able to plan more creative activities for the classroom, the students became more excited. (Or as excited as they could be about grammar instruction.)
Increase in Skill Level
In our first semester, we found an overall increase in test scores on some of the most difficult concepts. Furthermore, as we posted the videos on BlackBoard, students were able to view the videos on their own time and in their own space. The videos were available all semester long so that they could review the examples any time they chose.
The Developmental Student
Developmental coursework are called gateway classes for a reason: most students just need that extra time and training to learn not only academic concepts, but also to learn study skills, time management skills, and the responsibility that comes with attending college. This concept of flipping with Google Docs helped us teach those students that studying and practicing outside of class is truly important to being successful in class. For example, one student stayed after class to speak with me one day. She said, "I was talking about my teachers with one of my friends. You all are nice, but some of the classes you can cruise through and miss one or two. But I told my friend, 'Not Miss T.'s class. You can't skip her class ever!'" It is probably my favorite comment from a student thus far. Students learned to become more responsible with their school work and put our classes as a priority instead of something they did for 2.5 hours twice a week. And now? Now they are prepared for their college-level work with a strong sense of understanding that much of their learning happens outside of the classroom in college.
Furthermore, it takes out the "are the students working at home" guesswork. The results are right there on my computer screen: the student's name is either there or it isn't. A quick check-mark on an separate spreadsheet showed me who was completing the work at a regular pace and who was simply not participating outside of the classroom. If a student is struggling, I can simply pull out the results pages or my homework record sheet and point him/her in the right direction.
"Miss T., Why Do We Have to Learn This?"
Ugh...how many teachers hear that statement? I envy my colleagues who teach in their specific technology. Their answers are usually concrete and useful. But for the English teacher, the answer is a little bit more ambiguous. How does a teacher teach why using correct grammar is, well, good? By flipping the classroom and having more time to focus on the writing portion of our course, students were able to better see the connection between proper grammar/sentence structure and the improvement in their own writing. Alison and I assigned focused revisions to the students' paragraphs: the students would have to look for the specific skills in their own writing. For example, if we were working on comma rules, students would have to number and label the comma rules they used in their paragraph rough drafts. They could fix their own mistakes and connect how the meaning changes if a comma is misplaced.
The most telling result was in sentence patterns. Once students started to label and revise their sentence patterns from simple to compound to complex, they noticed that their readability level increased. Our course requires a Flesh-Kincaid minimum readability of 8.0 for paragraphs and 9.0 for the final writing assessment. I see a marked difference in the readability level from semesters not taught in the flipped model and the past two semesters that utilized the flipped concept. This semester was the first semester that students were not visibly frustrated and staying late to finish their final writing assessment because they could not hit the required readability level. I fully credit the flipped concept with this result.
I couldn't be happier with the increase in the students' writing skills. (And it only has a little to do with the fact that, "Why do we have to know this???" was uttered less and less through the semester. Ok...more than a little.)
Reflection
While the results were pleasing and our goal of more "writer's workshop" time was met, there were a few changes I will make in the future:
Create more "user friendly" videos in a universal format. Our videos were in .wav format which cannot be viewed on Apple products. That means students with iPhones, iPads, and Macs needed a different device to view these files. That counted out a certain portion of our students. Counting out students is simply against our goal of flexibility.
Cut the time down. As this was a new concept, Alison and I simply took what we already had in our toolbox and taught in voice-over format. For some of the concepts, we went over our ten minute target time. We ran with our idea and tried it out with the intention of delivering the same class lecture in video format. With the flipped model, short and sweet is the key to success. Not only do students get bored staring at a screen, they can become even more easily distracted than in the classroom as social media, phones, and other easy distractions are more available. In future videos, we will shorten the PowerPoints to a few slides should we use the voice-over method for certain concepts.
Vary it. It's always a difficult struggle in Developmental Education: a teacher needs to keep lessons and delivery methods consistent because the students need to remain focused. On the other hand, seeing the same format over and over again can be tedious and downright irritating. In the future, I plan to marry the ideas of consistency and variance: be consistent in assignments and assessments, but vary the video delivery method.
Use and abuse the powers that be. We have an entire department dedicated to student success through innovation and technology. Had I consulted them prior to the flip, perhaps some of the pitfalls and lessons learned listed above could have been avoided. Next semester, I am going to make sure I consult with these instructional strategists to create the best flipped lessons for student success.
The Future of the Flip
Alison and I applied for and were approved for one of the Student Success grants from our college president, Dr. George. Through this grant, we were able to purchase a tripod and video camera in order to create new and exciting videos. The vision is to incorporate both written and "face-to face" instruction into our videos. With this new technology, we will be able to use YouTube videos, social media sites, alternate learning materials, and other resources to keep the videos and instruction exciting and fresh. Grammar skill instruction, writing skill instruction, and simple explanations will be a part of our new YouTube channel that our students can access at any time. I will be spending the summer honing this new approach and will begin to write the scripts for the new forms of instruction. Here is a (very) rough example of the future of our flipped videos. (Please bear with the quality and unrehearsed nature of the video. We created this video with our departmental colleagues during the MACRA conference last October and had very little time to create a concept, script, and video. However, the result is a good indication of where our new ideas are headed.)
Stirring up new ideas with colleagues Molli Carter and Alison Hughes at our DTCC Owens employee picnic.