1. Moving SCALE-UP
into Cyberspace
John Reisner Ai r For ce I nst i t ut e of
Technol ogy
Meg Wiltshire W i ght St at e U ver si t y
r ni
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2. Overview
 Intro to SCALE-UP
 What we did
(how we implemented SCALE-UP)
 What we’ve learned
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3. What is SCALE-UP?
• “Flipped” Classroom
 54 students (6 groups of 9)
 Round tables (not rows)
 Emphasis on peer interaction, not lecture
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4. Benefits of SCALE-UP
• Peer-to-peer learning
• Investigative, not passive
• Pride of ownership
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5. The Quandary & A Question
• A new facility is a popular facility
• Can the SCALE-UP be realized in a DL environment?
 In other words, can you “flip” a virtual classroom?
Time to “flip” this room, and let you try to answer this question
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6. How We Implemented SCALE-UP
• Created two sections:
 54 in the resident section (6 groups of 9), and
 36 in the DL section (6 groups of 6).
• Every two weeks, progress through a “theme”
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7. Six Themes Overall
• Each theme has six stages:
1. Assign groups, select topic, and begin research
2. Resources shared among a small group (of 3)
Example Theme: Safety and Reliability
Blue – Safety Issues in Nuclear Power
3. Build Safety Systems in Industrial Technology
Green –
individual artifacts from collaborative research
4. Share Safetyevaluate individual work in large group (of 9)
Yellow – and Concerns in Mass Transportation
Red – Repercussions of Inaccurate Data in Anti-Terrorism Intelligence
5. Build–large-groupSafety and Reliability of the Space Program
Orange Evolution of presentation based on shared work
Purple – Safety and Reliability in Highway Infrastructure
6. Present large-group findings to class
SLIDE
It’s show time!
PAPER SHOW
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8. 8

9. Progressing through a Theme
• This is a way to implement a flipped classroom:
1. Assign groups, select topic, and begin research
2. Resources shared among a small group (of 3)
3. Build individual artifacts from collaborative research
4. Share and evaluate individual work in large group (of 9)
5. Build large-group presentation based on shared work
6. Present large-group findings to class
SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE
PAPER SHOW PAPER SHOW PAPER SHOW
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10. Did it work?
• Roughly two-thirds of students surveyed seem
to approve of the overall format
 Only about one-fourth responded unfavorably, after
accounting for “undecided” & “not sure” responses
Unsure Strong
Liking
Dislike
Like
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11. Group Work
Working with a small group of 3 helps me Integrating our work with the larger group I learn a lot when other groups
understand our chosen topic better. helps me learn more. present their presentations.
3 2 4 1 3 2
1
4 6
5
15
17 16
I like being able to work independently, The instructors should do more lecturing I feel like I am learning a lot about
as opposed to listening to lectures. during class time about the course themes. technology and society through this course.
3 5 4 4 5
2 1
1 11 4
3
4
10 12
11
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12. Doing vs. Listening
I like how we are given a chance to I'm learning more than I would if I had When I'm done creating my artifact, I've usually
exercise our creativity in this course. to listen to lectures for the full class learned more than I initially thought I would.
2 3
1 5 5
1
9
12 1
2
11 2
12
12
The way this course is being run Between a flipped classroom and a The instructors should use
helps me learn. traditional lecture, I would choose lecture. more class time to lecture more.
4 4 3 4 4
6
3
4 4 4
3
15 13 10
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13. Doing (top) & reviewing (bottom)
Writing a paper helps me Creating a multimedia file helps me Creating a set of slides helps me
learn more about the topic. learn more about the topic. learn more about the topic.
1
4 6 3 4 11
1 7
5
16 14 18
Reading a paper helps me Viewing multimedia files helps me Looking through slides helps me
learn more about the topic. learn more about the topic. learn more about the topic.
4 3 11 2 4
1
7 2
9
7
13
9 18
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14. Emulating this in a virtual classroom
• Every two weeks, progress through a “theme”
1. Assign groups; groups select topic and begin research
 How? Interaction on electronic discussion board
2. Boost understanding by sharing resources in small group (of 3)
 How? Interaction on electronic discussion board
3. Build individual artifacts from collaborative research
 How? No problem! (Individual work)
4. Share and evaluate individual work in large group (of 6)
 How? Post on LMS; use on-line evaluation forms
5. Build large-group presentation based on shared work
 How? Hmm… this could be tricky
6. Present large-group findings to class
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15. How it went
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16. How it went
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17. What Went Wrong
• Every two weeks, progress through a “theme”
1. Assign groups; groups select topic and begin research
 How? Interaction on electronic discussion board
2. Boost understanding by sharing resources in small group (of 3)
 How? Interaction on electronic discussion board
3. Build individual artifacts from collaborative research
 How? No problem! (Individual work)
4. Share and evaluate individual work in large group (of 6)
 How? Post on LMS; use on-line evaluation forms
5. Build large-group presentation based on shared work
 How? Hmm… this could be tricky
6. Present large-group findings to class
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18. How We Fixed It
• The F2F section still selected their own topic
• The DL Section was assigned one of the topics
chosen by the F2F section
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19. What we learned
• Don’t expect it to work neatly early on
 Drop/adds wreak havoc on the groups
• Don’t expect them to catch on right away
 Play with methodology first, don’t hit ground running
 Where possible, give concrete examples
• Picking topics F2F was easy; online, it was a no-go
 The DL section seemed lost, confused, and “inert”
 We let in-res section pick, then assigned those to DL
“Murphy” made his presence known; other challenges included:
(a) a new version of the school’s LMS, and (b) a blind student in the DL section.
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20. Our conclusions
• SCALE-UP model works well in F2F environment
• In DL, we can emulate info sharing, but it’s very
difficult to emulate group collaboration
 Does it work? ← This is the $64,000 question
• Largely depends on what is done in the SCALE-UP room
In DL, we consider our end result to be a “quasi-” SCALE-UP learning model
it has some SCALE-UP elements, but it’s not as
completely collaborative as the classroom SCALE-UP model
Group collaboration in the following ways:
(a) sharing resources (b) guided discussion
(c) peer review (d) peer evaluation
along with less lecture, independent research,
and a chance to exercise creativity.
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21. Questions?
Moving SCALE-UP
into Cyberspace
John Reisner Ai r For ce I nst i t ut e of
Technol ogy
Meg Wiltshire W i ght St at e U ver si t y
r ni
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