Talk for the 18th July 2013 #UoBSTEM event

1. THE
FLIPPING
LECTURE
BEYOND SCREENCASTING
DR SIMON LANCASTER
@S_J_LANCASTER
@CHEMVIGNETTE

2. SCREENCASTING:
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Learning aid
Assistance for students
with disabilities and
learning difficulties
Revision aid
Illness contingency
Self observation
Recording ‘quality
control’
Logistics and resources
Time Consuming
Preparation
Editing
File creation and
maintenance
Discourages lecture
attendance?
Discourages note
taking?
Lazy revision?

3. VIGNETTES AND PREZI
We use the term
‘vignette’ to refer to a
short segment of a
screencast covering a
critical concept which
may be augmented by
an interactive
component introduced
during the editing
process.
Prezi is an alternative
presentation tool that
allows students to
map a non-linear
route; in this case
between vignettes on
aspects of the course.

4. DOES YOUR SYLLABUS COMPEL
YOU TO PRESENT LOTS OF
MATERIAL?

5. ARE YOUR LECTURES
INTERACTIVE?

6. DO YOU SOMETIMES WISH YOU
HAD MORE TIME FOR
INTERACTION?

7. WHICH OF THESE ASPECTS WOULD
YOU LIKE TO ADDRESS?
Attendance
Attention
Understanding
Enjoyment
Encouraging private study

8. SO, HOW DO WE DO IT?
Bribery
It’s hopeless
Taking the lecture out of the lecture
Inverting the classroom
Integrating Technology
Peer instruction
Learning through enquiry
Lecture flipping
Something else, see upcoming presentation

9. OUR MODEL OF LECTURE
FLIPPING?
Students are strongly encouraged to watch a screencast
recording of the (previous year’s) lecture the flipped
lecture is replacing.
They attend the timetabled teaching slot and are engaged
in as interactive and as ‘challenging’ a session as the
‘lecturer’ can muster using every audience participation
device at their disposal.

10. ILLUSTRATION
Three second year chemistry lectures in descriptive main
group organometallics.
Students watched the screencasts in advance and were
then engaged in a interactive session.
Extensive use was made of audience response handsets
but also whiteboards for drawing structures and
equations.

11. UPTAKE

12. WHAT IS AN ORGANOMETALLIC?
1. A compound with both metal
and carbon atoms.
2. A coordination complex in
which one of the ligands
contains carbon.
3. A large musical instrument
constructed from tin pipes.
4. A compound containing a
metal-to-carbon bond.
5. An organic molecule with a
metal in it somewhere.

13. PEER INSTRUCTION
See Ross’s talk but be prepared to flip/invert. Peer instruction
alone is justification!

14. Why then are organolithium
reagents soluble in organic
solvents?
Illustrate with a diagram.
How is the Li—C bond
polarised?

15. WHICH ARE GENUINE STUDENT
EVALUATION COMMENTS?
1. A lot of the descriptive chemistry was very dry and essentially boring. It is hard
to teach this kind of material but the 'flipped lectures' seemed to combat this.
2. I think the 'flipped' lectures run by Dr. Lancaster were a really good idea and I
felt more engaged in the module.
3. I appreciated Dr Lancaster's efforts to make the lectures interesting and
engaging in a modern way. The 'flipped' lectures were very successful.
4. I really enjoyed the flipped lectures and find that revising that material is much
easier.
5. The flipped-lectures are a definite step in the right direction, away from archaic
lectures with little or no mental stimulus, towards a more interactive learning
experience that maximises learning outcome!
6. They were good fun as it was nice to have interaction with the lecture as
opposed to just being talked at, it was also nice having knowledge of what you
were talking about as we had already gone through the material!
7. I think the flipped lectures were a really good idea because it was a more
interactive way to engage students into learning, rather than the repetitive
routine of having to listen to the lecturer work through a PowerPoint
presentation for an hour.

16. CONCLUSIONS
Flipped lectures are an exciting opportunity to use innovative
blended learning to get the most out of the student and faculty
time.
They are not an easy option for staff or students.
Our model does not involve any reduction in contact hours.
Student reaction has been extraordinarily positive.
I am continually introducing more but have no plans to completely
phase out lectures.
The flipped term can encompass a huge variety of means by
which students prepare. And any number of engagement
approaches during contact time.