Higher Education Academy June 2012Dr Simon Lancaster (CHE)

@S_J_Lancaster@ChemVignette

Does your syllabus compel you to present lots of material?

Are your lectures interactive?

Do you sometimes wish you had more time for interaction?

Which of these aspects would you like to address?AttendanceAttentionUnderstandingEnjoymentEncouraging private study

So, what’s the solution(s)?BriberyIt’s hopelessTaking the Lecture out of the LectureLecture FlippingReplacing lectures with study packsA practical approach to freeing up lecture timeThe inverted classroomLearning through enquirySomething else, see the presentation at #VICEPHEC

What do I mean by 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.

The trialThree 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.

Uptake

What is an Organometallic?

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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.

How is the Li–C bond polarised?Why then are organolithium reagents

soluble in organic solvents?

Illustrate with a diagram.

Why do species like Me2Mg form electron deficient bonds?

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1. To annoy organic chemists

2. To frustrate undergraduates

3. To increase the valence electron count

4. To temper Lewis acidity and involve all the orbitals.

Which of the following 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.

Preliminary ConclusionsFlipped lectures are an exciting opportunity for

innovative blended learning.They are not an easy option for staff or students.This model does not involve any reduction in contact

hours.Student reaction has been extraordinarily positive. I will be doing more but have no plans to completely

phase out lectures.