Flipped learning using pre-session questions in Echo360 Active Learning - Active Learning

Last updated on 25/10/2019

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Flipped learning using pre-session questions in Echo360

Description

Pre-session questioning requires students to consider content prior to attending a lecture, workshop etc. Echo360 Active Learning Platform can add richness to the strategy by facilitating a discussion of responses between students.

How to implement the strategy

  1. Consider the link between the session that will follow and the purpose of the pre-session questions. For example, do you want students to learn new content before a lecture. This would give you time in the lecture for activities that require students to apply knowledge to a problem or case.
  2. Draft questions that will achieve your goal.
  3. Login into Echo360 and navigate to your Section.
  4. Create a Class and give it a title.
  5. Click on the new Class to open the Player.
  6. Write your questions by clicking on the icon in the upper toolbar.
  7. Communicate with students the value of sharing their responses, reading those of others, and making notes of any difficulties or confusions they have with the questions.

The purpose of the strategy

Having students consider new course content can help them to engage more deeply with the ideas covered in a lecture, workshop, seminar or any other learning session. Pre-session questions is a way of scaffolding or structuring how students engage with new ideas and knowledge. However, the design of the question is critical for their effectiveness.

To state the obvious, the type and number of pre-session questions should be linked to the course content that will form the basis of session that follows. Questions might simply be knowledge-based questions about a required pre-session reading (to meet a knowledge learning outcome). They might be questions that require students to search for related course content (to meet an understand learning outcome). The questions might require students to consider how ideas that will be covered in the following sessions apply to their daily life (to meet an apply learning outcome). Facilitating a discussion between students on the platform can help identify and address any misconceptions about course content before (or during) the upcoming session. It can also generate the sense of a learning community.

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Caution

  • It is very important that you have realistic expectations about the type and number of questions that you set your students. It is no use setting questions that require students to apply new knowledge if they do not have a good grasp of the foundational knowledge of a course.
  • Equally, it is important to think about the amount of time that you expect the students to spend on the questions. As an expert, is your expectation realistic for students who are novices in your course?
  • Communicating the value for students of engaging in the pre-session activity is important.
  • Making the responses anonymous can help students overcome any anxiety about making a mistake. However, it is important to remember if you are reviewing the responses in class, the names of students who post a response will be revealed when you click on a question, regardless of whether it was posted anonymously or not.

Further Reading

This blog entry provides a detailed rationale for using Echo 360 in a flipped classroom. It also provides clear instructions on how to set up the pre-session questions.

https://echo360.com/21-ways-teach-echo360-10-flipped-learning-flip-teaching-seeded-discussions/

This link in Griffith’s ExLNT provides a general description of flipped learning and has links to technologies that can support your successful implementation of this active learning strategy.

https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/3805/view

Research base readings

The two studies listed below are focused on the impact of pre-session questions rather than the use of Echo360 to implement pre-session question.

Porter, C.D., Bogdan, A. & Heckler, A.F. (2017). Prelecture Questions and Conceptual Testing in Undergraduate Condensed Matter Courses. Proceedings from the PERC Conference. doi:10.1119/perc.2017.pr.075  

This 2017 conference paper describes a study implemented in a physics education course. Over a two-year period, approximately 110 pre-lecture questions were asked. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. The researchers concluded that the students found the pre-lecture questions useful and the correct response rate was high.

 

Moravec, M., Williams, A., Aguilar-Roca, N., & O'Dowd, D. K. (2010). Learn before lecture: A strategy that improves learning outcomes in a large introductory biology class. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 9(4), 473-481. doi:10.1187/cbe.10-04-0063

The results reported in this 2010 article show that students, in a large introductory biology course, who engaged in “Learn Before Lecture” exam questions significantly increased their learning when compared to those students who did not engage with the questions.

Technology that can be used to enhance the strategy

Echo360 Active Learning Platform

This link provides information about the setting up of the Echo 260 Active Learning Platform

https://intranet.secure.griffith.edu.au/computing/using-learning-at-griffith/staff/echo360

Class size that is suitable for the strategy

  • 100+ students
  • 20 - 50 students
  • 50+ students
  • < 20 students

Activity group size

  • Individual

Year level in which the strategy is often used

  • First year
  • Post graduate
  • Second year
  • Third Year+

Discipline area (Academic Group) in which the strategy is often used

  • Arts Education and Law
  • Griffith Business School
  • Griffith Health
  • Griffith Sciences
  • Other Group

Phase of the learning and teaching session in which the strategy will be used

  • Pre-session

Preparation time for the strategy

  • More than 25 minutes

Duration of the strategy

  • Between 10 and 25 minutes
  • Less than 10 minutes
  • More than 25 minutes

Level of learning outcome that the strategy is designed to address

  • Apply
  • Remember
  • Understand

Learning space appropriate for the strategy

  • Online

Preferred Citation

Learning Futures (2019). Flipped learning using pre-session questions in Echo360. Retrieved from https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/8330/view

Licence

© 2024 Griffith University.

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The Griffith material on this web page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licence does not extend to any underlying software, nor any non-Griffith images used under permission or commercial licence (as indicated). Materials linked to from this web page are subject to separate copyright conditions.