Flipped classroom / project based-problem based learning (+ peer review)

• Flipped Classroom

  Learning Objectives

  • Provide an introduction to Flipped Classroom and the main concepts involved
  • Facilitate the transformation of a training into a flipped classroom
  • Discover the Bloom’s Taxonomy and the differences between the low level thinking skills and the high level thinking skills, as well as the different categories of skills (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation)
  • Motivate students to change their teaching mode

  Introduction

  The objective of this first part is to highlight the previous knowledge of the group. Participants are also invited to share information about the context of their participation to the session (motivation, personal goals, etc.). After that, the trainer will present the "The Flipped Classroom (FC) concept by using the slides prepared at Slidewiki. In brief, "The Flipped Classroom (FC) is a pedagogical model that moves the work of certain learning processes outside of the classroom and invests the class session time, along with the teacher experience, to promote and boost other processes of acquisition and knowledge practice inside the classroom". Trainer use the available digital resources and tools to provide the students with an advance of the necessary contents, which they will review by their own before attending the class.

  Once the students are in the classroom, in contact with their peers and teacher/s, they invest their time working with the questions that they were not able to solve on their own on the previous stage. Peer to peer support is essential in this method.

  By using a Flipped Classroom model…

  • Students learn new content online by watching video lectures, usually at home → comprehension and knowledge activities
  • And what used to be homework (assigned problems) is now done in class with teacher offering more personalized guidance and interaction with students. → Application - Analysis - Synthesis and Evaluation activities.

  Comparison:

  

  Group discussion

  In small groups, the participants will work on Bloom’s taxonomy and think about several different activities that could be developed at home / at class, according to the Flipped Classroom model. After 5’ of individual reflexion, the trainer will start a brainstorming and will take notes on participant’s suggestion. Finally, trainer will show/distribute the detailed Bloom’s taxonomy and explain how it works:

  

  Everybody opens his/her laptop

  Participants will (individually or in group) take the editable document with the taxonomy and add a new row, in order to add the digital tools, software or other digital resources that could be useful to achieve the “actions” and the “outcomes” (third row of the document). Trainer will make enfasys on the use of FLOSS and open and free technologies. Participants will also think about which part of the taxonomy can be developed “at home” or “in class” and try to suggest (in abstract) some activities that could be done during an specific training (using a concrete example can be very useful) e.g.:

  1. At home:

     • Knowledge-related (comprehensive reading, filling-in questionnaires, create a glossary, etc.).
     • Understanding-related: creating a infographic, a, summary, a post, a digital presentation…
  2. In class, with peers and teachers:
     • Application-related: an interview to an expert, a virtual scenario, a timeline with the sequence of an action plan...
     • Analysis-related: conceptual map, comparative chart...
     • Assessment-related: discussing, debate, real or simulated tests or experiments, etc.
     • Creation-related: video, postcast...

  After 45’, participants will share their findings with the group and comment on their experience.

  Homework

  Think about a training you have taught before, and the activities you proposed to your students: if you applied the Flipped Classroom model, what part would be developed at home and what part would be done in the class?

  References

  BLOOM, B.S. (ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Nueva York: David McKay Company, pag 201-207.

  Sprouts (2015): The Flipped Classroom Model. Video available at https://youtu.be/qdKzSq_t8k8

  Acer for education (2019): 6 benefits of the Flipped Classroom model.

• Problem Based Learning

  Learning Objectives

  • Provide an introduction to Problem Based Learning
  • Facilitate the work with open learning/teaching methods
  • Discover new approaches to the teaching/learning process and to stimulate the motivation and engagement of the participants. To discover the advantages of student-center methods
  • Motivate students to change their teaching mode

  Introdution

  The trainer will talk about the questions that may be arised after the previous session will comment on homework. After that will introduce the content and the main activities of the session.

  Trainer will introduce the “Problem Based Learning” concept and method. Starting point will be a “case review” and we suggest to use the “Technovation Girls” project (see at https://technovationchallenge.org/) , which is a project that challenge teams of girls to think about local problems and to code a solution (they build an app). It’s better to find a local example, so we suggest the trainer to look for local examples at YouTube by searching “Technovation + name of the country” After playing some of the available videos, trainer will highlight some elements of this (or a similar) project:

  • It’s a challenge.
  • They work in groups.
  • They work to solve a real problem but there’s not need that the problem is present in the contex of the students (they can work on other’s problems).
  • They learn what they need to provide a solution (that is not the same for the different groups) Trainer will explain that nowadays it’s very easy to identify real problems, by using the 17 goals to transform our world:

  

  Problem based learning is a method that start with the teacher laying out a question or a problem a challenging the students to give an answer to the question or to find the way to solve the problem. Sometimes, teacher invite the students to think about the problem. PBL allows the teacher and the student to settle a milestone in the learning process, where the student is the principal actor.

  By using Problem Based Learning methodology, students…

  • Learn to make decisions, individually or negotiating (with the group).
  • Interact with peers and also with teachers.
  • Use the information of their close context.
  • Search for the information they need.
  • Produce and share ideas.
  • Discuss other possible solutions and also the mechanisms to find them.

  The problems must be in accordance with the abilities of the students and must be significant to them. Problems are aroused from the real world and could be “real” or “potential”. It’s better to use real scenario to make things easier.

  • The problem must motivate students to seek out a deeper understanding of concepts.
  • The problem should require students to make reasoned decisions and to defend them.
  • The problem should incorporate the content objectives in such a way as to connect it to previous courses/knowledge.
  • If used for a group project, the problem needs a level of complexity to ensure that the students must work together to solve it.
  • If used for a multistage project, the initial steps of the problem should be open-ended and engaging to draw students into the problem. (Duch, Groh, and Allen, 2001)

  

  Source of the image

  With this method, students can improve/change their knowledge, abilities and skills and attitudes. At this time, trainer will ask the participants to brainstorm about some problems that could be presented to their learners. Trainer will take notes on the board/flipchart.

  PBL

  Trainer will present the PBL scheme and explain that it’s all about following the process: first step is the analysis of the problem, then participants search for the necessary information they need to understand the problem, and learn the necessary skills to understand the information. Then they can integrate the information and they can apply it to of a certain amount of knowledge and wisdom to solve the problem. It’s important to understand that every learner need to learn/get different skills, as they previous knowledge is different. The stages are:

  1. Presentation of the problem to be solved/identify a problem that group is interested on.
  2. Analysis of the previous knowledge
  3. Identification of the knowledge and the resources needed to develop a solution
  4. List of actions or activities that should be accomplished to find a solution.
  5. Preparation of the work plan
  6. Do what it’s been planned: searching for the necessary information, carrying out actions, communication of the partial results
  7. Elaboration of the answer and argumentation about the method used to find it.

  As the trainer has presented an exemple (Technovation girls one), will transform the exemple into stages, so the participants can realize how easy is to do it.

  Everyone opens his/her laptop

  The goal of this part of the session is to have the participants building up a concrete proposal that could be presented to the students. Participants will work in groups and use a computer to create a digital presentation with their proposal. They:

  • will identify and present a very concrete problem, ODS related, and identify a potential group of learners (age, background, special needs… )
  • identify some knowledge/skills that his/her students should have to solve the problem (then students will be allowed to identify if they have or they need to learn/acquire part of this knowledge/skills).
  • prepare an initial list of activities that should be performed. Eg: visiting a place, interview someone, search on Internet, run a survey, make some calculation with open-data; program an app or a videogame, make a presentation, make an infographic…
  • prepare a potential work plan (that will be modified by the learners when they do the activity)

  After 40’ working in small groups, the groups will share their proposal with the class.

  Homework

  After listening the different proposals, think about a concrete problem to be solved with your students in your class. Think about pros and against of using this method in your class.

  References

  • Duch, B. J., Groh, S. E, & Allen, D. E. (Eds.). (2001). The power of problem-based learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
  • Grasha, A. F. (1996). Teaching with style: A practical guide to enhancing learning by understanding teaching and learning styles. Pittsburgh: Alliance Publishers.
  • The Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (CITL): Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
  • PBL through the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education at the University of Delaware

• Project Based Learning

  Learning Objectives

  • Provide an introduction to Project Based Learning (PrBL)
  • Facilitate the work with open learning/teaching methods
  • Discover new approaches to the teaching/learning process and to stimulate the motivation and engagement of the participants. To discover the advantages of student-center methods
  • Motivate students to change their teaching mode, and to face new challenges while teaching

  Introduction

  Trainer will present the main characteristics of this approach: Project Based Learning is a method with which the student is at the center of the learning process, as a protagonist capable of generating solutions in response to the different opportunities. A methodology closely related to the working environment, and also the entrepreneurship. It specially stands out for urging students to put into practice a wide range of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes By using a Project Based Learning methodology...

  • We need to get a (material or intellectual) product. This is very important.
  • Cooperation and collaboration among students to achieve this goal is a must.
  • Promotes initiative, proactivity, independence and innovation in different areas: professional, social and personal.
  • The challenge acts like a motor (motivation and determination) to achieve the goal. Engagement is the main characteristic! When using this approach, it happens that:
  • The students generate value beyond the classroom environment. As the outcome is publicity launched, students get feedback from the real world.
  • Motivation increases with the positive effect on their social context.
  • Their self-esteem is also improved.
  • They work on real situation that is, or could be, part of the professional context.

  With this method: We can really involve the real world. We can have a real impact on our social context, and learning has a very good entrepreneurship approach, not only from the economic (business) point of view, but also from a social perspective. Students became a reference on the content-area where they have been working on.

  Differences between PBL and PrBL:

  • PBL starts with an structured problem. PrBL starts by building a product or an artefact in their minds.
  • PBL problems may not be related with the student's real context. PrBL always work with real-life opportunities, as the outcome must be useful in their own context.
  • PBL use questions and solutions. PrBL use products what will be presented at the end of the learning process.
  • Success in PBL is achieved by finding solutions to the problem. Success in PrBL is achieved by creating solutions to the problem and presenting them to the community.

  After presenting the information, the trainer will ask the participants to brainstorm about some opportunities that could be presented to their learners (for example, to create a local newspapper, to create an APP…). Trainer will take notes on the board/flipchart. Trainer can lunch some challenging question to the participants: which part of the Technovation Girls study case is “PBL” and which part is “PrBL”? It’s important for the students to learn that “100% pure method” is not always deployed and that they can take part of the methods and mix them, in order to get some different outputs. The methods are always suggestions, but the trainer must be flexible.

  PrBL

  Trainer will present the PrBL scheme and explain that it’s all about following the process:

  1. Detection of the opportunity to work on.
  2. Organization of the work teams (different profiles, complementary).
  3. Final definition of the challenge, the solution to be achieved.
  4. Preparation of the plan.
  5. Training and information research.
  6. Analysis and synthesis. The students share their work by exchanging ideas, discussing solutions, doing suggestions, etc.
  7. Elaboration of the product by applying everything they have learnt.
  8. Presentation of the product or project.
  9. Implementation of improvements, if necessary.
  10. Assessment and self-assessment.

  Everyone opens his/her laptop

  The goal of this part of the session is to have the participants building up a concrete proposal that could be presented to the students. Participants will work in groups and use a computer to create a digital presentation with their proposal. They:

  • Will think about opportunities that may be suitable to work with this method.
  • Think about how to organize the group.
  • Prepare a draft plan.
  • Identify the knowledge are to be explored (research) and suggest some different methods.
  • Think about several kind of products that could be created when working with the students.
  • Suggest some “presentations” modes to be used (public presentation, video-recording, etc.)
  • Think about how to assess and self-assess the work.

  After 40’ working in small groups, the groups will share their proposal with the class.

  Homework

  After listening the different proposals, think about a concrete projecte that could be developed by your students in your class. Think about pros and against of using this method in your class.

  References

  Buck Institute for Education PBLWorks website (2020): What is PBL?

  Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Elliot Soloway, Ronald W. Marx, Joseph S. Krajcik, Mark Guzdial & Annemarie Palincsar (1991) Motivating Project-Based Learning: Sustaining the Doing, Supporting the Learning, Educational Psychologist, 26:3-4, 369-398, DOI: 10.1080/00461520.1991.9653139

• Personal o grupal development of a learning/teaching project

  Learning Objectives

  • Provide an introduction to
  • Facilitate
  • Discover
  • Motivate

  Introduction

  The trainer will talk about the questions that may be arised after the previous session will comment on homework. After that will introduce the content and the main activities of the session.

  The objective of this session is facilitate the participants the creation of their own project, based on some of the methods presented on the previous sessions. Trainer will make a recap of all the content and methods that have been presented and invite de participants to build up teams or to choose to work individually on a training plan. They should select a target group and a topic and then start to design their own training. They should think and decide on:

  • Target group.
  • Goals / objectives / skills and competencies.
  • Background.
  • Calendar.
  • Main method and strategy.
  • Introduction to the training.
  • Description of the main activities and the training sequence.

  Participants are invited to integrate the new knowledge acquired thanks to the Open-AE training.

  Everyone opens his/her laptop

  Trainer will invite the individuals/groups to present their project. After the first round of presentation, a peer-to-peer assessment will be organized.

  • One of the possibilities is to do it in a small format: a group meets with another group (or an individual with another individual) and comments, constructively, strengths and weaknesses of the project, open software or hardware resources that they can use and others complementary details.
  • The other possibility is to do it with the group-class as a brainstorming. Any member of the class can send questions to the person / people who has presented their project, make suggestions and contribute to the peer-to-peer assessment.

  Debriefing

  This is the final part of this module (and of the training, if possible) Review of what we have learned and the individual commitments acquired, if any, and final group photo. Good luck and see you very soon!

  Homework

  Keep working on your project and make it real in your class. Assesses the result based on the degree of satisfaction of the participants and the academic results obtained. Do not forget that the results of the active methodologies are not evaluated with the traditional exams: you will have to work with the students' portfolios and assess to what extent they are capable of applying the new knowledge and skills acquired.

  References

  Yasemin Gülbahar & Hasan Tinmaz (2006) Implementing Project-Based Learning And E-Portfolio Assessment In an Undergraduate Course, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38:3, 309-327, DOI: 10.1080/15391523.2006.10782462

  Brigid J.S. Barron, Daniel L. Schwartz, Nancy J. Vye, Allison Moore, Anthony Petrosino, Linda Zech & John D. Bransford (1998) Doing With Understanding: Lessons From Research on Problem- and Project-Based Learning, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7:3-4, 271-311, DOI: 10.1080/10508406.1998.9672056