Course: BLAW 3175/BADM 3720 The Legal and Ethical
Environment of Business
Innovation: Use of a “Flipped Classroom” model of
instruction for a large enrollment class (100-130 students).
The Challenge: In a traditional large lecture course, a
professor assigns readings from a text, delivers classroom lectures on a topic
each class and then gives 2-3 objective exams, each covering multiple topics. Most
recently, there has emerged three significant developments challenges to
learning success in the large lecture class format.
First, millennial generation learners have a tendency to
“learn to the test.” They display less
intellectual curiosity than past learners.
Millennials tend to prefer to know a little about a lot of things,
rather than to understand any particular subject in depth. The large lecture
format reinforces this lack of depth by encouraging students to mechanically
record information during lecture rather than using the information to foster
understanding. Second, phones and laptop
computers in the classroom create competition for student attention in class. Finally, a culture of textbook rejection
permeates the college learning environment. High costs of printed texts is only one factor
in the shunning of textbook purchases. Seeing
themselves as consumers of education, rather than as learning partners, the
millennial student expects the classroom lecture to deliver all that is needed
for a grade. To their minds, the textbook is superfluous.
Based on the above, I
determined that the traditional lecture format was no longer effective for
learning in BLAW 3175, and explored use of a flipped classroom model beginning
with the Spring 2016 semester. The flipped classroom employs a method of
delivering information to students outside
of the classroom while classroom time is devoted to using that information to
solve problems or otherwise exploring the relevance of the information in business
context. The goal is to get students to evolve
beyond a high school style of learning that involves retaining information to
pass a test, and to learn as adults do, converting information into
understanding to guide decision-making.
The Method: The methodology has four steps: 1. Deliver information, 2. Use the
information, 3. Re-examine the information, 4. Assess the learning.
1. Deliver information: To deliver information outside
of class I worked with a publisher that specializes in interactive online texts
(Great River Learning). Over two and a half years I collected and organized
learning resources, writing and compiling a unique text. https://www.greatriverlearning.com/product-details/917
. Unlike a traditional textbook, which
simply involves reading words, or even a traditional online textbook which is
merely a pdf of a printed book, this text is interactive, working more like a
website. The text makes liberal use of
internet resources by repeatedly linking out to videos, websites, and blogs.
Some of the videos are produced by other universities, news agencies or
academic centers. Some are music videos,
comedy skits or other popular culture devices that have been selected to
enhance the curriculum. Students, therefore, work in a familiar medium that is similar
to web surfing rather than reading a traditional text.
2. Use the information: Since information is being
delivered outside of class, class time is used to work with that information to
construct understanding. Students are
assigned into small discussion groups that are permanent for the semester. In
one of the weekly class sessions, students work in the small discussion groups responding
to a discussion prompt. The prompt is designed so that students will use the
information they received through the text to evaluate a relevant instance or
circumstance (either a hypothetical or an example drawn from current events). I
walk among the groups listening to the discussions and giving individualized
direction where needed. Every 10 minutes or so, the attention of the class is
called back to the front and the prompt is adjusted or enhanced as appropriate
to stimulate further discussion. Each
group is given a summary sheet to report the results of their discussions at
the end of the class.
3. Re-examine the information: After working through each module in the text,
students answer a number of early assessment or polling questions. After
examining the results on the early assessment questions, I use the second class
meeting of the week to concentrate efforts on enhancing understanding of any concepts
that showed poor results in the early assessment. Instead of lecturing on an
entire module, I can pick the few problem topics and emphasize more provocative
examples to illustrate concepts in the targeted areas. Typically, I present the
detailed and nuanced material that had been previously left out of traditional
lectures because of the need to cover the breadth of general information. The class is sprinkled with i-clicker
response questions where both students and instructor receive immediate
feedback on the level of understanding of concepts. Also, I will have reviewed
the results of the discussion sessions and will typically have more feedback or
follow-up and, when necessary, can return students to back to the discussion groups
for further consideration.
4. Assess the learning: Each text module (20 in all)
has an online assessment that is available to students beginning after the
second class meeting of the week and is available for 36 hours. Students who are ready to take the assessment
will do so immediately. Those who wish
to re-read the textual material or ask questions of the instructor have time to
do so. Instead of having to “cram” for
an exam covering many topics, the assessments cover the material from the most
recent module.
Student responses on SETs have been overwhelmingly positive.
Students who comment otherwise have said that they prefer not to be challenged
to have to think during class. I
consider those comments to indicate a successful result.
