Using online lectures to support active learning - Case study Video Lecture | Teach Online: A Comprehensive Approach for Teaching Online - Professional Skills

in this case study we examine how
teachers can use online lectures to
support active learning and improve
student understanding of class content
dr. Daniel Sodom an associate professor
Mauro ma Serena of Curtin University use
a combination of clicker questioning and
supporting online lectures in their
first year pharmacy course to help
engage and improve student learning in
this episode we examine the benefits of
this approach and offer some useful tips
when using these strategies so the
course we're going to be looking at
today is a first-year pharmacy course
it's called introduction to
pharmaceutical chemistry about 140 are
in this class the format is face to face
but with online support the face to face
class uses an active learning strategy I
don't give any didactic lectures the
whole reason for going to a different
approach to teaching is born out of a
dissatisfaction with the current passive
learning strategy and with a designer
improve student understanding I apply
the there's active learning strategies
in both my major first-year classes in
first semester it's the pharmacy group
and in second semester they're the
chemists chemical engineers I do it
because I think it supports their
learning and improves their learning and
I'm not here to make life easier for
them but I do want to make their
learning better we use a pedagogy called
process oriented guided inquiry learning
we use a prompt such as clicker
questioning we record some mini lectures
using a screen capture software which is
used as a back up to the activity in
class just to get them working through
the activity engaging with the content
and hopefully learning something along
the way
but a clicker itself just involves a
multiple-choice response we use
turningpoint keypads when the polling is
opened and a little window comes up on
the screen and shows them the number of
responses if I have a spread of answers
with the clickers I will get them to
revote discuss amongst themselves and
try and convince their neighbors that
their answer is right and the clicker
software will actually allow them to
change their response
because I don't give that transmission
of information in the classroom I have
an underlying concern that tell the
students might be missing out either
they've missed a concept or they've
interpreted incorrectly and so just as a
feedback mechanism and to really close
the loop for those students we give them
those mini lectures online it doesn't
replace actually doing the activity or
attending the lecture or doing the
clicker questions it's just as a support
mechanism so within our lecture night
section here on blackboard the clicker
questions they've just been given in the
class go up as a PDF and there this
particular section has lectures a
reaction will actually occur is a piece
of desktop capture software called
echo360
it's linked directly into our electro
system these the ones that i've already
prepared and so when you actually record
the process it'll just take a capture of
the actual screen that you're saying
once that's done you come up with a
recording itself which looks like
Karthus and so you can actually go
through and just check and then you just
publish the recording login to the I
lecture database uploads it
automatically so musingly though i
lecture ISM and the information from the
clicker questions in class and giving it
to them in that passive format online
that's that's a powerful thing
the benefit is that I can have the
confidence the students have the
information I think there are lecturers
were actually really helpful they are
really clear and yeah you can really
understand them really well I think it's
good because if you haven't by any
chance haven't attended the lecture you
can listen to it and get the idea
instead I'm reading their lot which is
not effective as listening to the
lectures when I gave a question a
clicker question and I have a spread of
answers and I asked the students to them
without telling them what the right
answer was discuss with your colleagues
I always get a better second vote
without any explanation from me so it's
good to have the clicker question we can
see if we were going the right way in
the activities I think it's actually
helpful that we can work in groups and
talk to each other and see if you can
come up with a better answer they know
how they're supposed to think they
recognize that they don't need to fully
understand it before they start that
understanding will come by the time they
get to the end
anytime in a lecture somebody gives an
example that example can be turned
around so in a passive learning
environment you would talk them through
how to approach that example and then
show it within the process under guided
inquiry learning what happens is you
actually flip it around give them the
example and then get them to interrogate
that that example that model and arrive
at the understanding themselves what
concepts do I really want them to cover
in this class and then that really does
scaffold there's a presentation post
lectures a mini lecture online during
the lecture also I'll make note of where
I think they're struggling what they
might need some further examples I tried
then the week following to make sure
that the I lectures are available it
shouldn't be a significant workload
certainly if you can try and at least
frame the questions that you want to
answer any mini lectures specifically it
can cut down the number of student Tom
inquiries about the concept
the students didn't react very well at
the beginning they felt fairly and
comfortable and it it did require a bit
of explanation on the psychology of
learning and how people learn because a
lot of students have not one of people
haven't thought about how they actually
learned things
lecture theatre looks and feels very
different to what they're used to
they're given the opportunity to talk
they're encouraged to talk and to
actually do something in the lecture and
so for that class it might be something
that they've never seen before
not having the lecture a real lecture
challenging it sometimes we just go
straight to activities in is really hard
to because we don't have any background
I think it has improved my results
because I'm more active I'm like just
looking about to tell her listen to him
or her the understanding of the concepts
are improved and they get it better by
working through these things but it
takes a little bit longer at the
beginning because they're learning the
process of working things out for
themselves
and so by giving them that online
support you're giving them the
confidence that the concept that they
build up by themselves with minimum
intervention from May is actually
correct not only did I work it out for
themselves they develop confidence in
their own ability to work something out
and I think the confidence is also an
important aspect
you