AN INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGY DESIGN FEATURES FOR SUPPORTING INVERTED CLASSROOM TEACHING

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AN INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGY DESIGN FEATURES FOR SUPPORTING INVERTED CLASSROOM TEACHING

ABSTRACT

New technologies and teaching approaches are having enormous effects on education practices. The inverted classroom has emerged as an unconventional approach to structuring a classroom environment to enhance active learning. This model allows instructors to provide engaging content but also to cater to different learning styles by reserving significant amounts of classroom time for student interaction and problem solving. Many learning responsibilities are correspondingly shifted to the student, which leads to a sense of autonomy.

The implementation of the inverted classroom pedagogy varies depending on the instructor, learning objectives, activities, content, and available teaching resources. Instructors use whatever technologies are provided to enable and complement this pedagogy; however, there has been no effort to analyze or design technologies that would be most appropriate for this teaching method. Instead, instructors turn towards a mix of external technologies, the learning and integration of which detracts from accomplishing other teaching tasks.

In my first study, I used qualitative methods to study the practices of instructors using the inverted model, guided by Activity Theory as my theoretical lens. I found a number of themes pointing to a need for more flexibility and customization of the support tools. These early findings have led me to argue for the design of a system that could aid “inverted instructors” with their tasks and as a result help to transform the activity of teaching in this context.

My second study was guided by my previous findings and used Scenario-Based Design (SBD) to create low-fidelity prototypes and scenarios that would allow me to explore my preliminary design ideas through participatory design sessions. I shared these design ideas with instructors, and use their feedback to refine my high-level design ideas that in the future will enable me to design and build a concrete artifact.

In this thesis I describe the activity analysis and iterative design process that I have followed, drawing from Activity Theory as a lens, and producing design recommendations for technology that can support inverted teaching practices.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. vii

List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. viii

Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………………… ix

Chapter 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Contributions …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

Structure of Thesis …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Chapter 2 Literature Review ………………………………………………………………………………………. 4

The Inverted Classroom ……………………………………………………………………………………… 4

Constructivism ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6

Challenges with Inverted Classroom Practices ………………………………………………………. 9

Educational Technology ……………………………………………………………………………………… 12

Instructor Preparation …………………………………………………………………………………………. 17

Chapter 3 Research Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………….. 20

Rationale and Epistemology ………………………………………………………………………………… 20

Methods Overview …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

Activity Theory ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22

Scenario-based Design ………………………………………………………………………………… 25

Chapter 4 The Activity of Teaching in an Inverted Classroom ……………………………………….. 33

Data Collection ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33

Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 34

Findings ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35

Instructors as Subjects …………………………………………………………………………………. 35

The Surrounding Community ……………………………………………………………………….. 36

Inverted Classroom as Object ……………………………………………………………………….. 37

Technology and Tools as Instruments ……………………………………………………………. 39

Efficiency Factors with the Inverted Classroom ……………………………………………… 41

Summary and Implications for Design …………………………………………………………… 41

Chapter 5 Scenario-Based Evaluation of Technology for Inverted Teaching ……………………. 43

Data Collection ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 43

Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 46

Findings ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 47

Instructor Demographics ……………………………………………………………………………… 47

Personas …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 47

Scenario and Prototype Reactions …………………………………………………………………. 49

Summary from Scenario-Based Design Study ………………………………………………… 56

Chapter 6 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 57

Instructor’s Expertise …………………………………………………………………………………………. 57

Instructor Perceptions of Students ………………………………………………………………………… 59

Revising the Activity System for the Inverted Classroom ……………………………………….. 60

Variations of Course Structures Using the Inverted Classroom ……………………………….. 62

Variations of Technology in the Inverted Classroom ……………………………………………… 63

Chapter 7 Conclusions and Future Work ……………………………………………………………………… 64

Reflections on a Qualitative Study ……………………………………………………………………….. 64

Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 65

Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 66

Future Work ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 69

References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 70

Appendix A  Summary Explanation of Exempt Research ……………………………………….. 74

Appendix B  Interview Questions from Study 1 …………………………………………………….. 76

Appendix C  Focus Group Script (old participants) from Study 2 …………………………….. 77

Appendix D  Focus Group Script (new participants) from Study 2 …………………………… 79

Appendix E  Problem Scenario Narratives ……………………………………………………………. 82

Appendix F  Personas …………………………………………………………………………………………. 84

Appendix G  Paper Prototypes …………………………………………………………………………….. 86

 

 

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Research Overview ……………………………………………………………………………………… 21

Figure 2. Activity System for the Inverted Classroom. ………………………………………………….. 24

Figure 3. The Scenario-based Design Framework. ………………………………………………………… 27

Figure 4. Variation of SBD Process. ……………………………………………………………………………. 28

Figure 5. Persona for “The Newbie” Instructor Profile ………………………………………………….. 30

Figure 6. Paper Sketch for the Video and Cross-Compatibility Problem Scenario …………….. 32

Figure 7. Procedure for Design Sessions. …………………………………………………………………….. 46

Figure 8. Revised Activity System for the Inverted Classroom ……………………………………….. 61

 

 

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Existing Tools for the Inverted Classroom Space ……………………………………………… 14

Table 2. Problem Scenario Narrative for Video Task. ……………………………………………………. 29

Table 3. Instructor’s Profiles ………………………………………………………………………………………. 58

 

Chapter 1

Introduction

The inverted (flipped) classroom (IC) has received lots of attention. As student-centered approaches teaching are increasingly touted as leading to more effective learning experiences, instructors are constantly exploring new student-centered approaches of teaching. The inverted classroom is an emerging unconventional approach aimed at enlivening a dry traditional-lecture setting while employing active learning activities that enhance student engagement, assessment, and experience (Lage & Platt, 2000; Bishop & Verleger, 2013). Instructors are constantly looking for efficient and effective ways of presenting information to their students. Furthermore, instructors may sometimes feel time-deprived in a large lecture hall and, therefore, may not have as much time to help struggling students. The inverted model introduces a balanced approach to time management where the instructor has the control to place content outside and interactive discussion and problem-solving within. The added advantage is a self-directed learning approach that is adopted by the students. Equally important, this pedagogical method caters to different learning styles which are extremely beneficial, especially in a classroom where students may be more advanced in a topic.

In the context of education, many instructors do not possess the ability to program and may not have the technology skills to support novel media construction and delivery needs; nonetheless, they may want to design and develop their own tools to implement in their classrooms. Although they are motivated to enrich their teaching, they may not know where to start. In contrast, other instructors may even have computer science degrees and feel comfortable to build their own tools, but they struggle with the need to integrate separate platforms. This may be a hassle to integrate into one’s classroom along with university-based resources or content management systems. Other times universities may not provide any allocated resources to instructors, and this can prevent them from attempting new and innovative tools and teaching practices. To alleviate such concerns, I propose an integrated system that combines a set of custom features designed to aid course tasks like content creation and content delivery.

As hybrid, blended, and online learning are becoming more prevalent in education, the creation of tools to support these methods is increasing. My research is exploratory in nature.  I am seeking to understand the inverted classroom phenomenon as a whole, but with a specific focus on the tools that instructors are using to support this teaching model. With a better understanding of how instructors use specific technologies, important design features and functional choices can be made for a prototype custom system devoted to inversion. Thus, not only is this research critical to the inverted classroom, it may also benefit the future of education more generally, by giving educators and educational researchers a glimpse into alternative classroom structures and associated support. My research will also provide a careful analysis of the technological side of the inverted teaching approach. While student success is imperative and an indicator of success in the inverted classroom, for the purposes of this thesis, I shift my focus to the improvement of inverted classroom (and hybrid learning) tools for instructors.

Contributions

The contributions of this thesis are threefold. First, I hope to advance the existing research knowledge base regarding the inverted classroom as a pedagogical method, aiming at the field of education in general. Second I will be working toward the design of a system to support this approach to teaching, ultimately making a contribution in future applications of the inverted classroom. The third contribution is unearthing and documenting the instructor’s perspective in inverted classroom implementation and technology usage.

Structure of Thesis

The structure of this thesis is as follows: Chapter Two provides a comprehensive review of the literature surrounding the inverted classroom phenomenon and associated tool usage. Chapter Three discusses the research methodology that I have employed, including my theoretical lens, data collection and data analysis procedures. Chapter Four present my findings from the first study that I conducted. Chapter Five presents the second study. Chapter Six discusses the implications of the two sets of findings with respect to how instructors might use new or existing technologies in preparing for inverted teaching. Finally, Chapter Seven presents my conclusions and thoughts about future work.

 

AN INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGY DESIGN FEATURES FOR SUPPORTING INVERTED CLASSROOM TEACHING

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