Villanova: Improved student performance in 'flipped' classes

For professor Randy Weinstein's chemical engineering course at Villanova University, students are supposed to watch on video what has traditionally been the heart of college learning - the lecture - before they show up for class.

So he gave them a quiz to make sure they'd done just that.

"Everybody watched the carbon-dioxide video," Weinstein said, nodding with satisfaction when he saw that 88 percent of the students answered one of the questions correctly.

Weinstein had embedded the video in a 27-minute lecture he recorded for the class - chemical engineering thermodynamics II - from the comfort of his dining room table.

Students then spent the bulk of class time working in groups on complex problems related to his lecture - something that might be done as homework in other classes.

They sat at circular tables in open cubicles, facing a large computer monitor where they worked out problems. Weinstein moved from group to group, answering questions and giving one-on-one help.

Academics aptly call this approach a "flipped classroom," and it's catching on in the halls of higher learning, especially in engineering and science, where the material requires a lot of hands-on problem-solving.

"It really changes what I do in the classroom entirely," said Weinstein, who is also the associate dean for academic affairs in Villanova's College of Engineering. "I'm really more of a coach or mentor, and they get the practice."

Villanova piloted four "flipped" introductory engineering classes last fall, and students - especially those typically in the bottom third of the class academically - did so well that the university is running eight "flipped" classes this fall, Weinstein said.

Students in the bottom third last year performed on average seven percentage points higher than their counterparts in a traditional classroom; they got a C on average, rather than a D-plus, Weinstein said. Overall, the class averaged grades nearly three percentage points higher than a traditional class, from a C-plus to a B-minus, he said.

While there's little national research on the effectiveness of the flipped classroom as compared with a traditional lecture class, advocates say the novel approach is showing early signs of promise.

A group of professors at Harvey Mudd College in California have begun a study comparing "active-learning lecture" classes, in which students answer questions and work on problems, and flipped classrooms, in both engineering and math.

"To date, we haven't been able to detect any statistically significant differences," mathematics professor Darryl Yong said in an e-mail. "These results don't preclude flipping having positive effects in other situations. It only tells us that more research needs to be done."

While Villanova's biggest concerted effort in flipped classes is in the engineering department, professors in other disciplines, including math, chemistry, and communications, also are trying it. Other area colleges are, too, such as Bryn Mawr, where physics department chair Elizabeth McCormack was recently featured in a trade publication discussing her experience with the flipped classroom.

Marissa Bonanno, one of the students in Weinstein's class last year, said she preferred the approach to the traditional lecture.

"A lot of engineering problems are better learned by doing," said Bonnano, 21, of Rockland County, N.Y.

Students say they like watching the lecture at their convenience - perhaps from their dining room tables - and rewinding if they didn't understand something. Weinstein is not visible on the videos. Students see a set of his handwritten notes that they follow as he talks.

"I would rather not be in a classroom for 50 minutes listening to a lecture when I can do the same thing at my own pace at home," said Edward Chang, 20, of Los Angeles, who is in the class this fall.

Weinstein said the approach has kept students alert and focused.

"The worst thing you can do with a 19-year-old is stand up and lecture at them for 50 minutes," said Weinstein, who has taught at Villanova since 1998.

Not all students, however, are sold.

"The verdict is still out," said Paige Innamorato, 20, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who is in the class this fall. "It's different, very different."

She's not sure how to discern the crucial material in the lecture.

"You have to figure out what the most important thing is more on your own," she said.

Some students get nervous about the quiz given at the start of class, concerned they might not have grasped the material well enough. Weinstein said students could e-mail him before class. He also said that, of the 33 quizzes scheduled each semester, students can drop the bottom 10 grades.

In class Wednesday, students aced the quiz except for one question, which nearly a third of them got wrong. Weinstein went over that one in class.

"I look at the results for gaps in their knowledge," he said, "and I address the gaps right there."

Professors and students have said flipped classes would not work for other subjects, such as history or theology, which are more discussion-based, or for higher-level engineering classes.

Most students said flipped classes required more work because of the extra time necessary to watch the lectures.

"If all my classes were this way, I honestly don't know how I'd keep up," said Andrew Merluzzi, 19, of West Chester.

Weinstein said he hoped that in time, about 30 percent of Villanova's basic engineering classes would be flipped.