Flipping by Learning Styles

Flipping by Learning Styles

In Money, Banking and Finance we've been trying to a blend direct instruction, small group work, and independent learning through technology into a proficient pedagogy. In this past unit I employed the following teaching strategies:

1) Direct Instruction with application problems included within lectures.

2) Students alternating days in the classroom.

3) Small tutor sessions after lecture to allow for individual attention.

4) Use Khan Academy as a support tool to provide students with more context.

As most of our classwork was collaborative, the unit assessment was a group project.

Results:

What developed from the above goals was a class divided into two small groups that would engage in discovery based lectures followed by a set of application problems.  The two groups were divided based on learning styles, one more traditional (Group 1), the other more hands on (Group 2).

The results for both groups were the same in class.  They were able to replicate and discover the key concepts in the same amount of time with tantamount proficiency.  Sometimes Group 1 would see me on alternating days, and other days the groups would split the period in half, with the other 30 minutes being spent in the learning commons working on problems.

Application problems were completed in the manner requested, which was for students to work through the problems in enough detail to allow for discussion the following class.

We did not use as many videos as I would have liked.  In this next unit I'm going to stress note- taking skills in conjunction with the videos and readings.

The unit assessment provided some challenges.  Group 1 was able to succeed with few hurdles.  Group 2 encountered some confusion with the assignment as well as some challenges with staying productive in an independent environment.

Moving Forward:

This next lesson will pedagogically will focus on the following:

-Instructing independent learning skills (note taking, reviewing, practicing problems)
-Study skills as we review for the final exam (using videos from Khan Academy, reading entire questions, consulting notes in the study process, asking a classmate, searching the web)
-Continuing to divide the class by learning styles with intensive discovery based direct instruction.
-As an instructor, writing assignment prompts with more clarity.