FLIPPING AN INTRODUCTORY PROGRAMMING COURSE YES YOU CAN! * TUTORIAL PRESENTATION Namita Sarawagi Rhode Island College Providence, RI 02908 401-456-9865
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In the “flipped classroom” the instructor offloads passive lecture content to homework outside the classroom, creating additional time in the classroom for active and higher level learning. Students watch “lecture” videos for homework, at their own pace, while in class they learn by working out exercises with the help of the instructor. The role of the instructor changes from being “a sage on the stage” to “a guide on the side” [1]. The lower levels of learning, in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy [2], that of remembering and understanding, take place outside the classroom, at the student's own pace. In the class, having the instructor as a guide, the learning can now involve the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy, that of applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The goal of this tutorial is to make the participant realize the advantage of using the flipped approach and that it can easily be implemented in an introductory programming course successfully. The presenter will motivate and share their experience in achieving this goal in an introductory computer science course in “Algorithmic Thinking” [3]. In this tutorial, participants will first experience the flipped approach as a student, in order to realize its advantages in learning. They will then create their own video and develop related exercises that could be used in a course they teach. Finally the participants will share their experience, of the flipped approach they have had during this tutorial session, from the student as well as the instructor's perspective. TUTORIAL OUTLINE 1.
(10 minutes) Introduction to the Flipped Classroom o What is the Flipped classroom? o Why to flip?: Retention in the CS Major and active learning in the classroom
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CCSC: Northeastern Conference 2.
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(20 minutes) Experience the Flipped Classroom: Participants will "become" students and o Watch a short video as a group. o Actively learn more on the topic by trying out a few exercises that will build on the content in the video. o Student perspective: Discuss how teaching using this approach could benefit students (15 minutes) Brief Overview of how the Flipped Classroom was implemented in a CS0 course - “Introduction to Algorithmic Thinking” • Description of the course and extra time gained in the classroom after “flipping” • Types of videos created: o Lecture videos: using PowerPoint to record audio for each slide o Demo Videos: using screen-capture software such as Jing/SnagIt/Camtasia software - to create videos demonstrating problem solving using the IDE being used in the course • In Class exercises: (to replace the lecture time) corresponding to the higher levels of learning: that of applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. (20 minutes) Demo/Experiment: Participants will experiment with • Creating a 5-minute video using the free Jing software on a topic of their choice that is relevant to a course they teach. • Developing some higher level learning exercises related to their topic (10 minutes) Discuss and share experiences and challenges in creating the video and/or exercises, and how that would affect their implementing the flipped approach.
REQUIREMENTS Participants, who wish to experience creating videos, should bring their laptops with the free software Jing installed on it. Jing can be downloaded from (http://www.techsmith.com). DELIVERABLES 1)
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Sample lesson using the Flipped Approach used in the CS0 course: Files provided will include: • Sample videos made for teaching Loops in an Introductory programming course • Related in-class exercises on Loops given to students, corresponding to higher levels of learning in Bloom's taxonomy. List of software to use create videos: comparing their capabilities, advantages/disadvantages. List of online resources and examples of flipping the classroom.
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JCSC 28, 6 (June 2013) REFERENCES [1] King, A., From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College Teaching 41(1) 30-35, 1993. [2] Krathwohl, D., A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212-218, (2002). [3] Sarawagi, N., A general education course - "Introduction to Algorithmic Thinking" - using Visual Logic, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 25(6), 250-252, 2010. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRESENTER Namita Sarawagi is an Assistant Professor in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. She has taught introductory programming courses for several years. She was involved in the development of a new CS General Education course: “Introduction to Algorithmic Thinking”. She has presented a poster at CCSC-NE 2010 illustrating the effectiveness of this tool in a course targeted for students of all majors as well as co-authored a related paper and presented a tutorial (Learn how to use executable flowcharts to enhance learning in general education at CCSCNE 2011) and workshops (Reducing the learning curve in an introductory programming course) at CCSCE (2011) and at CCSCNE (2012).
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