Faculty members of the University of North Carolina,
Greensboro, are experimenting with a flipped-classroom model that is showing some
promise. CRAFT—for Create and curate content, Replace lectures with Active, and
Flipped, Team-based learning—targets classes with high rates of dropouts or
students getting poor grades.
In the first two years of the program, students in most
of CRAFT courses received higher grades than their peers taking the lecture
version. In addition, the university has been able to enroll more students in the
classes. Instructors also report that their workload remains about the same,
according to a report for Inside Higher Education.
A philosophy course that went through the CRAFT
redesign typically had 40 students who met three times a week for 50 minutes
per class, with lectures making up two of the three sessions. As a flipped
class, enrollment increased to 90 students divided into three groups that meet
once a week for group quizzes and other forms of active learning. Students
watch video and do homework exercises on their own to complete the weekly
coursework.
“I’m effectively teaching more students than I was
before, but it’s taking less of their time … and the workflow is neutral for me
because I’m spending the same amount of time in the classroom,” said Wade Maki,
who teaches the redesigned course. “You can move the needle on access and affordability
with this. And we need to do that.”
The workload for instructors only becomes neutral after
the redesign stage is completed and student savings come in the form of less money
spent on course materials that are replaced with online lecture videos.
However, student grades did go up, with the share of students earning an A or B
increasing from 40% to 56% in one course alone.
“We
have shown the model didn’t fail, which we expected it might,” Maki said. “Now,
we have to get others on board.”
