Flipping LIB210: The Flipped
Classroom Model in Action
Hu Womack
NCLA 2015
What is LIB210?
Lib 210: Social Science Research Sources and
Strategies
This half-semester course provides students with an understanding of
the sources and strategies necessary for doing research in the social
sciences (anthropology, communication, economics, education,
political science, psychology, sociology, and women’s, gender and
sexuality studies). Topics covered include strategies for developing
research projects, resources available in each discipline, finding and
evaluating sources and interpreting research results.
What are the Course Objectives?
Objective I - Students will be able to articulate and design an effective research process for research in the Social
Sciences, including crafting a research question, selecting search terms and applying advanced searching techniques
in a variety of environments.
Objective II - Students will be able to define the various disciplines of the Social Sciences, articulate the
interdisciplinarity of the Social Sciences and be able to recognize the various disciplines with an interest in any given
topic. Additionally, students will begin to participate as a scholar in their discipline and apply the discipline in
unexpected ways.
Objective III -Students will gain a broad understanding of a wide variety of potential source types when doing Social
Science research and will know where to go and how to locate primary sources, data sources, video and audio sources,
government sources and sources from policy/think tank/NGO/IGO sources.
Objective IV -Students will be proficient in the use of Zotero and the APA reference style and be able to recognize
errors in citations and correct them to conform to APA rules.
Objective V -Students will be exposed to innovative technologies via the Kindle Fire HD and demonstrate an ability to
explore and evaluate new technologies.
What is the “Flipped Classroom”?
• The flipped classroom is a
pedagogical model in which the
typical lecture and homework
elements of a course are reversed.
• The term “Flipped Classroom” is
widely used to describe almost any
class structure that provides
prerecorded lectures followed by inclass exercises.
“7 Things you should know about Flipped Classrooms”
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7081.pdf
What Technology Did We Use In This Class?
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Sakai for links to course content and gradebook
Google+ for required reflection outside of class
VoiceThread for viewing presentations and commenting
Kindle Fire tablets provided by ZSR
• Checked out these Kindles out like a book
on the first day of class.
• Students responsible for returning them on
the last day of class.
• Required an Amazon account to register
the device.
(But no required expenditures!)
Apps on the Kindle Fire table:
• Browzine, TED, LinkedIN, Twitter
What made this class different?
• Heavy use of technology
• Sakai course organized by week
• More time in class for active
learning exercises
• All homework was graded
Student Feedback
“Your friends are registering for classes and have a choice between a Flipped Section of LIB 210 or a
Traditional Lecture Section of LIB 210. They ask you which section they should register for. Describe how you
would respond in convincing them to register for one section over the other.”
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I would recommend the flipped section of LIB 210 as the class discussions are more engaging when
everyone has familiarized themselves with the material prior to the class itself.
I would advise them to take a flipped section. It was helpful to take a hands-on approach to learning new
research strategies and resources. Actually utilizing those strategies and skills through assignments and
having the opportunity to ask questions after the fact makes applying them to other classes much easier.
I very much preferred the flip class section. It was nice to be able to work out technology issues in class
instead of struggling with them at home. I also felt like class time was never wasted by watching lectures
or PowerPoints that I could've easily done at home on my own time. This course is so short that every
minute of class time counts, and with the flipped classroom setting I very much felt that my time in the
classroom was well spent.
I enjoyed the Flipped Section of LIB 210 because it enabled me to sort of "learn" the material first through
homework assignments, and then "really learn" the material during class time. I think the Flipped
Classroom helped me to learn better because it helped my brain to begin thinking and learning about
concepts before we even talked about them in class, at which point my learning was then solidified
during the class period.
Results and Lessons Learned
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Examined the course content, reworked my courselevel objectives and created class-level objective that
aligned with the course-level objectives.
Incorporated technologies ranging from VoiceThread
to Twitter into the class in meaningful ways.
Instructional designer, Sarah McCorkle, was key to
the success of this project. Her experience with
online education and flipping courses allowed me to
quickly and effectively redesign this course.
LIB210 better meets the needs of my students.
Learned that tablets were now an unnecessary part of
the course.
Managed expectations with discussions of why we
were doing a “flipped class.”
Questions and Activity
Questions?!
Activity:
• Take five minutes and think about
how you can “flip” one of the
classes you teach.
• Take five minutes and “pair and
share” with the person beside you.
• Take five minutes and share with
the room.
Contact Information
Hubert David Womack
BA’90, MBA ‘00, MLIS ’08
Instruction and Outreach Librarian
WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library
womack@wfu.edu
336.758.4314