Using the Inverted Classroom
With Microsoft Office:
Drew Foster
Welcome
 Stated session objectives
o Detail an alternative to the standard classroom approach for MS
Office courses
o Show how specific learning outcomes were used in the course
redesign
o Provide details on the structure of the course
o Tips for implementing a standardized course
 Contact
o Drew W. Foster; Miami University; Oxford, Ohio
o Email: fosterdw@muohio.edu
University’s “Top 25” Program
 University initiated a “Top 25” program (25 highest
enrollment courses) with an emphasis on:
o Utilizing “active learning” and “inquiry-based learning” concepts
(engage students in the classroom)
o Increase student responsibility for their learning
o Increase time spent outside of the classroom
 Program was a way to make an impact on a large number of
students quickly (30,000 seats/year)
 Overall Objective: Increase student engagement and
improve the level of critical thinking
Course Redesign applied to two courses
 CSE 141 (original): 2 Credit Hours
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Formerly prerequisite for Business
Excel (4 Chapters)
Access (3 Chapters)
PowerPoint (2 Chapters)
Integration (2 Chapters)
Text: New Perspectives Office
New prerequisite for Business
REDESIGNED Courses
 CSE 141 (update): 2 Credit Hours
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o
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Word (4 Chapters)
Excel (4 Chapters)
PowerPoint (2 Chapters)
Integration (1 Chapter)
Some customized content
Text: New Perspectives Office
 CSE 148: 3 Credit Hours [NEW]
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Excel (9+ Chapters)
Access (5 Chapters + parts)
Custom – SQL Basics
Text: New Perspectives Excel
Comprehensive + Access
MS Office Course Redesign Objectives
 Redesign the course to include/emphasize:
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o
o
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Active learning concepts (hands-on)
Opportunities to engage with other learners
Activities that develop problem-solving skills
Assignments and activities that require students to acquire
knowledge on their own (not from the instructor)
o Projects that require critical thinking
o Provide the ability to assess student achievement of course
objectives and specific learning outcomes
o Accomplish a set of specific learning objectives (specific skills)
Redesign: Structure of the class
 The most significant and important component of the
redesign was changing how class time was utilized
 Utilized the Inverted Class Room model:
o “Inverting the class room means that events that have traditionally
taken place inside the class room now take place outside the
classroom and vice versa” 1
o Basic knowledge acquisition is moved outside of the classroom
o Provides the opportunity for more complex hands-on learning
activities inside the classroom
1. Lage, Platt, Treglia; Journal of Economic Education; Winter 2000; Pg. 30
Redesign: Schematic Overview
Out-of-Class
In-Class
Lecture (1/4 - 1/3)
Custom Learning Activity
(2/3 – 3/4)
Out…
Text-based Tutorials + Cases
(continued)
Online Projects
2-hours
2-hours
In-Class
Out-of-Class
Text-based Tutorials + Cases
Text-based Tutorials + Cases
(completed PRIOR to class)
Portfolio Projects
148
2.5-hours
1.5 - 2-hours
After Redesign
3 - 4 hours
Lecture
141
2-2.5-hours
Before Redesign
1-hr.
141
Online Training/Assessment
2-3 hrs
Steps to accomplish Redesign
 Step #½: CSE 148 is a prerequisite for a Business School
course so we met with business school to develop detailed
list of topics to be covered
 Step #1: Establish Learning Objectives and Outcomes
 Step #2: Associate text activities with learning outcomes
 Step #3: Create Classroom Learning Activities
 Step #4: Develop Portfolio (projects)
 Bring it all together in the classroom
Step #1 – Learning Objectives & Outcomes
 Learning Objectives – general statements of learning to
be acquired (4-5 per course)
 Learning Outcomes – specific statements (I can do…) of
learning to be acquired (15-25 per course)
 CSE 141 Example
 Objective #2 (of 4): To provide
students with the skills needed to
effectively use spreadsheet software.
 Outcome #2.4 (of 14): The student
can use basic spreadsheet functions
(e.g. SUM, AVERAGE), financial
functions (e.g. PMT), and simple
logical functions (e.g. IF) in
spreadsheet formulas
Complete copy is available from Drew
Foster: fosterdw@muohio.edu
 CSE 148 Example
 Objective #2 (of 4): To provide
students with the skills needed to
effectively use spreadsheet software.
 Outcome #2.4 (of 23): The student
can use spreadsheet functions (e.g.
SUM, AVERAGE, etc.), financial
functions (e.g. PMT), lookup functions
(e.g. VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, etc.) and
logical functions (e.g. IF, OR, AND,
COUNTIF, etc.) in spreadsheet
formulas.
Step #2: Associate text activities with learning
outcomes
CSE 141: New
Perspectives Office
Determined learning
outcomes addressed in
each tutorial
Developed custom
material where needed
(e.g. COUNTIF, SUMIF)
CSE 148: New
Perspectives Excel &
Access Comprehensive
Determined learning
outcomes addressed in
each tutorial
Developed custom
material where needed
(e.g. SQL)
Step #3: Create Classroom Learning Activities
 For 141 which meets 1/week, identified 11 CLA’s; For 148
which meets 2/week identified 23 CLA’s
 For each CLA:
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Specify Learning Outcomes addressed
Determine if a single or paired activity (mix it up)
Do we want to emphasize “skill” or extend problem solving?
Do we include critical thinking aspect? (what would happen if…)
Do we want to require additional knowledge acquisition (e.g. use the
PPMT function to…. where PPMT function has not been discussed)
 Each semester, assignments are refined
 Continue to develop new ideas to mix it up semester to
semester
CLA Examples – CSE 141
1. Word (Tutorial #2)
141_CLA02.pdf
141_CLA02Solution.pdf
a) Create a Word table of your current course schedule
b) Required to use a number of the table features and formatting
capabilities
c) Use a section break (first page landscape; second page portrait)
d) Use the footnote feature
2. Excel (Tutorial #3 – various formulas and functions)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
141_CLA07.pdf
Create an IRA calculation sheet (30 years)
Use input cells for annual contribution and earnings %
141_CLA07Solution.pdf
Required to use an IF to display when certain conditions are met
Modify inputs to end with $100,000
Use Help to learn and use the FV function to accomplish the same
task
CLA Examples – CSE 148
1. CLA #1 (Excel Tutorials #1 & #2)
148_CLA01.pdf
148_CLA01Solution.pdf
a) Start with an empty spreadsheet
b) Set up sheet to track up to six stocks (Stock, Symbol, Date Acquired,
Shares, Initial Price per Share, Initial Cost, Current Price per share,
Current Value, Gain/Loss and Percent Gain/Loss)
c) Provided data on two stocks and then and students use Yahoo to get
data for several of their own
d) Format the sheet to look professional and format for printing.
2. CLA #14 (Pivot Tables)
a)
148_CLA14.pdf
148_CLA14Solution.pdf
Spreadsheet with over 1000 rows for every football game ever played by
the university (Date, teams, location, coach, score, win/loss, etc.)
b) Requires students to create pivot tables to answer certain questions.
Step #4: Develop Portfolio (projects)
 Open-ended projects
 Requires students to combine and utilize skills in the context
of an objective
 Contains critical thinking components
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Evaluate quality of data
Consider multiple perspectives
Develop a conclusion
Requires written communication
 Requires students to acquire knowledge on their own
 CSE 141 (1 Portfolio); CSE 148 (3 Portfolios)
Portfolio – CSE 141
 Students select topic of their interest (e.g. education ranking
and spend/student)
 Obtain data from available resources
 Use excel to analyze data and develop charts/graphs
 Use Word to write a “professional memo” that summarizes
findings and presents their conclusion
Portfolio – CSE 148 (3 Portfolios)
Word Portfolio
 Create a newsletter
 13 specific features of Word to
be included
 Topic varies (Top 5 vacation
locations)
 Provide students access to Word
tutorial information
 Requires knowledge acquisition
on their own
 Completely individual
assignments
Excel Portfolio (Analysis)
 Provided a large spreadsheet of
Census data (earnings
information)
 Asked several questions that
requires students to restructure
data, create formulas and charts
to answer
 Also develop an amortization
spreadsheet (required to
discover and use functions never
discussed)
 Requires a Peer Review
Portfolio – CSE 148 (3 Portfolios)
Data Analysis Portfolio
 Access database of fictitious university data
 Students select one of two questions provided
 Students need to determine data required from Access
 Export selected data from Access to Excel
 Perform analysis in Excel (requires functions, pivot tables, charts, etc.)
 Requires students to perform multiple analyses (different views or
perspectives of the data)
 Present findings in a professional memo that explains the analysis,
findings and provides a recommendation
 Students work in pairs
Bringing it all together – Sequence of Events
 #1: Students assigned Tutorial/Case assignments
o Completed outside of the classroom; Due Sunday Night
 #2: Instructor delivers 20 minute lecture
o Reviews material learned from homework
o Expands on what was learned
o Presents material not in the text
 #3: Students complete Classroom Learning Activity
o Combines lecture and text-based learning in a problem-solving activity
o Instructor assists students throughout the class – provide assistance
when needed on more complex activities
o End of class the assignment is turned in & instructor grades the activity
 #4: Students work on Portfolios outside of class
Results – Four measures
 Student Self-Reporting: First Day and Last Day survey is
taken where students indicate their ability to perform each
learning objective.
 Objective assessment: Each graded exam task is associated
with a learning outcome. Analyze graded tasks to provide
assessment of performance on each learning objective.
 Critical Thinking Analysis: Alternating semesters, random
selection of portfolio projects provided to independent
critical thinking assessors.
 Top 25 Survey and Focus Groups: Combination of survey and
focus groups with students to obtain information about the
class.
Results – Student Self-Reporting
 Results indicate that students believe they have made
significant gains in their ability to perform the learning
outcomes. Students feel like they “learned something”.
Fall 2010
n=412
80%
Results: Objective Exam Assessments
 Objective 2: Spreadsheet
o Generally strong results
o Continue to improve Pivot Tables
 Objective 3: Database
o Generally good results
o Continue to improve SQL
Fall 2010
n=672
80%
Results: Critical Thinking Assessment
 For a “skills class”, not too bad
 Continue to nurture critical thinking
Course: CSE 148
 Primarily Freshman (80%)
 Items #2, #4, #5, #6 are
the focus
 Aspiration for course: 2.5
 Based on Portfolio #3
Spring 2010
N=50
∆ Freshman – 2005 data based on survey
of foundation courses
Aspiration – university aspiration upon
graduation
•
SCALE
 1 = Not developed
 2 = Minimally developed
 3 = Moderately Developed
 4 = Substantially Developed
Results: Top 25 Survey/Focus Groups
When comparing responses to the other Top 25
redesigned courses at the university…
Strengths
 More often work with other
students in class
 More often required to combine
ideas to build understanding on
your own
 More often worked harder than
you thought to meet
expectations
 More often experienced
supportive faculty relationship
 More often required more
preparation time
Weaknesses
 Less often required to explain
reasoning
 Less often required to support
ideas with evidence
 More often “memorizing”
 Less often analyzing elements of
an idea/theory
Redesign Objectives – How Accomplished
Objective
How Accomplished
Active learning concepts (hands-on)
Homework; In-Class Activities; Portfolio
projects
Opportunities to engage with other learners
In-Class Activities (paired); Portfolio #2 (peer
review); Portfolio #3 (paired)
Activities that develop problem-solving skills
In-class Activities; Portfolio projects
Projects that require critical thinking
Portfolio projects; In-class activities (to some
extent)
Students acquire knowledge on their own
Homework (out-of-class); In-class Activities;
Portfolio Projects
Assess student achievement of course learning Subjective – Student Survey
Objective – Analysis of exam scores
outcomes
Accomplish specific Learning Objective
Tie each assignment/activity to specific
learning objective
Tips: What to do about grading?
 Turn-in all text-based tutorials and cases (36 items for CSE 148)
o Randomly select 1 item from the weekend for grading (18 for a
semester)… students don’t know ahead of time what is graded
o Each is only worth 8 points of 1000 (.8% of grade/assignment) – so
grade each one fairly quickly, looking for more obvious errors
o Provide case check-your work (students can self-correct before turning
in)
o Use SAM Projects (auto-grade)
o No late assignments accepted… and only count the best 15 of 18, so if
you “forget”, no big deal
For the in-class CLA’s to work, students MUST complete homework
prior to class. Requiring turn-in is the method we used to “force”
this action”
Tips: What to do about grading?
 Classroom Learning activities
(11 in CSE 141 and 23 in CSE 148)
o Must submit by end of class (cannot complete outside of class)
o Each is worth 8 points of 1000 (.8%).
o Does take some time to grade these, but assistance provided in the
classroom is a big help
o Drop 1 of 11 (or 3 of 23). So if class is missed for any reason (skip, ill,
athletics), no impact. However, if regularly not in class, it does
impact the score
Tips: Standardized Course
 For each section, the exact same thing is going on in every
classroom.
 Every assignment for all sections is exactly the same
 Use Common Exam
 All material developed and managed by course coordinator
o Ensures specific learning outcomes attained
o Is a great way to ensure course quality when using new or part-time
instructors
Tips: Standardize the Instruction
 Common set of detailed lecture notes for each class
o Administrative topics identified
o “Standard” Lecture
 Communicate the “Lecture”
o Create “Lecture Videos” – use an excellent freeware product: JING
o Lecture videos cover the detailed outline for each day 148_Lecture_01_Outline.swf
o Lecture videos demonstrate the specific topics as they would be
demonstrated in class
148_Lecture_02_InputCells.swf
 Able to re-use these videos for access by students
o Provide starting lecture files which allows instructors to “mimic”
video lecture if desired
Thank You!
 Additional Information Available
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Course Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes
Classroom Learning Activities
Course Calendar (what is covered in each class day)
Example Lecture Outlines
Example Video Lectures
 Contact:
o Drew Foster: fosterdw@muohio.edu
o Miami University
205 T Benton Hall
Oxford, OH 45056