The Inside-Out Classroom: A Win-Win-Win Strategy for Teaching with Technology

Daniel J. Waldorf; Lizabeth T. Schlemer

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Computers in Education General Technical Session II
Tagged Division: Computers in Education
Page Count: 12
Page Numbers: 22.1473.1 - 22.1473.12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--18432
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/18432
Download Count: 372

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Paper Authors

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Daniel J. Waldorf California Polytechnic State University

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Dr. Daniel Waldorf is a Professor in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Cal Poly State University. He received his Ph.D. in industrial engineering in 1996 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At Cal Poly, he teaches mainly in the manufacturing processes area, including Manufacturing Process Design, Tool Engineering, Computer-Aided Manufacturing, and Quality Engineering. He worked for two years in Chicago as a Quality/Manufacturing Engineer at ATF, Inc., a supplier of specialty cold-formed and machined components for automotive applications. His research interests are in cutting tool design and machining process modeling and monitoring. He is the lead instructional faculty in the manufacturing engineering program. His publications are mainly in tool wear modeling and engineering education activities. He recently served as conference chair for a 2005 manufacturing engineering education conference at Cal Poly. Dr. Waldorf is a member of ASEE, SME, and EWB.

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Lizabeth T. Schlemer California Polytechnic State University

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Abstract

The Inside-Out Course: A Win-Win-Win Strategy for Teaching with TechnologyABSTRACTAs costs of higher education soar and many universities face uncertain funding models,institutional pressures have increased to improve instructor efficiency. At the same time, U.S.industry leaders and leading educators have called for improvements in engineering educationbased on more interactive, hands-on student learning experiences. Although many efforts havebeen made to take advantage of technology to either improve student learning or to maintainstudent learning while increasing instructor efficiency, few approaches have been shown toimprove both learning and efficiency. A teaching method is proposed to improve studentlearning and increase student satisfaction while also addressing the instructors’ experience andthe ongoing efficiency challenge.The approach is to essentially reverse the traditional model of lectures in a classroom andpractice exercises for homework. Instead, the core knowledge content from a class is storedelectronically for easy access by students through the internet. In the current study, this hastaken the form of video-recorded instruction combined with interactive computer screen capture.The content is broken into digestible “chunks” of approximately ten minutes, each correspondingto a key course topic. Students access the course content on-line at their own convenience. Theytake notes and complete minor practice tasks as requested in the instruction. The instructorrecords the content once, with only updates needed during future course offerings. During classmeeting times, the instructor leads the students in “working sessions” that may include practiceexercises, project work, or other hands-on learning. The instructor, as well as computers,textbooks, and the other students, are available as resources from which the students draw tocomplete the assignment. Since assignments must be completed and submitted for grade by theend of the class session, the students have an incentive to stay current and prepared in terms ofwatching the on-line instruction content. Instead of preparing for a formal lecture session, theinstructor must simply be available during the working session to assist and coach the studentsthrough the assignment.The first offering of such a course is described in the paper, complete with assessments ofstudent learning and satisfaction. It is of particular interest to determine if learning styles anddemographics of the students influence performance under the new class method. Course examscores, compared to previous offerings of the course, will be used to assess performance.Surveys of the students will assess their time commitment, comfort level, perception of fairness,and overall satisfaction. Since the method can be thought of as shifting more of the learningburden to the students themselves, a survey will assess motivation and its effect on involvementand performance. An estimate is also made of instructor time efficiency, both in terms of theinvestment of creating the on-line content the first time and the overall time involved in teachingthe class. It is expected that the method provides a more effective, satisfying learning experiencefor both the students and the instructor and that the increased instructor efficiency will appeal toinstitutions that are challenged with doing more with less.

Citation
Format

Waldorf, D. J., & Schlemer, L. T. (2011, June), The Inside-Out Classroom: A Win-Win-Win Strategy for Teaching with Technology Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18432

TY - CPAPER
AB - The Inside-Out Course: A Win-Win-Win Strategy for Teaching with TechnologyABSTRACTAs costs of higher education soar and many universities face uncertain funding models,institutional pressures have increased to improve instructor efficiency. At the same time, U.S.industry leaders and leading educators have called for improvements in engineering educationbased on more interactive, hands-on student learning experiences. Although many efforts havebeen made to take advantage of technology to either improve student learning or to maintainstudent learning while increasing instructor efficiency, few approaches have been shown toimprove both learning and efficiency. A teaching method is proposed to improve studentlearning and increase student satisfaction while also addressing the instructors’ experience andthe ongoing efficiency challenge.The approach is to essentially reverse the traditional model of lectures in a classroom andpractice exercises for homework. Instead, the core knowledge content from a class is storedelectronically for easy access by students through the internet. In the current study, this hastaken the form of video-recorded instruction combined with interactive computer screen capture.The content is broken into digestible “chunks” of approximately ten minutes, each correspondingto a key course topic. Students access the course content on-line at their own convenience. Theytake notes and complete minor practice tasks as requested in the instruction. The instructorrecords the content once, with only updates needed during future course offerings. During classmeeting times, the instructor leads the students in “working sessions” that may include practiceexercises, project work, or other hands-on learning. The instructor, as well as computers,textbooks, and the other students, are available as resources from which the students draw tocomplete the assignment. Since assignments must be completed and submitted for grade by theend of the class session, the students have an incentive to stay current and prepared in terms ofwatching the on-line instruction content. Instead of preparing for a formal lecture session, theinstructor must simply be available during the working session to assist and coach the studentsthrough the assignment.The first offering of such a course is described in the paper, complete with assessments ofstudent learning and satisfaction. It is of particular interest to determine if learning styles anddemographics of the students influence performance under the new class method. Course examscores, compared to previous offerings of the course, will be used to assess performance.Surveys of the students will assess their time commitment, comfort level, perception of fairness,and overall satisfaction. Since the method can be thought of as shifting more of the learningburden to the students themselves, a survey will assess motivation and its effect on involvementand performance. An estimate is also made of instructor time efficiency, both in terms of theinvestment of creating the on-line content the first time and the overall time involved in teachingthe class. It is expected that the method provides a more effective, satisfying learning experiencefor both the students and the instructor and that the increased instructor efficiency will appeal toinstitutions that are challenged with doing more with less.
AU - Daniel J. Waldorf
AU - Lizabeth T. Schlemer
CY - Vancouver, BC
DA - 2011/06/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - The Inside-Out Classroom: A Win-Win-Win Strategy for Teaching with Technology
UR - https://peer.asee.org/18432
DO - 10.18260/1-2--18432
ER -