Flipping an Introductory Statistics Class:

Students’ Attitudes About and Success with the use of Online Tools

Dr. Craig McBride, PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma

mcbridec@uw.edu

Purpose of the Study

• Determine the effectiveness of flipping a college level Introductory Statistics course

• Assess the effectiveness of using online homework and quizzes

• Assess students’ attitudes towards both “flipping” and online tools

• Analyze retention of knowledge and long-term attitudes

SampleThe sample consisted of (N=40) mostly Freshman (n=21) and Sophomore (n=9) students in a highly selective private liberal arts college located in the Pacific Northwest. 21 Female, 19 Male.

Major nBiology /Molecular & Cell Biology 7Business 1Exercise Science 2Geology Major 1Honors Program (Liberal Arts) 2Music / Performance 2Political Sciences 3Sociolgy / Psychology 2Undeclared 20

College• 2,600 students, 43% men and 57% women from

44 states, 16 countries; 76% from out of state• 99% of tenure-line faculty hold a doctorate or

equivalent• 93% of faculty are full-time• Student-faculty ratio of 12 to 1• 13 Math faculty• All classrooms equipped with lectern computer

with overhead projector NEXT TO chalkboards.

DesignThe class was “flipped” from the beginning of the term utilizing Powerpoints as the major mode of delivery for lecture material and supplemented with applets, online resources, and video lessons and tutorials. Students were expected to read through the Powerpoints on their own or in groups outside of class. Classes met 4 days per week (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri) for 50 minutes each day.

DesignClass time was devoted to answering some guided questions and working through examples of the techniques discussed in the Powerpoints in groups using real world data.Additionally, I would use class time to present “mini-lectures” (10-20 minutes) whenever the subject matter required it.

DesignMidway through the term, I introduced students to the publisher’s online learning tool MyStatsLab. Students were asked to try doing the rest of their homework and quizzes for the remainder of the term online.Use of the online site was voluntary, and nine of the students opted to continue working out of the book for homework and quizzes.The last five chapters (8-12) were done online.

Participants23 participated fully in the online version9 opted out of the online version completely2 opted out of just the online quizzes

• 1 student did the last quiz online*2 opted out of just the online homework2 quit online HW & switched back to the book*2 quit online quizzes (both came back for last quiz)1 quit both homework and quizzes*1 student did both

Technology• Microsoft PowerPoints• Applets• Videos

– Wacom Bamboo Create Tablet & Smoothdraw or PPT etc. with Camtasia (JING if you can keep it short)

• MyStatLab• TI-83 calc/emulator• StatCrunch• The Island

Typical Class• 5 minutes asking probing questions about the

PPT material to guide if they “got it” or not– Always be prepared to lecture on every topic!

• 5-10 minutes doing a few examples (10-20 if it seems the group didn’t “get it” from slides etc.)

• 30 minutes working in groups on more examples – slightly less if a “mini-lecture” was needed

Results – Course GradeTotal course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 22 71.27 97.93 88.44% 8.16 13(59%) 6(27%) 3(14%)

None 9 80.17 98.91 88.78% 6.21 6(67%) 3(33%) 0

Some 8 83.39 97.73 90.73% 4.92 5(63%) 3(38%) 0

Results – Course GradeTotal course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 22 71.27 97.93 88.44% 8.16 13(59%) 6(27%) 3(14%)

None 9 80.17 98.91 88.78% 6.21 6(67%) 3(33%) 0

Some 8 83.39 97.73 90.73% 4.92 5(63%) 3(38%) 0

ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 31.25207074 2 15.62603537 0.300000443 0.742651885 3.259446306Within Groups 1875.121475 36 52.08670765

Total 1906.373546 38

No Difference

Results – Final Exam ScoreTotal course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 22 42 99 85.77 16.36 14(64%) 4(19%) 0

None 9 70 100 87.87 9.81 4(44%) 3(33%) 2(22%)

Some 8 75 99 90.21 9.48 5(63%) 2(25%) 1(13%)

Results – Final Exam ScoreTotal course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 22 42 99 85.77 16.36 14(64%) 4(19%) 0

None 9 70 100 87.87 9.81 4(44%) 3(33%) 2(22%)

Some 8 75 99 90.21 9.48 5(63%) 2(25%) 1(13%)

No Difference

Results – Exam 3Total course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 21 50 96 78.76 15.83 8(38%) 4(19%) 2(10%)

None 9 70 100 87.87 9.81 2(22%) 0 3(33%)

Some 8 70 95 84.50 8.80 3(38%) 3(38%) 2(25%)

No Difference – but closer!

Results – Quiz AverageTotal course grade PercentageGroup N Min Max Mean SD A’s B’s C’s

All 25 38 99 77.06 18.01 7(28%) 6(24%) 6(24%)

None 10 47 99 77.28 16.59 1(10%) 6(60%) 1(10%)

Some 4 62 94 82.81 14.14 2(50%) 1(25%) 0

No Difference

Results – Quiz Difference

No Difference

Summary Results - StatisticalThere seems to be no real statistical difference in student performance when using online tools for quizzes and homework versus using regular paper and pencil quizzes and homework.

Is this a good or a bad thing or neither?

What about Attitudes?

Please rate the pace of the class from 1 to 5 (1 = way too slow, 2 = kind of too slow, 3 = just right, 4 = kind of too fast, 5 = way too fast) - You can use decimals etc.

1 2 3 3.5 4 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

PREPOST

TIME N (%) MEANPRE 23(57.5) 3.43POST 20(50) 3.08

Please rate the effectiveness of the Homework on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = Not at all helpful, 5 = Extremely helpful)

Please COMPARE the effectiveness of the ONLINE Homework to the Paper Homework on a scale from 1 to 5 with the options: 1 = Book was Much Better2 = Book was Slightly Better3 = Book and Online were the same4 = Online was Slightly Better5 = Online was Much Better

Online vs Book Homework

1 2 3 4 50

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

ONLINEBOOK

1 = Not at all helpful5 = Extremely helpfulMEANS: 3.38(online) vs 3.58

1 2 3 4 50

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

COMPARE

1 = Book was Much Better5 = Online was Much Better

46% Book 54% OnlineMEAN = 3.04

N = 13

Online vs Book Quizzes

1 = Not at all helpful5 = Extremely helpfulMEANS: 3.14(online) vs 3.60

1 = Book was Much Better5 = Online was Much Better

53% Book 33% OnlineMEAN = 2.67

1 2 3 4 50

1

2

3

4

5

6

ONLINEBOOK

1 2 3 4 50

1

2

3

4

5

6

COMPARE

N = 15

Time Spent on TaskHow much time do you spend each week outside of class working on…

TASK PRE POSTHOMEWORK 3.39 3.03POWERPOINTS 1.75 1.03QUIZZES 1.73 1.76IN TOTAL 6.52 5.47

~2.5 HOURS ON HW

How did you like the format of the "flipped" class? Instead of "lecturing" each day, we tried to have you learn the concepts on your own outside of class with the PPTS and then we used the class time to discuss the major ideas, do some examples, and work on sample problems etc. Tell me how you like that concept compared to the "standard" version of a math class with lectures etc.

I did not like it.

Eh it was alright.

It worked pretty well.

Standard was much better.

Much better learning tool.Yes, very much

I liked it a lot

I firmly believe that class time is poorly spent learning new material. To do so would be to degrade a highly skilled professor to nothing more than an interactive text book and- even more importantly- to ignore the contribution that fellow students can have on an individual's learning. Rather, the "flipped" class allowed students who struggled with the material to come to class ready to advance their understanding, allowed students with some grasp of the material to reinforce their understanding by participating with their classmates, and gave an opportunity for students who had mastered the material to investigate beyond the narrower constrains of the text book itself.

Retention SurveyHave you thought about stats since you finished the course?IE: Have you come across something online or in your everyday life that made you think about something you learned in stats?10 = YES (91%)1 = NO

Retention SurveyNow that the stats course is over, how much more do you feel you know about stats? Do you think you know more about stats now than you did BEFORE you took the course• I don't know anything more than I did before I

took the course• I think I know a little more about stats• I think I know a lot more3 (27%) = Little More8 (73%) = Lot More

Retention SurveyDo you like math more? After your Excellent (or not so excellent) experience in the stats course, how has your attitude about math and stats changed?• I hate math and stats even more

0• I dislike math and stats a little more

1• My level of like or dislike did not change 5• I like math and stats a little more

3• I like math and stats a lot more

2

Knowledge RetentionI asked them to take a knowledge retention test to assess how much they remember (It was administered online during the second week of fall 2013 classes, they took the stats class in the spring of 2013). It covered some of the more important CONCEPTUAL parts of the course including correlation, confidence intervals, hypotheses, and ANOVA.

Knowledge Retention - ResultsQUESTION CORRECT (n=6)

Strongest Negative Correlation 5Strongest Positive Correlation 6Weakest Correlation 5Confidence Interval 4Correlation ≠ Causation 6Hypotheses 6ANOVA 4

Suggestions or Questions?• Are there any analyses you would like to see or

can suggest?• Suggestions for what to try next?• Any other suggestions or questions?

THANK YOU

Dr. Craig McBride, PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma

mcbridec@uw.edu