How I Flip my Classes
Effective Flipped Classroom Policies to Engage Students in Highly Technical Courses

My pedagogical approach was almost completely formed by one undergraduate class I took in preparation for my Economics PhD: it was called Introduction to Advanced Mathematics, taught by Dr. David Walnut at George Mason University. It made a huge impression on me because it was taught completely differently from any other quantitative college course I had ever taken, or have taken since, and it was fantastic.

When I started building my own courses, I knew I had to borrow from Professor Walnut's flipped classroom policies. But I thought I would be able to tweak them and test them and find even better ways of doing things. Turns out, I couldn't. I'm now in my fourth year of teaching flipped classes, and Professor Walnut's policies still work better than anything else I can come up with. I've probably only deviated about 10% from how he conducted his flipped class. So here are the policies he used (as best as I can remember), along with what I've found works best for me.

  1. Attendance. The only thing I remember from Professor Walnut's syllabus day was that you couldn't skip his class. Well, one absence was fine, but each absence after that, your grade would be docked a letter. It's the most draconian attendance policy I've ever heard of. It was effective though: out of an abundance of caution, I never missed class and I don't remember having groupmates who missed classes. But as a professor, I've learned that mandatory attendance policies come at a cost–constant emails with doctor's notes and all the other excuses under the sun. I've settled on sort of a middle ground: students report on each other's attendance, and if your groupmates rate your participation or attendance poorly, your grade could get docked by 10%. This way, students still feel compelled to come to class, but they (mostly) text or email their groupmates when they are out, instead of me. I'm sure I have more absenteeism in my classes than I remember Professor Walnut having, but it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. I also think a little leniancy goes a long way toward cultivating goodwill from students. And it's a wonderful thing to walk into a classroom and see on students' faces that they appreciate you being there.
  1. Groups. This is the only policy of Professor Walnut's that I've never even tried to change, because it's perfect. Start the term by randomizing students into their first group set: each group should have 3 students (4 if needed), and they'll keep these groups for the first 5 weeks of class. Then randomize them into the second group set: they'll keep those groups for the next 5 weeks of class. Finally, for the last 5 weeks of class, let students submit requests about who they'd like to work with. I find that 5 weeks is kind of a magical amount of time because it's enough for students to really build trust within their groups and perhaps even genuine friendship. Almost all of my students seem to find at least one person that they really enjoy working with. There is one adjustment I've made to this policy: instead of randomizing students into groups, I cluster them based on their pre-test or midterm scores. I think this creates a less frustrating experience overall, because every student in a group is at a similar level. It helps me avoid situations where one student does all the work while the others stand by.
  1. Classwork. Professor Walnut had a textbook he assigned for the class, but that was never the focus. Instead, he made 3 questions on a slip of paper for us each class session, which he'd leave at the door for us to pick up as we came in. Each one was a little puzzle: answers were never obvious, and we would not always be able to finish the three problems before the end of the class. But every class all class, all we did was stand at the white board and try to solve the problems du jour. Every week or so, we'd type up the classwork answers in LaTeX and turn them in for grading (one copy per group). His course design was so simple and elegant: 81 puzzles to guide you through discovering for yourself the entirety of the course material. This is what I aspire to, but I find that asking students to do a little reading or watch a few videos before class makes things go a little smoother. I combine these pre-class readings with my classworks in bookdown format. I've designed and taught four flipped courses so far: Microeconomic Theory, Economics of Organizations, Undergraduate Econometrics (I), Undergraduate Econometrics (II). In Spring 2025 I'm scheduled to teach two new courses at the University of Arkansas: Economic Analytics (machine learning with applications in Economics), and MBA Managerial Economics. Both will be flipped, of course.

  1. Grades. I don't remember what Professor Walnut's grading scheme might have been, but here's mine.

    • 10% Participation (explained earlier under Groups)
    • 30% Classwork (turn in one copy per group at the end of every week, typed up)
    • 50% Exams (Midterm 1, Midterm 2, Final)
    • 10% Quizzes (quiz students at the start of every week on the classworks from the previous week)

    I have three exams: two midterms and a final, and I drop each student's lowest exam. The dropped exam policy is so useful on a couple of levels. First, if a student is sick for an exam or away on some kind of trip, usually you'd be stuck writing a makeup exam for them and then scheduling time for them to take it. But with a dropped exam policy, you can have a "no make-ups" policy: if they're sick, that's the exam that will be dropped. Second, if a student is happy with their grades on the first two exams, they are welcome to skip the final! Students absolutely love that part. And finally, going into the final exam, students understand that the exam can only improve their grade. So they're all happy to take it, because they know it's their last chance to raise their grade. When I don't use the dropped exam policy, I always get multiple desperate emails after the final exams are graded from students asking for one last extra credit opportunity. When I use the dropped exam policy, there's nothing like that, because the students know that the final was their last chance.

  1. Support. Something I hear a lot from college professors is that our students don't like to do hard things. Of course they don't: who does? But I know what they mean: you give your students something challenging, they struggle, they give up, and either they accept a failing grade or they show up in office hours, mentally and emotionally checked out and uninterested in learning anything except what's on the answer key. They're demoralized. How can you avoid this without lowering your expectations about what students are capable of?

    The flipped class format gives me the chance to catch my students before they quit. Every class, all class period, I walk around and try to find the groups who are stuck. First, I review all the necessary prerequisites with them to make sure that they understand everything they need to succeed. Then I get them brainstorming about possible approaches to the problem. What I'm trying to do is to get them to say anything that's on the right track. Then I can respond with an enthusiastic, "YES!" to keep them going. I want to show my students that they're capable, and in that way, I can empower them by giving them hard assignments. I certainly don't do it right all the time with all my students, but if I can have just a few of those moments with a few of my students, it makes a huge difference. Those students become a ton more engaged and interested, they have newfound confidence, and that positivity leaks out into their group-mates and then the rest of the class.

That's it! My hope is that this document can help educators build more successful flipped classes that engage and empower students. I'll end this with two links:



Author: Colleen O'Briant

Created: 2024-09-27 Fri 12:38

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