E-Learning in University Physics Courses at UNIST in Korea

Hai-Woong LeeDepartment of Physics, UNIST

ICELW 2015June 10~12, 2015; Columbia Uni-versity

UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology)

• Young and Fast-Growing University• Energy and Material Science Biological and Chemical Science• Education: E-Learning (Flipped Learn-

ing)• All Lectures in English

UNIST

Course Redesign Methods

• Flipped Learning• Peer Instruction• Just In-Time Teaching (JiTT)• Jigsaw Learning• Two-Stage Exam (Collaborative Test-

ing)• Group Problem Solving (UNIST Gen-

eral Chemistry and General Physics)

Flipped Learning

• Instruction delivered online outside of class and “homework” moved into the classroom (school work at home and homework at school)

• J. Bergmann and A. Sams• C. Wieman

Flipped Learning

• Full Utilization of Modern Web(IT) Tech-nology

Lecture Material Provided Online Pre-class Study• Interactive Lecture Q&A, Discussions

Active Learning Ideally, the method would work fine, but there are practical diffi-culties.

General Physics

• Introductory physics for freshmen• Required for all freshmen• Two-term course• General Physics I Newtonian mechanics, Thermal physics, Relativity• General Physics II Electricity and magnetism, Optics, Quantum physics

General Physics at UNISTSemester Course Class Size

2nd, 2012 I 176

3rd, 2012 II 217

1st, 2013 I 182

I 158

2nd, 2013 II 175

II 170

3rd, 2013 II 202

II 181

1st, 2014 I 201

2nd, 2014 II 200

1st, 2015 I 155

Large-size class, Lectures in English(second lan-guage)

UNIST Version of Flipped Learning for General Physics

• Full Utilization of Modern IT Technol-ogy

YES! Blackboard System• Interactive Lecture NO! Inclass Activity 50% Traditional

Lecture 50% Group Problem Solving

Full Utilization of Modern IT Technology for Preclass Study

• Lecture Material Uploaded to BB Lecture Note (~3 pages/chapter)

Video Clips (2~8 minutes long)

• Online Preclass Quiz (7~8 simple multiple choice questions/chap-

ter) to force students to do preclass study *** General Physics is a required course

Students do preclass study only for ~½ of the times on the aver-age

Why No to Interactive Lecture?

• (Korean) Students and instructor not trained for interactive lecture

• Discussions centered around a small number of students, a majority of stu-dents stay away

• Deep, meaningful discussion impossi-ble with limited command in English

• Pace slowed down considerably, diffi-cult to keep up with the schedule

Interactive Lectures

in Large Enrollment Classes

conducted in English (second language)

???

with students not ready at all for q&a and discussions

Group Problem Solving

• Students are to form groups of ~3 people with their neighbors

• Problems are given for students to solve together with their neighbors in their group (~15 minutes/problem)

• Students are encouraged to discuss with and teach and learn from their neighbors, noise level during GPS quite high

Group Problem Solving

• Instructor, AI and TA’s walk around the classroom to help students

• AI shows solution on the screen after ~15 minutes

• Sometimes, we let groups to compete, the first group to get the correct solution gets a prize

• Each group needs to submit solutions to all problems at the end of the class meet-ing

Group Problem Solving

• Highly Successful• Students like it. They also learn from

peer instruction.• Students learn to communicate with

other students.

Science has become so complex and interdisciplinary that days are gone when one genius like Einstein can make a great contri-bution to science. A great ad-vance in science now requires collaborations between open-minded researchers.

About science, one learns mainly from (reading) research papers until he reaches the age of 40, but once he is 40 or older, he learns mainly from (talking to and listening to) other researchers.

25%

45%

18%

10%

3%

1. Do you think that 'flipped learning' helped you to better understand physics?

strongly agreeagreeneutraldisagreestrongly disagree

1st Semester, 2013; General Physics I

preclass lecture notes and video

clips

preclass quiz questions

inclass lectures by the professor

inclass group solving of prob-

lems

postclass recita-tion classes

strongly agree

55 60 120 144 88

agree 168 150 218 208 189

neutral 113 122 73 58 108

disagree 78 83 17 14 31

strongly disagree

16 15 2 4 11

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

85%

95%

2. Did each of the following activities contribute much to your learning of

physics?#

of

stu

dents

(%)

4%

35%

44%

14%

4%

6. Which of the following versions of Inverted Learning method would you like best?

100% lecture, no group solving of problems in class (traditional method)75% lecture, 25% group solving of problems in class (~method adopted in this class)50% lecture, 50% group solving of problems in class25% lecture, 75% group solving of problems in class (method adopted in this class)No lecture, 100% group solving of problems in class

20%

41%

21%

16%

2%

Q2-1. Did preclass lecture notes and video clips contribute much to your learning of

physics?

strongly agreeagreeneutraldisagreestrongly disagree

3rd Semester, 2012, General Physics II

40%

47%

9%

1%

3%

Q2. Did inclass group solving of problems contribute much to your learning of

physics?

strongly agreeagreeneutraldisagreestrongly disagree

2nd Semester, 2012, General Physics I

1st Semester, 2013, General Physics I

Conclusion

• Flipped Learning has more strengths than drawbacks.

• Students learn more from online pre-class self study and peer instruction through group problem solving than from lectures by instructor.

Conclusion

• Communication, Collaboration, Teamwork

Open-Mindedness• The method of flipped learning with

group problem solving has the poten-tial of educating UNIST students to become world leaders in science and engineering.

Some Remaining Questions

• Required Course, Weak Motivation: How to motivate students to do pre-class study

• Not all students participate in group problem solving

• Interactive Lecture??? Language, Cul-ture

Strength• Students acquire long-

lasting knowledge from self study and peer in-struction

• Students learn to com-municate and discuss with others through group problem solving

• More interaction be-tween instructor and students

Weakness• Large amount of time

and effort are required from instructor to pre-pare lecture notes and other pre-class materials and to keep track of indi-vidual student’s perfor-mance and progress

• Large amount of time is required on the part of students especially to do pre-class study

Strength Weakness• Interactive lecture centered around

Q&A and Discussion is difficult: • Reduced lecture hours Danger Importance of preclass study

Final Remark

• It is important to be aware of the practical difficulties associated with the method and find ways to over-come or circumvent them.