ASCOTech

Khan Academy and “Flipping the Classroom”

James Kundart OD, MEd, FAAO

Dr. Kundart is the Chairman of the Educational Technology Special Interest Group for the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. He is a researcher and author and an Associate Professor at the Pacific University College of Optometry. He can be contacted at (503) 352-2759 or [email protected].

he very first time that ing notes may be unnecessary, as it may courses in topics like math and science you’re trying to get your also be for courses that are built around to teach his own kids. Subsequently, brain around a new con- a good textbook. both the Gates Foundation and Google “Tcept, the very last thing Before laptops and tablets were the have backed Khan Academy with mil- you need is another human being say- lions of dollars in support. 1 norm in classrooms, textbooks were the ing, ‘Do you understand this?’” This tool we used to flesh out the material we These sorts of financial endorsements radical quotation is from Salman Khan, did not understand. Our teachers en- should command the attention of op- an MIT and Harvard graduate, former couraged us to read them before class, tometric educators. Can flipping the hedge fund analyst, and founder of but time constraints often prevented classroom help to improve graduate Khan Academy. it. Besides, much benefit could be had school the same way it might improve Recently featured on 60 Minutes, Khan from reading a good text even after the elementary school? While Khan does Academy is a nonprofit educational or- lecture was presented. For those of us not (yet) offer many of its videos on ganization that is doing some very ex- who did not have an eidetic auditory topics of interest to optometric educa- citing things. It has a repository on You memory, it was during the reading of tion, several of its principles are poten- Tube of more than 3,100 video “micro the textbook that real learning took tially of use to us as we teach the eye lectures” covering subjects from math place. The lecture was the warm-up. doctors of the future. and science to healthcare and medicine. With our students today, surprisingly Principle #1: Asking The videos are for students to watch at little has changed, except for the very home and are meant to be paired with important fact that textbooks are in- Questions About computer exercises found on the Acad- Something They Should 2 creasingly irrelevant to today’s class- emy’s Website. The strategy of sending room learners. It is one of the ironies Already Know is schoolwork home in the form of short of the computer revolution that in- Embarrassing to Students video lectures and doing homework formation is more available than ever, at school is called “flipping the class- but as more students avoid traditional Even our best students have holes in room.” Should the schools and colleges print media, they rely largely on what their understanding. Often, this in- of optometry adopt a similar strategy? is presented in the classroom. To many cludes some basic concepts. Without For many of us, the volume of mate- educators, relying on lecture and class using textbooks for reference, concepts rial we must present to increasingly notes almost exclusively is an inefficient that are missed the first time (or forgot- large numbers of students can be over- and limited way to secure information ten since) may become more and more whelming. Prior to the Information into long-term memory, which is a ne- shaky. As students progress through Age, the most efficient way to present cessity for future patient care. a lecture-based curriculum, one that copious information was the lecture doesn’t encourage interrupting to ask If there is one source that could replace questions to begin with, these missed format. The lecture format was how we textbooks for today’s students, it is on- were taught, the same way as our teach- concepts can interfere with adding new line video. Enter You Tube and programs knowledge. Avoiding embarrassment is ers before us, stretching back to ancient like Khan Academy. Microsoft founder times. We would listen and take notes. human nature, so questions remain un- Bill Gates was so impressed when he asked all too often. Some optometric education programs discovered Khan that he used the free now use a transcription service so tak-

Optometric Education 104 Volume 37, Number 3 / Summer 2012 Now, consider the possibilities when a in the computer age, must efficiency be cases students must still complete their lecture – or better still, a micro lecture inversely proportional to effectiveness? labs in the assigned lab period, whether – is recorded for the student to play and Not necessarily. When delivered by a or not they have mastered the principles pause at will. This condensed presenta- talented teacher, the recorded micro being taught. Those who struggle may tion needs only the basic concepts on a lecture is like having a personal tutor. go through the motions but be carried PowerPoint slide with voice-over audio. When done well, the student feels as if along in part by their lab partner when Khan Academy uses a digital whiteboard the teacher is right there giving a per- they do not understand. (SmoothDraw 3) but no video of the sonal lesson. This is partly because the 3 If the classroom is flipped, both -lec presenter. Now, the student can take in micro lecture can be given at the time tures and assessments will occur at the the lecture when and where he or she is and place of the listener’s choosing. student’s own pace. The latter are done ready to learn, pausing and rewinding Also, micro lectures can fit into small with computer-based drills given on- when a concept does not make sense. chunks of time. line. The instructor has access to graphs These micro lectures are not hard to make By definition, the micro lecture is short. showing the speed and accuracy of each with a podcast. Many university pro- Khan Academy lessons last 10 minutes student’s answer, and is free to answer grams are already podcasting. At Pacific on average, which may be approaching questions even before they arise. The University College of Optometry, we use the attention span of the typical student clock on the wall doesn’t determine how Camtasia Relay for classroom capture of these days. Thus, it needs to distill infor- far each student progresses during class video and audio, and iTunes University mation to its essence, while not skipping time, but instead progress is dependent to collect the podcasts. However, pod- any critical subtleties. It can and should on each individual student. casting can be done in a quiet home be heavy in illustrations as necessary to Another key to the success of the Khan office (or closet as Sal Khan reportedly teach the salient points. It should also techniques is constant assessment. uses) and doesn’t require a live audience be unscripted and certainly not read While every topic comes with exercises present, just one to listen to it on their from a slide. Sal Khan does no video ed- to be practiced in class the next day, computers, tablets or MP3 players. its. Instead, he re-records each take that there is some modularity to each lesson. How these targeted podcasts can reach doesn’t come out well in one try. This In other words, in many non-linear top- more students than a traditional lecture preserves the one-on-one nature. ics, students may choose to tackle the is the subject of the second principle. The short, home-based lecture is one half middle or the end of the material first. of flipping the classroom. The other half For example, a lecture on five related Principle #2: One-On-One is assessment. This takes the form of class- congenital conditions affecting the eyes Tutoring is More Effective room-based homework, when students might be flexible as to which order a Than Teaching to the get to ask questions one-on-one rather student masters them. However, they Middle than in front of all their classmates, as must all be mastered. explained in the next principle. One might inquire why a student would One challenge that optometric educa- Principle #3: Students need the teacher – or classmates – at all tors face is reaching students at differ- in this type of model. The answer is that ent levels of achievement. Like all edu- Prefer Self-Paced Learning the flipped classroom encourages - col cators, out of necessity the instructor to Instructor-Paced Lessons laboration. Classmates are encouraged often has to adopt an almost utilitarian to assist each other when one is stuck. philosophy. With the aim of reaching While listening to micro lectures on an MP3 player, a student is typically alone, Also, the teacher plays the important the most students, many educators role of providing “surgical instruction” “teach to the middle,” or somewhere be- be it at home, in the car or at the gym. This should happen before class, when a for any students who are stuck on a tween the most advanced and least ad- concept.5 An instant study group can vanced students on the topic. This may student of the flipped classroom will be expected to practice what was learned. be assembled (to the extent allowed by work for the middle of the class but has the Family Educational Rights and Pri- the distinct disadvantage of leaving the Khan Academy students are often ones who have not yet graduated high vacy Act). This is because in the flipped upper quartile unchallenged, and the classroom, it is critical to master one lower quartile potentially unreached.4 school, but here’s how the principle of self-paced learning might be applied to concept before proceeding, the topic of While many other strategies exist, such optometric education. the next principle. as “teaching to the top,” all have the limitations of the one-size-fits-all lec- Imagine geometric optics lab taught Principle #4: Old Concepts ture style. Yet there is one educational with a flipped classroom. As currently Should be Mastered Before strategy that is orders of magnitude taught, the students may work on an Moving on to New Ones more effective than standard classroom optical bench and may keep hard copy lecture: one-on-one tutoring. While ex- or virtual lab books in order to learn Think about the way American educa- traordinarily effective, individual tutor- how light is affected by lenses, prisms tion traditionally works. First, informa- ing is inefficient, and therefore expen- and filters. Although the emphasis on tion is delivered in traditional lecture sive. It has traditionally been limited to some age-old topics (like mathemati- format with spot checks in the form those who can afford to pay for it for cal ray-tracing) may be changing, other of quizzes, midterms and final exams. themselves or their children. However, things are not. For instance, in many Except where practical exams are given,

Optometric Education 105 Volume 37, Number 3 / Summer 2012 such as in optometric procedures or the strong suit. Fortunately, the Khan In the words of Bill Gates at the end methods courses, we do not usually ex- Academy techniques are most easily ap- of the Technology, Education and De- pect that all students will reach mastery plied to very concrete subjects like math- sign (TED) lecture by Salman Khan: “I at each assessment. We may recheck as ematics, including optics.3 In fact, most think you’ve just got a glimpse of the many areas as we can on the final and of the existing 3,100 Khan Academy future of education.”1 National Board exams, but because ev- videos on topics of interest to optometry References ery student is not required to get an “A,” students are currently in optics. this still leaves something to be desired. For most students who struggle, the 1. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading [In- In Khan Academy courses, “mastery- problem in American education in ternet]. Talk by Salman Khan. based learning” means students must mathematics certainly precedes optom- Accessed 15 May 2012. Available get 10 questions in a row correct to etry school. Many intelligent students from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ move on to the next lesson.4 When they may not have ever been required to at- salman_khan_let_s_use_video_ do not, they continue to practice the tain mastery in basic arithmetic, algebra to_reinvent_education.html. muddy points until they clear up, in or trigonometry. While the prevalence 2. Khan Academy [Internet]. Assessed much the same way optometric proce- of mathematical illiteracy in American 15 May 2012. Available from: dures or methods courses are taught. society is on the rise, there is some dis- www.khanacademy.org. agreement as to the reason. Some blame 3. Wikipedia. Khan Academy [Inter- How do optometric educators know net]. Accessed 15 May 2012. Avail- when their students need assistance? the use of calculators from an early age. Others blame the use of manipulatives able from: http://en.wikipedia.org/ Too often, students don’t know enough wiki/Khan_Academy. to ask. How many of us have sat like geoboards instead of paper-and- pencil exercises. 4. Thompson C. How Khan Acad- through empty office hours the day emy is changing the rules of edu- before an exam without seeing a single Whatever the cause, it is not the sole cation. Wired magazine [Internet]. student because they were studying duty of optometric educators to bring Assessed 15 May 2012. Available for the exam and did not know which about a mathematical renaissance. How- from: http://www.wired.com/mag- questions to ask? ever, if we wish our interns to be able to azine/2011/07/ff_khan/all/1. For Khan Academy, the answer is the quickly calculate a net add or conver- 5. Khan Academy: the future of edu- teacher’s dashboard. Performance- sions from plus to minus cylinder, drills cation? Excerpt from 60 Minutes measuring apps, long-used and old hat to practice these conversions should be interview. YouTube [Internet]. in the financial sector from which Sal done until the student attains mastery. Assessed 15 May 2012. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/ Khan came, are novel to educators at all Principle #6: Be a Guide levels. Perhaps some have seen real-time watch?v=zxJgPHM5NYI#t=62s. test results roll in on learning manage- on the Side, Not a Sage on 6. Wikipedia. Flip teaching [Inter- ment software like Blackboard or Moo- the Stage net]. Accessed 15 May 2012. Avail- able from: http://en.wikipedia.org/ dle. Using a tablet or other portable This catchphrase of the flipped- class wiki/Flip_teaching. interface, the instructor can circulate room movement has been around in around the classroom and know exactly educational circles since at least the where each student may be excelling — 1990s.6 Pragmatists can legitimately or struggling. point out that it is a nice sentiment, All too often, optometric educators may but may be much easier to say than to find mathematics is the area of difficulty, implement. Proponents will admit it which is the topic of the next principle. is easier for educators to imagine con- structing new courses in the flipped Principle #5: Math is a classroom format than to imagine con- Stumbling Block for Many verting pre-existing standard lectures. Students Today While some topics in optometric educa- tion may lend themselves to this format Schools and colleges of optometry face better than others, with preparation of a challenge of homogeneity. Most in- micro lectures and practice problems, coming students, as high as 85%, were the flipped classroom will come to life. biology majors as undergraduates. The reasons for this are obvious when the Personally, I plan to attempt some ver- prerequisites of optometry school are sion of these techniques in my 40-stu- compared with those for various under- dent elective this summer. The long graduate majors. nights of the warmer months may lend themselves to both creating and listen- For all the strengths of the average biol- ing to micro lectures, while the smaller ogy major in ocular anatomy, physiology class size (for us) may work better for and disease, as a rule, mathematics is not me to be a guide on the side.

Optometric Education 106 Volume 37, Number 3 / Summer 2012