Activating a large group of students with different backgrounds, interests, and experiences is challenging. Nevertheless, dr. Peter Marks and dr. Pieter Tuytens of Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) managed to achieve this within the course Economics, Welfare & Distribution. They did this by using the possibilities of blended learning and applying learning analytics. They can, therefore, call themselves the winners of the Education Prize 2024. This is the third time in a row researchers from ESSB have won this award. From the jury report: “They have shown great commitment to transform this course, which performed averagely and was experienced as very difficult by many students, into a successful course.”
More than 250 first-year students take the Economics, Welfare & Distribution course annually. Some have some prior knowledge from economics lessons in high school or other programs, but many students do not have much understanding of economics. “It has always been quite a challenge for us to calmly include those who have little knowledge of economics without those with prior knowledge losing their attention,” Tuytens explains.
Flipped classroom and knowledge clips
To address these differentiations, Marks and Tuytens searched for a form where all students could master the most critical material at their own pace and according to their needs. They used the flipped classroom method in which they recorded the main content of the subject in knowledge clips. "After all, students are used to watching videos and no longer to passively listening to a story for two hours," says Marks. Students watch these videos in their own time, and during the lessons, the teachers mainly focus on the problem areas. "Practical activities and interactive, personalized learning often lead to a deeper understanding of the material," says Tuytens.
The knowledge clips are published online one week before each lecture. Students can then go through the knowledge clips and the accompanying readings at their own pace. “If students find a certain theme difficult, they can play the clip again, read extra things, until they understand it.” The day before the lecture, students take a formative quiz to see where they stand. The quiz results inform the focus of the lectures, which are used to engage with the more problematic areas and apply knowledge to new cases and examples.
Aha-erlebnis during lessons
Using interactive elements, they try to keep the students' attention, but they aim to achieve an ‘aha-erlebnis. Peter often incorporates games into the lectures. “For example, I ask them to draw the market for their jeans. Then I asked questions like what the equilibrium price of their jeans was. They come up with various prices but have all drawn the same market. I then show them that they have drawn the ‘wrong’ market and that it is one of the four other archetypal markets. They then immediately recognise these from the knowledge clips. The little room opens up for many, and the aha-erlebnis arises.”
Pieter, on the other hand, focuses mainly on debates or case studies in the lectures. “For example, I ask students to apply their acquired economic insights on social insurance through role-playing. Think, for example, of the policy question of whether ex-cancer patients should share their medical history when buying insurance.”
This accessible way of teaching quickly shows understanding, and you notice when the penny drops. This is also incredibly motivating and fun to see for us,” Tuytens explains. “If students recognize something themselves, they can more easily remember what they have learned. The more you explain, the less is learned. This way of teaching is different from telling a story frontally.”
Help from Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI)
The idea of this Flipped Classroom originated three years ago. At the time, Marks and Tuytens applied for and received a CLI Fellowship for their project. CLI is the place within our university focused on educational innovation. Anything to future-proof our education.
Pass rate from 60% to 75%
The pass rate for this subject was always an average of 60%. Since the use of flipped classroom, this has increased to 75% in 2023-2024. Marks and Tuytens also noticed that the enjoyment of teaching has improved since this new way of teaching. “Of course, some prefer to follow traditional lectures, but on the whole, students now really enjoy the subject. We have often heard that students find this the most enjoyable subject of the program and that all subjects should be like this,” Marks says enthusiastically. “The average score of how we are assessed as a teacher and subject is more than a point higher than before.”
Using data to provide personalized instruction
The method that Marks and Tuytens have developed fits in perfectly with one of the pillars of Erasmus University: We create space for personal and personalized learning by investing in technology. "That is why we won the Education Prize 2024. "Without Jaap Stelpstra, Consultant Educational Technology and Data at EDIS, this would not have been possible," says Tuytens. He has designed a tool that allows us to collect the available data on the viewing behaviour of students. This includes clicks, viewing time and other online behaviour."
“But also – and perhaps the most important – that everything a student does is visible through data. This includes clicks, viewing time and other online behaviour. Incidentally, this is anonymized data.” Marks and Tuytens say this is important because you can use these learning analytics to improve education. “As far as we know, we are the first at EUR to extract all the data in Canvas. So that is also a spin-off of our project.”
Education Prize
The Education Prize is awarded every year during the Opening of the Academic Year to a member of the academic staff or an educational team that has made a positive contribution, through teaching or teaching-related activities, to the education at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The Education Prize is made possible by the Erasmus Trustfonds.
Read more about the Education Prize here.
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Questions?
Get in touch with Marjolein Kooistra, communications officer at ESSB through email or through 06 83676038.- Related content
