Volume 11, No.

1
February 2013
ISSN: 1545-679X

Information Systems
Education Journal

In this issue:

4. Relational Algebra and SQL: Better Together

Kirby McMaster, Fort Lewis College
Samuel Sambasivam, Azusa Pacific University
Steven Hadfield, US Air Force Academy
Stuart Wolthuis, Brigham Young University - Hawaii

14. Comparing Top-down with Bottom-up Approaches: Teaching Data Modeling

Hsiang-Jui Kung, Georgia Southern University
LeeAnn Kung, Auburn University
Adrian Gardiner, Georgia Southern University

25. Using Mobile Apps to Entice General Education Students into Technology
Fields
Michelle (Xiang) Liu, Marymount University
Diane Murphy, Marymount University

33. Developing a Bachelor’s Program in Health Information Technology

Elizabeth V. Howard, Miami University Regionals
Cathy Bishop-Clark, Miami University Regionals
Donna M. Evans, Miami University Regionals
Anthony W. Rose, Miami University Regionals

41. Engaging Community Service Students through Digital Portfolios

James P. Lawler, Pace University

55. An Interdisciplinary Learning Experience: The Creation of a Robot Dance

Debra L. Smarkusky, Penn State University
Sharon A. Toman, Penn State University

63. Flipping Excel

Mark Frydenberg, Bentley University
Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 11 (1)
ISSN: 1545-679X February 2013

The Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) is a double-blind peer-reviewed

academic journal published by EDSIG, the Education Special Interest Group of AITP, the
Association of Information Technology Professionals (Chicago, Illinois). Publishing frequency is
six times per year. The first year of publication is 2003.
ISEDJ is published online (http://isedjorg) in connection with ISECON, the Information Systems
Education Conference, which is also double-blind peer reviewed. Our sister publication, the
Proceedings of ISECON (http://isecon.org) features all papers, panels, workshops, and
presentations from the conference.
The journal acceptance review process involves a minimum of three double-blind peer reviews,
where both the reviewer is not aware of the identities of the authors and the authors are not
aware of the identities of the reviewers. The initial reviews happen before the conference. At
that point papers are divided into award papers (top 15%), other journal papers (top 30%),
unsettled papers, and non-journal papers. The unsettled papers are subjected to a second
round of blind peer review to establish whether they will be accepted to the journal or not. Those
papers that are deemed of sufficient quality are accepted for publication in the ISEDJ journal.
Currently the target acceptance rate for the journal is about 45%.
Information Systems Education Journal is pleased to be listed in the 1st Edition of Cabell's
Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Educational Technology and Library Science, in both
the electronic and printed editions. Questions should be addressed to the editor at
[email protected] or the publisher at [email protected].

2013 AITP Education Special Interest Group (EDSIG) Board of Directors

Wendy Ceccucci Leslie J. Waguespack Jr Alan Peslak

Quinnipiac University Bentley University Penn State University
President - 2013 Vice President President 2011-2012

Jeffry Babb Michael Smith George Nezlek

West Texas A&M Georgia Institute of Technology Treasurer
Membership Secretary

Eric Bremier Nita Brooks Scott Hunsinger

Siena College Middle Tennessee State Univ Appalachian State University
Director Director Membership Director

Muhammed Miah Peter Wu S. E. Kruck

Southern Univ New Orleans Robert Morris University James Madison University
Director Director JISE Editor

Nita Adams
State of Illinois (retired)
FITE Liaison

Copyright © 2013 by the Education Special Interest Group (EDSIG) of the Association of Information Technology
Professionals (AITP). Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this journal for personal or classroom
use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial use. All copies
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utilize in a for-profit or commercial use. Permission requests should be sent to Nita Brooks, Editor, [email protected].

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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 11 (1)
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Information Systems
Education Journal

Editors

Nita Brooks Thomas Janicki Donald Colton

Senior Editor Publisher Emeritus Editor
Middle Tennessee University of North Carolina Brigham Young University
State University Wilmington Hawaii

Jeffry Babb Wendy Ceccucci Melinda Korzaan

Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor
West Texas A&M Quinnipiac University Middle Tennessee
University State University

George Nezlek Samuel Sambasivam

Associate Editor Associate Editor
Azusa Pacific University

ISEDJ Editorial Board

Samuel Abraham Cynthia Martincic Michael Smith
Siena Heights University Saint Vincent College Georgia Institute of Technology

Ken Corley Fortune Mhlanga Karthikeyan Umapathy

Appalachian State University Lipscomb University University of North Florida

Gerald DeHondt II Muhammed Miah Stuart Varden

Southern Univ at New Orleans Pace University
Janet Helwig
Dominican University Alan Peslak Leslie Waguespack
Penn State University Bentley University
Scott Hunsinger
Appalachian State University Bruce Saulnier Laurie Werner
Quinnipiac University Miami University
Mark Jones
Lock Haven University Mark Segall Bruce White
Metropolitan State University of Quinnipiac University
James Lawler Denver
Pace University Peter Y. Wu
Anthony Serapiglia Robert Morris University.
Terri Lenox St. Vincent College
Westminster College Ulku Yaylacicegi
Li-Jen Shannon Univ North Carolina Wilmington
Michelle Louch Sam Houston State University
Robert Morris University

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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 11 (1)
ISSN: 1545-679X February 2013

Flipping Excel

Mark Frydenberg
[email protected]
Computer Information Systems Department
Bentley University
Waltham, MA 02452

Abstract
The “flipped classroom” model has become increasingly popular in recent years as faculty try new
ways to engage students in the classroom. In a flipped classroom setting, students review the lecture
online prior to the class session and spend time in class working on problems or exercises that would
have been traditionally assigned as homework. The ability to easily create and consume multimedia
on personal computers, tablets, smart phones, and personal media players, and the increased
availability of web-based tools for collaboration and communication are two factors that contribute to
the popularity of the flipped classroom. This paper presents an implementation of the flipped
classroom pedagogy in a first-year introductory Information Technology course, specifically focusing
on how these techniques were used to facilitate students’ experiences learning Excel concepts. A
survey given to students in three sections of the course suggests that students found the instructional
methods captured their interests, challenged them, and contributed to their learning.

Keywords: flipped classroom, inverted classroom, Excel, active learning, undergraduate education

1. INTRODUCTION unedited video tapes of regular classroom

courses, which can be produced at very low
The flipped (or inverted) classroom has become cost” (Gibbons, Kincheloe, & Down, 1977, p.
a popular pedagogy in secondary and tertiary 195) enhances student learning. Among their
education for teaching science, mathematics, reasons cited, students can review the tapes at
and other courses. In a flipped classroom, their own pace and listen again to those sections
students watch or listen to recordings of class that present important or complex concepts.
lectures on their computers, tablets, smart
phones, or personal media players outside of Day (2008) introduced the term “web lectures”
class, leaving class time to engage in learning to refer to “multimedia presentations that
activities that might otherwise be assigned as integrate talking head and torso video, audio,
homework. (Knewton.com, 2011) lecture slides, table of contents, and navigation
controls, which are made available via the web
Bergman and Sams (2012) are often credited (streaming or download)” (Day, 2008, p. 3).
with operationalizing the flipped model in their The subject of the web lecture is not rehashed in
high school science classroom in 2007 when the classroom but rather extended or applied to
they recorded narrations of their PowerPoint allow for new learning opportunities.
presentations as podcasts for students who
missed class. The use of electronic equipment to This paper reports on an implementation of the
record classroom lectures, however, has been flipped classroom in an introductory Information
found as early as 1977. Gibbons, Kincheloe, and Technology classroom through the use of
Down (1977) reported that tutored videotape student-generated screencasts (screen video
instruction through the use of “unrehearsed, recordings) that demonstrate spreadsheet

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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 11 (1)
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techniques and concepts. A student survey • Will students of a variety of academic

suggests that students embraced this abilities embrace the flipped classroom
instructional model and the classroom model?
interactions it enabled. This paper focuses on • Can a flipped classroom experience also
developing techniques for structuring a flipped encourage students to use web-based
classroom to teach spreadsheet concepts and collaboration tools?
shares student reactions related to engagement
after participating in this active learning 3. FLIPPING EXCEL IN THE
experience. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CLASSROOM

2. VARIATIONS IN IMPLEMENTING IT 101 (Introduction to Information Technology

THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM and Computing Concepts) is an introductory IT
course required of all first year students at
Several recent studies (Day, 2008; Strayer, Bentley University, a business university located
2007; and Demetry, 2010) have focused on the in Waltham, MA, USA. During the Spring 2012
effectiveness of the flipped classroom on student semester, the author taught three sections of
learning and the additional opportunities for the course to academically varied groups of
collaboration and problem solving that it students:
enables.
• a day honors section, for students enrolled
The literature shows several variations in how in the honors program, chosen because of
individual instructors flip their own classrooms. their high scholastic abilities;
Many instructors record their own lectures (or • a day accelerated section, offered to
have them recorded), while instructors of students who self-selected to be this
mathematics, science, history, finance, and section because of their interest in
other disciplines frequently make use of some of technology; and
the 2600 videos from Khan Academyi as • an evening section, open to all full-time
resources for their flipped classrooms. (Houston and part-time students.
& Lin, 2012) Rather than providing video
lectures, Demetry (2010) provides lecture notes The evening section had a mix of 35 traditional
for students to read lecture notes at home prior and older students and met once per week for
to the class session. This helps meet the goal of 150 minutes, while the honors and intensive
increasing “time on task” to complete course- sections each had 24 students and met for two
related activities. Student teams check in by 75-minute sessions each week.
responding to “clicker questions” to report their
progress as they work on the exercises. The course covers digital literacy topics, basic
web development, maintaining laptops, wireless
Day and Foley note that web lectures are networking, and current web trends.
“purposefully kept at around 20 minutes in Approximately ten of the 24 class meetings each
length to help maintain the attention of the semester introduce beginning and intermediate
viewer.” (Day & Foley, 2006, p. 196) They Excel topics, so when considering how to
remark that the same material would likely take implement a flipped classroom approach in
twice as long to deliver in the classroom because IT101, flipping Excel seemed to be a promising
there are no interruptions for questions or choice. For the day sections which met twice
announcements. weekly, most Mondays were designated as Excel
days, and Wednesdays were spent covering
Given the documented effectiveness of the other course content. In the evening section,
flipped classroom model on learning across usually the first half of class was spent on other
disciplines and grade levels and the variety in course content, and the second half of class
methodologies for implementing it, these spent on Excel topics in the flipped classroom
research questions emerged for creating a approach. The only reason for teaching Excel
flipped environment in the Information during the latter half of a night class was a
Technology classroom: practical one: after completing the group
exercise, students could leave at the end of
• Will students find peer-generated class.
screencasts an effective method for
demonstrating spreadsheet concepts?

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The content, structure, and exams for all three This structure creates an active learning
sections were virtually identical. The honors and experience where “learners participat[e] in
accelerated sections had more involved open-ended, learner-centered activities that
assignments than the evening students, and involve practical, meaningful application of the
these students often brought in external concepts of interest; collaborative problem
readings for class discussion. The graded Excel solving and opportunities for public/personal
assignments were the same, both in class and articulation and reflection are also important”
out of class, for all three sections. The depth of (Day, 2008, p. 27).
discussion, number and variety of questions,
motivation of students, and degree of help and Creating Screencasts
explanations that the instructor provided varied For this study, the instructor reached out to
greatly between the sections. student tutors in the CIS department’s learning
lab to create two or three instructional
All students must complete exercises from a screencasts per chapter for IT 101 students to
textbook companion web site to demonstrate watch. Tutors worked with the instructor to
their mastery of the course topics. Students identify and discuss content for the videos.
submit their completed assignments online and, Their work as tutors during previous semesters
soon afterward, receive an automated report or their own experience learning Excel
summarizing their scores and indicating which themselves in IT 101 made them uniquely
steps are correct. Students have up to five qualified to create the instructional videos. They
attempts to complete these exercises; their were familiar with, and therefore able to address
highest score counts toward their final grade. many frequently asked questions on Excel
topics. There were no limitations as to style or
Prior to the flipped classroom approach, the format of the videos; students could be as
instructor would explain Excel concepts in class creative as they wished. The only requirements
or demonstrate a tutorial from the textbook were that each video included a common title
during class as students tried to follow along on graphic identifying its topic and a request to
their laptops. They would then go home to keep the length to between seven and ten
complete the mastery exercises. minutes, as previous research in student-created
podcasts has shown this duration to be within
In the flipped approach, when students watch the attention span of first-year college students.
the instructional videos before class, there is no (Frydenberg, 2008)
in-class demonstration or lecture by the
instructor. Students immediately get to work Students used a variety of free web tools to
completing an in-class group activity. Also, the create their videosii, posted their videos to a
instructor is readily available to help students common YouTube channel and embedded them
complete these exercises; whereas at home, on a web site available to all IT 101 students.iii
students are on their own or need to visit the Videos were usually posted the week prior to
tutoring lab or the instructor at a later time if when students would complete activities based
they require assistance in order to complete the on them during class.
assignments.
Quick Quizzes for Evaluation
These guidelines influenced the implementation Most classes began with a quick five-question,
of the flipped IT 101 classroom, whose 75- five-minute, multiple-choice quiz based on the
minute sessions usually followed this structure: week’s videos. The instructor used Blackboard, a
• five minutes: welcome and learning management system, to administer the
announcements quizzes online so that they could easily be
• five minutes: quick quiz based on videos timed, and automatically graded.
• five minutes: explain in-class activity
• 40 to 45 minutes: complete the in–class Quizzes motivated students to watch the videos
activity in groups because each counted a small amount toward
• 15 to 20 minutes: debrief, where each final grades. The quizzes also helped learners
group shares what they did, how they check their understanding of key concepts prior
solved a problem, problems they to doing the hands-on, in-class activity, and as
encountered such bridged the gap between the outside-the-
classroom learning and inside-the-classroom
application of that learning.

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Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 11 (1)
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Four of the questions on each quiz were related instructor’s podium computer so that it could be
to spreadsheet concepts or techniques explained projected for all the class to see as they
in the video. One question was always based on discussed their accomplishments during the
the video itself, designed such that students debriefing portion of the class.
watched the video would remember the answer.
For example, in a video about creating graphs,
the data being graphed included information
about popular songs, and the student who
created the video creatively included a short
audio clip of the Macarena at the start of the
video. A question on the quiz asked “What song
was playing at the start of the video?” The
assumption is that students who watched the
video would remember this, even if they did not
understand anything about the spreadsheet
lesson that the video was trying to convey.

Collaboration and Just-In-Time Learning in

the Classroom
Students worked in groups of three to six
(depending on class size and configuration) to
complete the in–class exercises. The two day- Figure 2. Flipping in a Lecture Style Classroom.
sections of the class met in an experimental
collaborative classroom, where students sat in During the in-class group activity, the instructor
groups of four at large tables equipped with a would walk around the room from group to
shared computer and keyboard, and a large group answering questions and providing
screen monitor, as shown in Figure 1. assistance. Sometimes if several groups had the
same problem or needed to learn the same
concept, the instructor would call a time out and
provide just in time explanations of the key
concept needed to continue the lesson.

The Reader, the Doer, and the Checker

Each in-class activity was designed so students
could take on each of three roles in their groups:
the reader, the doer, and the checker.v The
reader and the checker would load the
description of the exercise on their laptops. The
reader would read aloud the required task or
step to the doer; the doer would try to do the
step, and the checker would help the doer (if
necessary, or able) and confirm that the doer
completed the step correctly. Students
alternated roles of reader, doer, and checker
Figure 1. Flipping in a Collaborative Classroom. while completing the assignment so that each
student could experience each of the roles at
In the evening section, students met in a lecture least once during the exercise. These roles
style lecture classroom. They worked in groups provided a structure for the groups to begin
of three, rearranging their chairs to see their their work together.
partners, or forming clusters to support their
collaboration efforts, as shown in Figure 2. The rationale for creating these roles is as
follows:
In cases where students could not see each • by speaking the words aloud, the reader
other’s screens, they use join.meiv to share their has the opportunity to use the language of
screens with each other. Students also used Excel when communicating with the doer
join.me to share their screens with the and the checker;

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• the doer has to listen and follow the Said one student: “I would absolutely
instructions, and isn’t distracted by recommend this [approach] for all future IT 101
switching screens or looking on a printed classes. I also feel as if this style of learning
sheet with instructions to see what to do would be complementary to any sort of
next; introductory calculus class and/or writing and
• the reader and the checker can provide literature classes. I am a strong proponent of
assistance to the doer if necessary, and this style of learning and feel as if it can be even
the checker is responsible for making sure more effective than lecturing when used
the step looks good before the group properly and in a structured manner.”
continues to the next step.
Taking time to complete the in-class activities
The first task in each assignment instructed was beneficial to most students. When asked if
students to create a worksheet with the names they would have otherwise completed the in-
of their group members. Instructions generally class activities as homework in addition to the
decreased in detail as the activity progressed in regular homework, most students, across all
order to promote problem solving. In this way, sections, said they would not, as shown in Figure
steps are task-based rather than keystroke 3.
based, so students are learning how to solve a
problem, without being caught up in the details
of what to click or select next.

Students worked in the same groups throughout

the semester and created a shared folder on
Dropboxvi to easily access their group’s work
products. The in-class activities were not graded
per se, but students received credit for
completing them, and lost credit if they did not.
Students who were absent had 48 hours to
complete the assignments individually outside of
class in order to receive credit. Students had to
electronically submit their own individual copy of Figure 3. Value of Completing Learning
the file that their group created in order to Activities in Class
receive credit. A portion of an in-class activity is
shown in Appendix I. It is surprising that most of the supposedly
“better students” in the Honors and Accelerated
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY sections would not do the homework and
encouraging that some of the evening students
To determine the impact of flipping the IT are conscientious enough to say they would
classroom, the author offered a voluntary online complete it.
survey at the end of the Spring 2012 semester
to all 66 students (40 male, 26 female) enrolled Effectiveness of Role Playing
in three academically diverse sections of IT 101
(22 Honors, 17 Accelerated, 27 Evening). All
sections were taught by the same instructor
using the same outside-of-class instructional
videos and the same in-class activities. The
survey asked students for their reactions after
participating in ten flipped classroom sessions on
learning Microsoft Excel concepts.

Student Reaction to the Flipped Classroom

Approach
Students found the flipped classroom for
teaching spreadsheet concepts to be challenging
and engaging. They would like to see this
Figure 4(a). Student learning through
methodology implemented in their other classes.
explanations.

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The evening students, more so than honors or

accelerated students, claim they learn better
when someone explains to them what to do, as
suggested by the results in Figure 4(a). This
may be because the honors and accelerated
students are used to reading more.

This result is in line with students finding that

taking on roles of reader (explainer), doer, and
checker, add value to their learning experience,
as shown in Figure 4(b). These roles allow
students to interact with spreadsheet concepts
through speaking, listening and responding, and Figure 5(b). Flipping and Personalization
watching.

Figure 5(c). Social Awareness Factors in the

Flipped Classroom
Figure 4(b). Effectiveness of Flipped IT
Classroom Student Roles It is interesting to note that especially in the
evening section, which had the largest class size
Social Awareness in the Flipped Classroom (35), students found the flipped classroom a
way to make the class seem more personal.
This implementation of the flipped classroom
also promoted social awareness, camaraderie, One student remarked that the composition of
and a spirit of cooperation among group the groups is important, saying “My group was
members and their classmates, across all three very helpful and each of us contributed equally
different sections, as the survey results in Figure which is probably why I liked the group
5 (a-c) suggest: assignments so much. If I were in a lazy group,
my opinion probably would have been
considerably different.

Comparing Perception of Flipped and

Traditional Classroom Experiences
As shown in Figure 6, the majority of students
from all sections felt that the flipped classroom
helped them learn the material better or much
better than had they been in a traditional
classroom.

A student remarked: “Figuring out the

Figure 5(a). Interest in other group activities assignments as a group on our own was just so
much more engaging and helpful in learning the
material, that I really don't know how a
traditional classroom lecture of the material
would be able to compare.”

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suggesting that over half of the IT 101 students

across all sections that semester watched them.

Figure 6. Student Perception of Flipped

Classroom.

After completing their first flipped classroom Figure 7. Reasons for watching screencasts
activity, students were asked to email their outside of class.
responses to “How are you feeling right now?” to
the Instructor. Many expressed sentiments of
frustration and accomplishment, such as this:

“There were parts of the assignment that

were frustrating, but I think I got more out
of it than I would have gotten out of a
lecture because you had to actually know
how to do the different steps and if you
didn’t know you had to learn it.”

Instructional Screencast Videos

Across the different sections, there was not
significant variation in why students watched the
videos, as shown in Figure 7. The majority knew Figure 8. Clarity of Screencast videos.
they would be quizzed and wanted good grades,
others wanted to be prepared for the in-class Role of Instructor
exercises that followed. Many students noted the role of the instructor
had changed from a lecturer to a mentor who
As shown in Figure 8 the majority of students walked around the room and was available to
across all sections felt it was possible to convey help each group to provide “just-in-time”
a single concept in a video of seven to ten information about specific concepts or skills on
minutes. an as- needed basis.

Creating the videos for IT 101 students to watch There were six groups of four students in each
turned out to be a worthwhile activity for the day section, and as many as ten groups of three
student tutors. One commented, “I had a great or four students in the evening section.
time working on the videos for the Excel
tutorials! I not only had the opportunity to learn Several of the honors and accelerated students
about new Excel concepts in detail but was also shared the sentiments of one who noted that
able to practice those I had already mastered putting the instructor in this role brought about
through my own IT 101 experience.” “a more catered learning experience without
ignoring any students, and the teacher was able
The videos were also made available to sections to push the important material without wasting
of IT 101 taught by different instructors. There time on what could be called filler material.”
were 14 sections of IT 101 in the spring, most
with 30 to 35 students, for a total of An evening student commented that “due to the
approximately 400 students taking the class large number of groups [in his section of the
across all sections. YouTube shows that some of class], this method [of the instructor rotating
the videos had as many as 240 views, among groups] was somewhat inefficient, and

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each group would have to wait their turn for A smaller class size and a classroom with tables
assistance. Often groups may have had the rather than rows of fixed seating is more
same question.” conducive for implementing a flipped classroom.
The ability for the instructor to circulate among
5. LESSONS LEARNED the students is crucial to their success.

Key elements to this implementation to the 6. SUMMARY

flipped classroom were the screencasts to be
watched before class, the quizzes which The paper presents guidelines for and student
provided an incentive for watching them, and reactions to one implementation of a flipped
the in-class exercises and debriefing time. classroom for teaching Microsoft Excel.
Students in three academically different sections
The tutor-created instructional screencast videos of IT 101 experienced the flipped classroom.
were well received, as evidenced by the number This approach provides an active learning
of views they received on YouTube. The videos exercise in class that engages students with the
were made available across several sections of material, as well as each other. There were few
IT 101 (not just those of this instructor). Some differences across honors, accelerated, and
of the videos received over 200 views. Given evening students when it came to student
that approximately 400 students were registered perceptions of the flipped classroom, reasons for
for the class across all sections, this suggests watching videos, and social awareness brought
that approximately half of the students saw at about by the implementation of the flipped
least some of the videos. The tutors who created classroom described in this paper. This suggests
these videos developed a list of best practices that this active learning approach is accessible
for doing so in the future. These include zooming to all introductory students. The only thing that
in on just the section of the spreadsheet that is differed was the instructor’s involvement in
being featured so it is more easily visible, setting providing assistance to the student groups.
up as much as possible beforehand so that the
video can focus only on key concepts, and The structure of the flipped IT classroom
creating a script to follow when recording the described in this paper and the in-class activities
demonstrations. Keeping the length of the also enabled students to learn about web-based
videos short was also helpful in being able to collaboration tools for file and screen sharing
locate the desired content. Some videos will be and online open data repositories. While the
redone in future semesters to improve their paper does not claim an increase in student
quality. learning over a traditional classroom, anecdotal
remarks from students suggests that they
Students seemed to relate better to videos learned the material through watching the
created by their peers in the learning lab than to instructional videos before class and completing
those that accompanied the textbook. Students in-class exercises and found the experience
found the professional videos to be much more more engaging than listening to an in-class
thorough and lacking personality. lecture.

Several of the in-class activities required 6. REFERENCES

students to interact with open data sets that
they found online.vii This allowed them to Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012, April 15). How
explore data on topics of interest and made the the Flipped Classroom Is Radically
exercises more relevant. Data available from Transforming Learning. Retrieved June 1,
online data marketsviii often are larger and more 2012, from The Daily Riff:
complex than sample files that accompany http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-
textbook exercises and can be well suited for the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-
activities on filtering, formatting, or sorting. transforming-learning-536.php
Another student had his group look at data on
the spread of HIVix, commenting that this data Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1998). The
would also be useful in his sociology class. This University in the Digital Age. In B. L.
data set, and most data from Hawkins, & P. Battin, The Mirage of
http://data.worldbank.org is nicely formatted for Continuity: Reconfiguring Academic
creating spark lines. Information Resources for the 21st Century

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(pp. 39-60). Washington, D.C.: Council on Lecture Equation. In P. Resta (Ed.),

Library and Information Resources. Proceedings of Society for Information
Technology & Teacher Education
Day, J. (2008). Investigating Learning with Web International Conference 2012 (pp. 1177-
Lectures . Georgia Institute of Technology. 1182). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Knewton.com. (2011, August 29). The Flipped
Day, J., & Foley, J. (2006). Evaluating Web Classroom Infographic. Retrieved June 1,
Lectures: A Case Study from HCI. 2012, from Knewton:
Proceedings of CHI 2006 (pp. 195-200). http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/
Montreal: Association for Computing
Mentch, M. (2010, May 6). The Classroom Flip:
Demetry, C. (2010). Work in Progress - An Harnessing Technology to Support New
Innovation Merging "Classroom Flip" and Instructional Approaches to In-Class Activity
Team-Based Learning. Proceedings of the Based Learning. Retrieved June 1, 2012,
40th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education from YouTube: http://youtu.be/mwY9WZS-
Conference (pp. TI1-3). Washington, DC: Sng
ASEE/IEEE.
Strayer, J. (2007). The Effects of the Classroom
Frydenberg, M. (2008). Principles and Pedagogy: Flip on the Learning Environment: A
The Two Ps of Podcasting in the Information Comparison of Learning Activity in a
Technology Classroom. Information Systems Traditional Classroom and a Flip Classroom
Education Journal , 6 (6), 11. that Used an Intelligent Tutoring System.
Educational Theory and Practice. Columbus,
Gibbons, J., Kincheloe, W., & Down, K. S. (1977, Ohio: Ohio State University.
March 18). Tutored Videotape Instruction: A
New Use of Electronics Media in Education. Waguespack, L. (2008). The Tinkertoy™
Science, New Series , 195 (4283), pp. 1139- Exercise for Motivating Formal System
1146. Modeling. Information Systems Education
Journal, 6 (46), pp. 3-9.
Houston, M., & Lin, L. (2012). Humanizing the
Classroom by Flipping the Homework versus

Editor’s Note:
This paper was selected for inclusion in the journal as a ISECON 2012 Meritorious Paper. The
acceptance rate is typically 15% for this category of paper based on blind reviews from six or more
peers including three or more former best papers authors who did not submit a paper in 2012.

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Appendix I
Sample In-Class Activity (Creating Charts)

Work together in small groups to complete this assignment. Take turns being the reader, doer, and
checker. The reader reads an instruction aloud while the doer completes it in Excel. The checker helps
the doer if the doer needs help and confirm that each step is completed correctly. Help each other out,
look up how to do things in the book if you’re not sure, and if you’re still stuck, ask me!

1. Visit http://data.worldbank.org/. Navigate to Data, then Indicators and explore the data sets that
are available.
2. Select a data set of interest that has at least 5 years’ worth of values. For example:
 Mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people
 Internet usage
 Vehicles per km/road
3. Download the data. Import it into Excel.
4. Create a worksheet named Group Members. Include the names of the members of your group.
5. Examine your data. If there are a lot of empty columns from early years, hide or delete them.
Keep at least 10 years’ worth of data.
6. Create spark lines for the data. Add spark line markers.
7. Filter the data to display only those countries that begin with the letter A.
8. Create a new sheet named “A countries.”
9. Copy row 1 (the header row), and the all of the rows for all of the countries that begin with A to a
new sheet.
10. Create a line chart showing all of the data on one graph, where each line is a different country.
 Label the horizontal and vertical axes
 The legend should go at the bottom
 The legend labels should be the country abbreviations
 Horizontal axis should show the years
 Your graph should have a title
 Find a thematically appropriate image for the background of your chart
 Place the chart on its own worksheet
11. Change the filter to display another subset of the data that you choose.
12. Copy the header row and all of the data to a new sheet.
13. Create a bar chart for the last 4 years of available data. Add appropriate labels, legends, titles,
and formatting styles to your chart. Place the chart on its own worksheet.
14. Place the file in a Dropbox folder shared with the members of your group so that each group
member will have access to this file on their own computers. Each group member should submit
the (same) file to Blackboard to get credit for completing this assignment.

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Endnotes
i
Khan Academy hosts over 2600 instructional videos at http://khanacademy.org.
ii
Most student tutors used Screencast-o-matic.com (http://screencast-o-matic.com) to create their
screencasts, and then edited their videos using Windows Live Movie Maker. Screenr
(http://screenr.com) , GoView (http://goview.com) , and Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html)
are also popular free tools for creating screencasts.
iii
To view the instructional videos that student tutors created for this project, visit
http://cis.bentley.edu/sandbox/index.php/resources/excel/
iv
Join.Me (http://join.me) is a free screen sharing application.
Waguespack (2008) describes the roles of guide, builder, and judge that students take on during in-
v

class modeling experiments. He pointed out the similarities with the roles of reader, doer, and checker
introduced here for completing small group exercises.
vi
Dropbox (http://dropbox.com) is a free cloud storage application that allows users to synchronize
and share files across multiple devices.
vii
Open data refers to data sets available for reuse without copyright restriction. For example, the US
Government set up http://data.gov in 2009 as a way to share government data and provide
transparency. Several cities, states, and countries have followed suit with similar open data sites.
Providing Data as a Service is a growing industry as companies such as http://factual.com,
viii

http://infochimps.com, and http://datamarket.com manage and provide large data sets as raw data
or via APIs for developers to include in mobile and web applications. Some data is also available for
download in CSV or other formats that Excel can recognize and import.
ix
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.AIDS.ZS

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