title: Flipped teaching and flexible learning in an undergraduate engineering course

authors: Khoo, Elaine G.L.

abstract: In a flipped class, lecture materials are assigned as take-home tasks for students to complete prior to attending face-to-face classes. The class time is thus freed up for the application of the learned ideas through active in-class inquiry, collaboration, and to address student questions and misconceptions. These activities can help students master threshold concepts (TCs) and develop the skills required of 21st century graduates.
In a two-year TLRI funded project we investigated how a flipped classroom approach can impact student learning of technical knowledge (i.e., TCs) and nontechnical competencies (e.g., teamwork). The project examined:
1. the effects of the flipped classroom on students’ learning of threshold concepts (TCs),
2. the affordances of the flipped classroom model of teaching in a first-year compulsory electronics engineering course, and,
3. the long term impact of the flipped class on the development of engineering students’ workplace competencies.
This research took place in a New Zealand university in an introductory engineering undergraduate course with enrolments of typically 150 students. In the past the course lecturers had been refining the course through a focus on TCs and the introduction of online tutorials. Since findings from these efforts have been promising in supporting teaching and learning, the lecturers sought to extend their course redesign to encompass a flipped classroom intervention. Using a design-based method, five cycles of the flipped classroom were implemented where each cycle was enhanced in terms of the course design, materials, and assessment, based on the results of the previous cycle. Two lecturers and students enrolled in the course during each cycle/semester of the flipped class participated in the research. Data were collected from lecturer interviews, student surveys, video analytics, student assessments, class observations and a focus group interview.
Key findings revealed that students’ learning of TCs was enhanced and that they valued the flipped course components such as the lecturer-created videos, in-class problem-solving exercises and continuous assessment in helping them learn. The course lecturers noted higher levels of student engagement during in-class times compared to previous years.
We will report on the overview of:
1. the design of the flipped classroom for the purposes of the course, enhancements made in each cycle and the impact these had on teaching and learning;
2. student learning and achievement as a result of the intervention, and;
3. implications for practice and policy for practitioners interested in implementing the flipped class approach in their context.

text: Flipped teaching and flexible learning in an undergraduate engineering course In a flipped class, lecture materials are assigned as take-home tasks for students to complete prior to attending face-to-face classes. The class time is thus freed up for the application of the learned ideas through active in-class inquiry, collaboration, and to address student questions and misconceptions. These activities can help students master threshold concepts (TCs) and develop the skills required of 21st century graduates.
In a two-year TLRI funded project we investigated how a flipped classroom approach can impact student learning of technical knowledge (i.e., TCs) and nontechnical competencies (e.g., teamwork). The project examined:
1. the effects of the flipped classroom on students’ learning of threshold concepts (TCs),
2. the affordances of the flipped classroom model of teaching in a first-year compulsory electronics engineering course, and,
3. the long term impact of the flipped class on the development of engineering students’ workplace competencies.
This research took place in a New Zealand university in an introductory engineering undergraduate course with enrolments of typically 150 students. In the past the course lecturers had been refining the course through a focus on TCs and the introduction of online tutorials. Since findings from these efforts have been promising in supporting teaching and learning, the lecturers sought to extend their course redesign to encompass a flipped classroom intervention. Using a design-based method, five cycles of the flipped classroom were implemented where each cycle was enhanced in terms of the course design, materials, and assessment, based on the results of the previous cycle. Two lecturers and students enrolled in the course during each cycle/semester of the flipped class participated in the research. Data were collected from lecturer interviews, student surveys, video analytics, student assessments, class observations and a focus group interview.
Key findings revealed that students’ learning of TCs was enhanced and that they valued the flipped course components such as the lecturer-created videos, in-class problem-solving exercises and continuous assessment in helping them learn. The course lecturers noted higher levels of student engagement during in-class times compared to previous years.
We will report on the overview of:
1. the design of the flipped classroom for the purposes of the course, enhancements made in each cycle and the impact these had on teaching and learning;
2. student learning and achievement as a result of the intervention, and;
3. implications for practice and policy for practitioners interested in implementing the flipped class approach in their context.

year: 2017

title: Cortical entropy changes with general anaesthesia: theory and experiment

authors: Sleigh, James W.

subjects: electroencephalography

abstract: Commonly used general anaesthetics cause a decrease in the spectral entropy of the electroencephalogram as the patient transits from the conscious to the unconscious state. Although the spectral entropy is a configurational entropy, it is plausible that the spectral entropy may be acting as a reliable indicator of real changes in cortical neuronal interactions. Using a mean field theory, the activity of the cerebral cortex may be modelled as fluctuations in mean soma potential around equilibrium states. In the adiabatic limit, the stochastic differential equations take the form of an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. It can be shown that spectral entropy is a logarithmic measure of the rate of synaptic interaction. This model predicts that the spectral entropy should decrease abruptly from values ~1.0 to values of ~0.7 as the patient becomes unconscious during induction of general anaesthesia, and then not decrease significantly on further deepening of anaesthesia. These predictions were compared with experimental results in which electrocorticograms and brain concentrations of propofol were recorded in seven sheep during induction of anaesthesia with intravenous propofol. The observed changes in spectral entropy agreed with the theoretical predictions. We conclude that spectral entropy may be a sensitive monitor of the consciousness–unconsciousness transition, rather than a progressive indicator of anaesthetic drug effect.

text: Cortical entropy changes with general anaesthesia: theory and experiment Commonly used general anaesthetics cause a decrease in the spectral entropy of the electroencephalogram as the patient transits from the conscious to the unconscious state. Although the spectral entropy is a configurational entropy, it is plausible that the spectral entropy may be acting as a reliable indicator of real changes in cortical neuronal interactions. Using a mean field theory, the activity of the cerebral cortex may be modelled as fluctuations in mean soma potential around equilibrium states. In the adiabatic limit, the stochastic differential equations take the form of an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. It can be shown that spectral entropy is a logarithmic measure of the rate of synaptic interaction. This model predicts that the spectral entropy should decrease abruptly from values ~1.0 to values of ~0.7 as the patient becomes unconscious during induction of general anaesthesia, and then not decrease significantly on further deepening of anaesthesia. These predictions were compared with experimental results in which electrocorticograms and brain concentrations of propofol were recorded in seven sheep during induction of anaesthesia with intravenous propofol. The observed changes in spectral entropy agreed with the theoretical predictions. We conclude that spectral entropy may be a sensitive monitor of the consciousness–unconsciousness transition, rather than a progressive indicator of anaesthetic drug effect.

year: 2004

title: Culture is our business: Issues and challenges for forensic and correctional psychologists

authors: Tamatea, Armon J.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Psychology has made significant advances in the development of more empirical, standardized, and consistent approaches to the prediction, assessment, and treatment of offending behaviour. However, crime occurs in a cultural context. Similarly, forensic and correctional psychology derive from a cultural basis that privileges certain types of knowledge and promotes certain forms of practice that are incommensurate with the outlook and realities of some offenders and their communities. While there is an emerging literature on ethnicity and race in criminal justice psychology, very little research that addresses culture is published. The reasons for this knowledge gap are complex, not least because the worldviews of indigenous and diverse communities do not superimpose neatly onto current best-practice models of risk assessment or offender rehabilitation. Given Australia and New Zealand’s commitment to the involvement and wellbeing of indigenous peoples as well as the shared experience of progressively more pluralistic societies, it is argued that there is a critical need to bring the somewhat disparate domains of forensic psychology and culture into conversation with a view to informing policy and practice. The example of risk assessment is used to illustrate some of the complexities of working with cultural difference. Central to this article is a call for a culturally-engaged and proactive philosophy of practice that embraces the needs of diverse offenders, victims and communities.

text: Culture is our business: Issues and challenges for forensic and correctional psychologists Psychology has made significant advances in the development of more empirical, standardized, and consistent approaches to the prediction, assessment, and treatment of offending behaviour. However, crime occurs in a cultural context. Similarly, forensic and correctional psychology derive from a cultural basis that privileges certain types of knowledge and promotes certain forms of practice that are incommensurate with the outlook and realities of some offenders and their communities. While there is an emerging literature on ethnicity and race in criminal justice psychology, very little research that addresses culture is published. The reasons for this knowledge gap are complex, not least because the worldviews of indigenous and diverse communities do not superimpose neatly onto current best-practice models of risk assessment or offender rehabilitation. Given Australia and New Zealand’s commitment to the involvement and wellbeing of indigenous peoples as well as the shared experience of progressively more pluralistic societies, it is argued that there is a critical need to bring the somewhat disparate domains of forensic psychology and culture into conversation with a view to informing policy and practice. The example of risk assessment is used to illustrate some of the complexities of working with cultural difference. Central to this article is a call for a culturally-engaged and proactive philosophy of practice that embraces the needs of diverse offenders, victims and communities.

year: 2017