Introducing Mastery Learning Cycles to the World: a post FlipCon14 presentation reflection

I had the privilege to present at FlipCon14 about Mastery Learning Cycles (MLC.) I originally discussed MLC in a blog post last year, where I described it as a "mashup" of Mastery learning and Explore-Flip-Apply (EFA) models. In my mind, this hybrid solves the problem of allowing students to learn at their own pace and still promoting thoughtful inquiry through structured learning cycles, rather than a checklist of activities to plow through. The packed classroom and dozens of virtual attendees who watched the live presentation online probably affirm other teachers have interest in mastery and/or EFA (session notes.)

The Flipped Learning Network "flipped" the conference, which meant I had to assign pre-work. Since most veteran flipped teachers are familiar with mastery learning, I assigned a blog post about EFA written by Ramsey Musallam (@ramusallam) and asked teachers to create a learning cycle. The plan was to spend some time during the presentation to front-load this model and the rest of the session having teachers share their cycles. Even though lack of homework completion prevented execution of this plan, I was able to offer a resource for those who wanted to extend their learning after the session. 

The feedback in person and on twitter were positive - perhaps even more so than I expected. I think I did a nice job engaging the audience at the beginning with a karate belt tying activity that demonstrated the power of flipped learning and mastery learning. 

Tweeted by +TheAlgebros 

I also had some opportunities for teachers to talk to each other with discussion prompts. My slides were clear, text-light but image-heavy and did a good job outlining the strengths and limitations of the mastery and EFA models. It may have taken too much time to get through EFA and mastery but the front loading helped outline the strengths of MLC. Perhaps the strongest part of the presentation was sharing my particular learning cycles with student work. I spoke in detail about the simple inheritance MLC by demonstrating how each activity offered a rich learning experience for students. I also talked briefly about the evolution learning cycle just to demonstrate some variation, like labs at the beginning during the Explore phase and differentiation during the Apply phase. 

If I do the presentation again, I'll hope to have some examples of MLC in different disciplines and utilize more opportunities for interaction like polls and more frequent turn & talk prompts. I'll make sure to repeat comments and questions from the live audience for the virtual attendees. I also need to remember to share the link to the feedback form. 

Now that the presentation is over, I have the summer to revise some of my MLCs and look forward to other teachers adopting and sharing their MLCs. 

Related articles

• Mastery Learning Cycles: a Mash Up of Mastery Learning & Explore-Flip-Apply

100 Flipping Ways - Comparing Models of Flipped Learning

The media portrays an oversimplified version of flipped learning. Media Synopsis: videos teaching content done for homework, while traditional homework assignments completed in class. In the early version of Flip 101, I suspect the majority of these in-class activities really were normal homework assignments like worksheets and problem sets. But as Aaron Sams and Jon Bergman stated throughout FlipCon13, Flip 101 is the entry point to flipped instruction and most teachers move beyond the "traditional flip" (irony of this term is not lost on me.)

A brief summary of some Flipped learning models:

Traditional Flip - synchronous course where students watch videos at home to learn concepts then apply their learning in class.

Mastery Flip - an asynchronous course where students view videos and complete learning activities at their own pace. Note: videos can be watched in class. 

Explore-Flip-Apply (EFA) - inspired by the learning cycle and inquiry instruction, students synchronously engage in hands-on exploration of concepts, which are explained in the videos that follow. Students apply their learning after the explore and flip stages. Consistent with "just in time teaching," these videos can be created in response to deficits, questions and misconceptions identified in the explore phase.

Flipped PBL (project) - students complete projects to learn concepts in depth and demonstrate learning. Videos are offered as supplemental aids in completing the projects and/or direct instruction of required content.

Flipped PBL (problem) - similar to the other flipped PBL but the focus of the course is to solve "messy" problems. Students identify concepts they "need to know" in order to solve the problems. Videos and other materials are shared to provide students with the content they need to solve these problems.

Mastery Learning Cycles - inspired by the Explore-Flip-Apply and Flipped Mastery models, students engage in asynchronous learning cycles. They explore concepts before watching videos. After videos, they apply their learning and can choose to demonstrate "mastery" of concepts by completing higher order tasks. 

The irony is there is so much diversity within these models and some teachers might even disagree with these definitions. Many of these paradigms are not mutually exclusive, just like the Mastery learning cycle model is a blending of EFA and mastery models. Not to mention, the addition of Standards based grading, student Voice & Choice, Understanding by Design and Universal Design learning can add limitless flavors to flipped instruction. 

Why Exploration Before the Video

One interesting debate of note in the flipped teacher community is the order of hands on work and viewing of the videos. I first became aware of this debate while listening to the Flipped Learning Network podcast hosted by Troy Cockrum. In episode number #3 with Ramsey Musallam, Ramsey offered a critique of the mastery flipped model because he thought it encouraged plowing through content. He also argued that science classes lend themselves to the inquiry model of instruction. Specifically, his major contention was that students ought to engage in hands on exploration before watching a flipped video. Students ought to have a reason to watch videos; in his model, a higher Bloom's exploration would cause cognitive dissonance. This sense of discomfort would provide motivation to watch the video, which would provide tools to successfully complete the exploration and extension activities. 

Recently, a study at the Stanford Graduate School of Education further supported Ramsey's work. A group tested the impact of sequencing of direction instruction and hands on exploration. The results demonstrated that students, who engaged in exploration prior to direct instruction, outperformed those who participated in the same activities in reverse. The speculation is that students who engage in hands on work prior to instruction are familiar with and have built context for facts delivered in videos or textbooks. My interpretation is that students generate a schematic or framework when engaging in these activities and even though they don't master the content during exploration, these students are primed for the content. They are also able to relate the video or text content to their prior experience from the exploratory activity. 

A summary of the study 

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/flipped-learning-model-071613.html

Original research 

http://www.computer.org/portal/web/tlt

Mastery Learning Cycles: a Mash Up of Mastery Learning & Explore-Flip-Apply

When I began to flip my class, I was instantly struck with the additional class time I had to engage students. The biggest change was students spent more time designing, executing and evaluating experiments. But honestly, something was missing. The class wasn't fundamentally reinvented. 

In hindsight, I now understand that a framework for flipping was missing. It could be argued that I had a quasi-mastery course since students worked at their own pace and did not progress to the next unit of study until they produced satisfactory work. I'm reminded of an article on Mastery Learning. In a traditional course, the variable is the amount of learning but the constant is the amount of time; in the mastery model, the variable is the amount of time but the amount of learning remains constant. In other words, all students are expected to demonstrate learning but are given the amount of time they need to do so. Typically, students are rushed through content at the same speed, which allow some students to learn while others are not as fortunate. In the late 60's, Bloom's research demonstrated that students perform at a significantly higher level when they are engaged in mastery learning. For this very reason and the positive feedback from students, I assumed that I would continue this model in my second year of flipping. 

Then enter Ramsey Musallam. His critique of the mastery model in science is well documented online. His major contention is that the mastery model encourages students to race or "plough through content." The side effect is a death blow to inquiry. The critique goes as follows. Students are assigned a video to watch then practice skills introduced in the video. Unfortunately, there's no inherent motivation to watch the video. Ramsey's response was to adapt the inquiry learning cycle of Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Extend and morph it into Explore-Flip-Apply (EFA.) In the explore phase, students are tasked with solving an engaging problem. The problem is a higher order thinking task which requires direct instruction of content; this direct instruction can take the form of a video. Once students acquire content, they use it in the apply phase. The strength in Ramsey's model is students are challenged in the explore phase and in order to be successful, they are given tools they need in the videos. It is similar to students generating a list of what they "need to know" in the problem based learning model. 

Needless to say, both models have their strengths. The self-paced-revise-until-mastery model and the authentic process of inquiry that builds a need-to-know model are both attractive. 

Venn Diagram comparing Mastery Flipped Learning & Explore-Flip-Apply Models

I wondered if both models were mutually exclusive. After much reflection, I decided, not only were they not mutually exclusive, but they could be combined into a new model of flipped learning, a mash up: Mastery Learning Cycles. I would keep the self-paced and revise-until-mastery but would organize units into the EFA phases. Basically, I would run an asynchronous version of Ramsey's EFA with the added requirement that students demonstrate certain standards before moving onto the next unit or learning cycle. The standards can be assessed in one out of four levels, inspired by Blooms Taxonomy: no evidence, understanding, applying and owning/mastery (adapted from @mrsebiology's I can statements.) 

Each learning cycle will have the following phases:

1) Engage & Explore  - highly engaging prompt, discussion, question or video relevant to the unit. Students complete a hands-on activity or lab where students make conclusions and generalizations; they also make initial attempts at applying what they learned with only partial information and tools.

2) Flip - usually a video, provides the missing content and tools for successful application. Students are assigned understanding questions to answer after watching the video. Answers are submitted via google form and the link to the answer key is shared in the edit confirmation page of the form.

3) Apply -re visitation of the original application task and additional practice built into this phase. Answer keys are usually shared with students to ensure instant feedback. Preferably, this phase includes a second lab or at least part two of the exploration lab. Students meet application level after earning 100% on a Moodle quiz. Students can retake the quiz as often as needed, since a new version is generated each time.

4) Mastery - students have an option of demonstrating mastery level of competency on desired objectives by completing higher order thinking assignments/mini projects aligned to the analyze, evaluation and creation levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. 

After meeting mastery or application level on each learning goal, students progress to the next Mastery Learning Cycle, as depicted below.

Schematic of subsequent Mastery Learning Cycles

Below are MentorMob playlists of the Simple & Complex Inheritance Mastery Learning Cycles.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!