Utilizing video-driven "flipped" instruction to enable active learning and affect student outcomes within an introductory physical geology course

While active learning strategies have been shown to improve student outcomes in college STEM settings, the incorporation of these effective strategies can take class time to implement that would have otherwise been used to deliver novel course content. To facilitate the adoption of active learning strategies within an introductory physical geology course at the undergraduate level, the instruction of a number of introductory concepts was moved outside of the classroom and delivered to students via short instructional videos (GeoScience Videos). These videos were made freely available on YouTube and were created following several empirically-derived methods of effective multimedia design. We investigated the impact of the adoption of this partially-flipped class format on student exam performance and confidence across four semesters of a large-enrollment physical geology course and found that the videos facilitated an increase in the proportion of content that could be communicated outside of class and allowed for an augmentation of in-class activities on more complex geology concepts (e.g., partial melting). We compared student performance and confidence across semesters and found; a) students were able to learn the basic content (e.g., rock identification) as effectively as they had when it was presented in class; b) students improved their performance on some content during summative exams; and, c) student confidence significantly varied on some topics as a result of the course alterations. Recommendations for instructor practice will be discussed.