Wednesday 30 January 2013

Flipped Classroom

I must confess some initial skepticism over the idea of a flipped classroom as it sounded like yet another "fashion" trend in education.  Upon hearing more details about how a flipped classroom functions it is something that I think might have a large potential to positively affect learning.  Flipping the class so that the lecture portion of the material is watched at home on a video with the in class time used as a tutorial has enormous potential.  Like some of the videos mentioned (http://www.techsmith.com/flipped-classroom.html) the issue of students understanding in class but unable to do questions once home was a problem I encountered in high school.

I don't believe I would completely abandon the teacher directed lecture in front of a class.  I would however reserve the class lecture material for more engaging discussions where an forum of students could further an idea in a group setting.  Key problems that are universally challenging to all students could also be taken up in a more formalized interactive lecture style.

One downside that I see is that students must wait to ask questions for material presented in the video lecture portion of the course.  The ability to ask a question and immediately receive expert clarification could make comprehension difficult or lead to false understandings of the material.  Another potential downside is that the amount of video production time that the teacher takes to produce the videos could be prohibitive.  What is the best way to get around this time constraint for the teacher?  Also is it necessary to flip our classroom when Khan Academy is so widely available.

Khan Academy TED talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs



1 comment:

  1. I agree and do not see too much advantage in a flipped classroom. Unless there is a gifted class that the teacher knows that they will watch the videos at home. Typical students do not usually do their homework at home, and usually spend it on other things such as video games. So most students will not watch the videos and expect the teachers to explain it to them when they show up to class. Some students are even less motivated and don't do work at home or even in the classroom. A flipped classroom will definately not help out these students.

    Also all of the time used to create the videos could be spent creating many different fun and engaging lessons with differentiated instruction which I think will be a greater contribution to the learning of the students

    ReplyDelete