In a flipped classroom, the content is delivered to students at home through videos posted on the internet. While they are in class, students are working one on one with the teacher on assignments where they apply what they have learned the night before at home.
I have mixed feelings about this approach to education. First of all, let's start with the positives: students are responsible for their own learning, it prepares them for university, they can learn at their own pace, the teacher is able to answer student questions and assist with assignments, students have less work to do at home, it is a less stressful environment, and students can be learning at different paces. Here are the cons: students can't ask questions during the content delivery, some fall behind, it is a lot of extra work for the teacher to set up the lecture videos and to have students all working at different paces, what about students who lack time and resources to make this work?
Part of me thinks that these positives would outweigh any cons... but then I took some time to think about what my life was like when I was in high school. I played a lot of sports growing up, and I was very involved in the community and in arts... there were nights that I would not get home until 10:00 or later because I had a hockey game out of town. If I was unable to watch the lecture the night before, what would I do during the next class session? And I was a good student! I would be one of the ones that would watch the videos regardless of what time I got home.. but lots of my classmates wouldn't have! Is it practical to have some students watching videos during class while others are taking all of the teacher's attention? what about the kids that are shy? or unmotivated? or who do not have access to the internet to watch the videos at home? Would parents be supportive? I could see a teacher having to spend 30 minutes with one student who simply has a lot of questions and likes to be on top of things while the other 15 students slip through the cracks.
Let's face it, most of us that have five years of schooling and want to work as teachers are overachievers. This model might have worked for us because we were/are the ones that do the extra work. We take the time to learn on our own and we take responsibility for knowing the content. Not everyone is like that! Think about the students that do not want to further their education after high school. We all know that students lie to us about what they have or have not done for homework. I am not knocking this idea of the flipped classroom. I think that it would work extremely well if you have a group of kids who LOVE learning and who are willing to make this work with the teacher. I'm just not sure how many classrooms will be like that... I'm open to considering other's ideas on this!!! Please convince me!!!
Good reflections, Nicky, some I had not thought of. It will be interesting to see what everyone has to say when we discuss this in class.
ReplyDeleteVery Interesting Nicole! Quite true in that this approach would work very well for some students and not as well for others! We have a math teacher here that records some, but not all of his lessons using Mimio and then posts on his youtube channel. He says it works excellent for days he has to be away, as he can leave the sub a video for the instruction part of the class. The subs love it as it gives them a chance to learn the content and then actually be able to help the students with their questions. He has also found it works really well for student athletes. Due to living in the north when teams head south for tournaments the students end up missing 1-2 days of class. For these students he posts a video so they can watch the lesson and more easily be able to keep up with their work. He has also used it when students have been ill for an extended period of time. But I totally agree with alot of your refelctions, but I do think in certain scenarios it could be quite valuable.
ReplyDeleteI had not really considered the student who is out til 10:00 at night playing sports of other extra curricular events....however, this student is also still not doing their homework either. The lectures do not have to be long drawn out 45 minute lectures, they could be simple activating lectures that give you some information before class to think about and consider and give the students time to prepare for the next day. I think it may benifit some of the less confident, perhaps more shy students who tend to sink into the woodwork as they would have access to the information before the class. I think it is very important for us to not get tied into any ONE specific method of teaching so we and our students don't get bored.
ReplyDeleteMany of the cons for the flipped classroom are also true for the regular classroom. We need to ensure that we explore our options often and assess the students we are teaching and meet their needs in the best way we can! :)
Hey Alana, nice to hear from you. Good considerations from all of you.
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