I want to introduce this Pechakucha with a story, and like most stories it has a ‘moral’ to it.I recently had an experience, one that I would imagine most of you can relate to; being volunteered for some thing when you are not around.Returning from holiday in the summer, I was ploughing through my emails and came across one that stopped me my tracks. Basically it said Barbara will do the Pechakucha on Flipping a classroom at a conference;Pechakucha – yes that was OK, and one of those words like Pedagogy you say quickly in the hope that no one will notice if you pronounce it incorrectly, and spelling is another matter. BUTWhat! Flipping a classroom!
Flipping a pancake – yes have doneFlipped a coin – heads I win tails you loseFlipping a house – well we’ve heard a lot about but wont go thereLots of other flipping that I could think of, BUT flipping a classroom? Had some one flipped?The mind boggled, Was I out of date something had happened that I knew nothing about – very embarrisingBut it need having been parachuted into delivering the topic I had to find out some-thing about it!So what is it?
This meant some research was required, and it was quite intriguing because it meant that lessons were turned on their head
In a traditional classroom, the content of the lesson is delivered followed by home-workIn a flipped classroom, home-work is competed before the lesson!So lets look at what this actually means in practice
So lets look at our traditional classroom in a little more detailIn the classroom the teacher will use a range of strategies within a individual lesson as we know, at some stage some teacher focused activity will take place, some direct input.In maths this may well be some aspects differentiation for exampleOther tools will include:
Question and answer – perhaps around home-work queries or further explore the concept being investigated
Active learning could be taking place, discussions , practical activities or experiments
But what percentage is given to each?How much of classroom time is student centred as opposed to teacher centred activities?We know that teachers have curriculum content to cover within their lessons and if you ask most teachers they would say they don’t usually have the time within a lesson to be as creative as they would wish.Home work is completed after the class, and students often complain about getting stuck. They thought they understood a classroom delivered concept but when it came to applying it, was obvious that they needed further support.
So that is why you need to flip the classroom
The flipped classroom model moves the teacher centred content out of the classroom (such as direct teaching or reading text) to become homework, and is completed in advance of the lesson thus freeing up time within the classroom for more action learning activities.So how is this presented? The most common tool that is used is video
While not all flipped classrooms used video, it is a common tool. It has to be appropriate for the educational outcome that you are aiming to achieve. Nothing new there!So, we can use video as an instructional tool, using existing videos or by creating our own by either by filming the teacher or by using screen capture software.The use of PIP (picture within picture) means that the use for screen sharing can also include web cam video of the teacher. The use of digital pens to annotate on the screen is invaluable. The use of Interactive whiteboards One of the few uses in the UK that I have come across of the flipped classroom, was in the use of Sports courses where there had been poor results; students like to come to the class and have action, and not necessarily listen to; for example rules, so a pilot is being run with the flipped approach.
A number of other tools can also be used; and with many colleges and providers using Virtual learning environments a lot of these tools such as Blogs, Wikis (for individual and collaborative work) podcasts, the internet are available already. But we should not forget Ipads I PhoneI would say that all these tools could be used for homework within the ‘traditional’ classroom as well.
So having completed their home work in advance of the class, more time is available in class for active learning, for applying and discussing ideas.
But what do they say are the advantages> Some of them have already be mentioned.
A flipped classroom is flexible, it allows students to access the content when and where they want to.If a student misses out on a lesson, they can at least catch-up on the some-off the content and then get additional support if needed.
It provides opportunities for increased interaction within the classroom, TEACHER TO STUDENT, STUDENT TO STUDENT – because of the increase in time available within the classroom as a group and Peer:peer.It is also viewed that because students are now involved in hands on work and less likely to be sitting listening many of the classroom management issues have disappeared.It increases the ability for the teacher to support struggling students , as it provides the teacher to deal with conceptual issues during the classroom As well as peer to peer support
The use of video enables students to play stop rewind and review as many times as they want – some-thing that is more difficult to do within the classroom! This is great for the range ability students that may make up a class. Some students may need to stop and rewind several times but the strength of being about to PAUSE, so a learner can think about what has been delivered. Years ago when I did my teacher training I remember my mentor saying, use silence – let the learner have time to think. Its something that we as teachers can be very bad at doing – letting silence Most students may ask a question one but they would normally be reluctant to repeat asking the question, and some learners need that time to assimilate information.The teacher can then deal with any problems in class time.For some subjects Chemistry, Maths and Sport studies this process is really useful.One of the tools utilised in a college in the USA when using video recordings was to also provide a proforma for students to write down the key points as well as recording any questions they have. In a science course in the USA, students are also asked to think of one interesting question that they have thought of while viewing the video.That all sounds very good but what about the issues/barriers
So what are the BarriersThe question that automatically come to mind is the biggy, what about digital exclusion, are we not excluding some learners who don’t have access to computers etc.The exponents of the flipped classroom would say that this is an issue to address before implementation, some of the ways around this have been putting the videos onto DVD’s and they can the accessed from home on a computer or TV. If colleges are using VLEs as an integrated part of their deliver mechanism then they should already have measures in place to ensure all students can have access, from learning centres, the library for example.Not doing the home-work is another problem that needs to be addressed, what has worked is for learners to watch to video on a classroom computer and then join in the class. The flipped classroom is being used in the USA and when I started my research I found very little information on how/If it was being used in England – not to say it Is not. I did find two examples, one where it had been used for staff development CPD – and the not doing the home-work was tackled by the learner in this case a teacher going to another room to review the video and then joining the group. This did result in home-work being completed for future CPD events.The other example is in delivery of Sports, and for a group of students that wanted to do activities during the F:F sessions this worked well and freeing up time.
On conclusion of my research, its obvious that this is a tool we can use, one of many tools that we have in our toolbox within teaching and learning.We look at what we want to deliver within a specific lesson and consider what tools do I have that will make this effective. If the flipped classroom is in my toolbox and I have some direct teaching or teacher focused delivery that needs to be included, I need to think whether the flipped classroom tool is one I can use and if so use it.
So the Flipped classroom. There is very little information in the UK about it although it may well be going on, but from my talks with people I think this is a tool that is little known – which makes me feel much better regarding my initial lack of knowledge about it.To finishThe moral of my story: If you go on holiday be prepared to get landed in it, but the result can be intriguing. So in the future – go on more holidays!
