Let's Flip the Classroom!
My children learn things on YouTube all the time, from learning to tie a neck tie to learning a song on the guitar. I am completely amazed at how fast and how much they can pick up on YouTube. So why not implement the same type of learning in a classroom. Actually, when I shared my last ED271 assignment on flipped classrooms with my oldest son, he was absolutely amazed and would love to see this kind of instruction implemented at his school. However, with a good thing always comes a bad. I mean to say, that it may not work for everyone.
I enjoyed listening to the webinar on Classroom 2.0 Live about Flipped Classrooms. The guest speakers were Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann. Believe it or not, I watched a couple more YouTube videos on flipped classrooms to supplement the webinar. I feel that this type of instruction is very effective. The speakers on the webinar explained how to start a flipped classroom. You can't just start right away. You have to start off with just one lesson during a semester, and then expand. First with a lesson for a semester, then perhaps two more lessons, then try it out for a year, then you can totally flip your classroom. Not in that way exactly, but the teacher would have to do a test run. Perhaps it may not work. The webinar explained that for some subjects, flipped classrooms are the ideal way of instruction, like math and science. Personally, I feel that it can work for all subjects.
Some downfalls to flipped classrooms are the availability of the technology in the students' households. What if a student does not have the resources to watch the lesson via media. Well, the webinar included information about that as well. Not necessarily that the students didn't have the resources, but they just didn't want to watch the videos. The students preferred to read the books. Any way they want to learn the lesson, allow them to do so.
To me, the main focus point of flipped classroom, is more teacher student interaction. The teacher is not lecturing for the majority of the class time. They are assisting each student, at their own pace, on the lesson that they learned at home. This creates more time for learning, rather than plain instruction. Students are able to apply the lesson when they get to school.
I can't find a reason to not implement a flipped classroom for my class. It's something that I would definitely like to try. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to traditional classrooms.
Flipped classrooms is such an innovative way of instruction that I hope will implemented in the future for my children as well. Most children, or even people, are visual/audio learners and I feel it is a more effective way of learning along with the theory behind it. Having these videos regulated by the students at their own pace to review the lesson or go back to a section of a lecture that was unclear is very beneficial for students, something I wish could be done now. Although not many students will have access at home like other students, maybe it could be recorded on a CDR or DVDR for them to use?
ReplyDeleteCool, the guys who presented are credited for starting the flipped concept. I like the point made about starting off slowly. It can be time consuming to make the videos (as you know) but you can use them in the following year(s).
ReplyDeleteAnother good point was that some students just want to read books. I've met resistance from some students with Google Earth & Math. Just goes to show you that students have different strengths. Some are strong with text & numbers but others aren't. I think some diversity is good for everyone because it addresses more learning styles.