As technology becomes progressively more common in classrooms of all levels, be it kindergarten, or, all the way through to university, the modern classroom is constantly having to adapt and change. The concept of the traditional teacher-centered classroom has been relegated to the methodological history books, progressively being replaced by the principles of the student-centered classroom where collaborative learning has presumed the lead role. One of the ways in which educators are effectively utilizing the changes that constantly present themselves is by embarrassing the concept of the Flipped Classroom.
Firstly, I have to admit that I love the concept of the Flipped Classroom, the freedom to be able to set tasks for students to complete at home so as to be able to free up the all-important classroom time for more productive activities. In a perfect world, it is a concept custom-made for increased productivity, heightened learning, and success. At the time when I first decided to implement it into my classes, some of my more experienced, and maybe less enthusiastic, skeptical peers scoffed at my enthusiasm to employ this principle, especially for primary and secondary students, but, I felt that it would not only work but increase the level of enthusiasm of my students by tapping into their literally endless supply of inquisitiveness and creativity.
In a nutshell, the Flipped Classroom is a type of blended learning where the traditional learning environment is reversed by providing the student's instructions and content, quite often online, which they complete outside of the classroom. In a Flipped Classroom, students watch videos and lectures, form online discussion groups/sessions, or carry out research or projects at home while engaging in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of their teacher.
The concept of the Flipped Classroom, when evaluated for its basic principles and objectives, should, for all intents and purposes, be raved about as being a logical and natural staple of the modern educational system. The notion of being able to better utilize the time in the classroom through the implementation of a program that includes a foundation of home-based study and preparation is a win-win situation in any teacher's mind, at least it is on paper. But, when we move from concept to reality, unfortunately, the hearts of many teachers have been broken?
As I stated initially, this article is based upon my own personal experiences as a language department coordinator and teacher in a highly respected private school, and as an advanced level English teacher in a large Bi-National language institute where in both cases, I based a large percentage of my classes upon project-based learning that leaned rather heavily upon the principles of the Flipped Classroom. From my perspective, the two approaches should have gone together hand in hand, a guaranteed success, but, as in many things in life, my expectations never actually met my reality.
One thing that is evident about the concept of the Flipped Classroom is that whilst the general approach is basic, the personal experiences of myself, and many other teachers that I have spoken to has shown that it is not always as simple as it would appear and often presents situations that prevent teachers from being able to follow through with their original plans or schedules.
One of the biggest hurdles that the Flipped Classroom concept has to overcome is the fact that in many cases, once students are out of the classroom environment, and the structured discipline that accompanies it, then in a certain percentage of cases, they don’t complete the home-based components set for them by their teachers, a situation that often causes negative consequences for the teachers, and the plans that they have set in place.
Many times I had developed a schedule for the preparation and delivery of the activity, and when it came to the actual day for the classroom activity, there was always a certain percentage of students, who in their minds, had the perfect excuse as to why they had been unable to complete, or in some cases, even start, their preparation activity. The consequences of this were that these students either failed the activity or, my original plans and schedules had to be altered resulting in the presentations of the late students having to be conducted on a day when other activities had been scheduled.
A classic example of this is when a video forms the home-based component of an activity. You share a link with the students, give them a reasonable amount of time to watch it, and then, on the day when the classroom activity is to be done, a certain percentage of the students inform you that they never watched it and proceed to present you with a list of various excuses as to why they couldn’t. Therefore, as a consequence, to ensure that all of the students have the same opportunities, your only option is to either reschedule the activity for another day or, to play the video in class and then complete the activity, an option that totally eliminates the benefits of the Flipped Classroom. Even though this can prove to be frustrating for teachers, I believe that we should never fail students for non-compliance. In my opinion, that is both poor teachings and it displays a bad attitude towards students. We must always remember that even though they are our students, they are also our clients, and they or their parents pay for our services, be it privately, or through their taxes, and for this reason, they deserve our dedication, understanding, and flexibility to ensure their success.
Of course, the Flipped Classroom involves far more than just watching a video or reading a chapter in a book, for many programs it includes the inclusión of online activities such as the use of platforms, the creation of blogs or youtube videos, etc, but, no matter what the activity, one thing that is always a constant for many teachers is that there is invariable a certain percentage of students who just don't complete the activity, a fact that necessitates changes to the teacher's original plans and expectations.
Personally, I have never lost my love for the concept of the Flipped Classroom, nor did I lose my humor when my students would present their reasons, each of which was valid in their minds, for their failure to comply, and I would always work around the problem in order to find a suitable solution. Something that always came into my head was the fact that in the school where I was the coordinator, I was dealing with kids, and when you put the words CHILDREN and COMPLIANCE together, you achieved nothing more than a creative oxymoron. On the other hand, in the Bi-National Center where I was teaching, a great percentage of the students were studying at university, and when they were unable to complete their home-based activities, I always had to remember that whilst English is an important subject for their futures, that their reality was today and my students had no choice but to give priority to their university studies. From the perspective of percentages, an average of 8% of my school students and 12% of the bi-national center students never completed their activities by the due date, a percentage that even though relatively low, was enough to cause stress and re-scheduling issues.
Suggestions on how to successfully Flip your classroom
Generally speaking, your students have most likely spent the majority of their school years learning in a traditional classroom. Suddenly Flipping your classroom without a clear set of expectations might set back your student’s success or cause you to give up and return to traditional classroom methods. Avoid the pitfalls by taking the time to plan and prepare before the big day and by applying these helpful suggestions.
1. Sell the idea of the Flipped activity as enthusiastically as possible to your students.
Change can be difficult for students to handle sometimes, especially if it is way outside of the norm. It’s imperative for the teacher to demonstrate a positive attitude, and to show that they are feeling motivated and enthusiastic about the activity. Start the planning process with a meeting, get the students to help with the planning as they will be far more enthusiastic about the activity if they feel that they have an input into it. Regularly follow up with the students to see if they have any problems that may cause issues so as to ensure their success.
2. Passive participation.
Because the Flipped Classroom is based upon the principles of a student-centered classroom, the teacher must primarily step back and observe, support, and guide rather than direct everything that happens, step by step as in a traditional classroom setting. Stand back, watch, evaluate and make tweaks where necessary. Let the students set the pace of the activity and create an environment where students are able to learn from each other.
3. The Internet
If the home-based component requires the use of the internet, and even just one student can’t access the selected materials due to the fact that that they may not have access to the internet, then the class will fail. If any of the students don’t have the Internet in their home, try to find an out-of-school solution such as an internet café in order to maintain the home-based principles of the activity. Finally, if you are unable to come up with an alternative, then allow them time to view the material online whilst they are at the institution. Remember, for the activity to be a success, every student must complete the activity.
4. Give students a reason to be prepared
In a Flipped Classroom, it’s essential that students walk into class already fully aware of, and prepared for the day’s activities. To help guarantee that every student does their “homework” every time, and on time, give them some form of an incentive. First of all, keep your home-based activities short, for example; videos should be no longer than 8 to 10 minutes. In addition, prepare games or challenges that will motivate your students to want to enthusiastically participate. By establishing a classroom environment where both general activities and assessments allow students to participate in, and be challenged by creative activities such as games, then students will turn up to class every day totally motivated and raring to go.
5. Schedule dates.
It’s not wise to spring a surprise on your students with a sudden Flipped Classroom activity. Program it at least a month in advance so that you and your students have ample time and opportunity to prepare for it correctly. Also, set a firm, but achievable date for the follow-up classroom activity as well as a secondary, final cut-off date after which students will be exempt from receiving points if they fail to present their activity on time. Planning for a secondary cut of date will help with scheduling by predicting problems in advance rather than facing them unprepared.
Well, I hope that you found this article of interest and that you consider the concept of the Flipped Classroom an interesting alternative to the traditional model. Believe me, when planned correctly, and when the students participate enthusiastically, it will present you with excellent results.
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I found that the problem with the flipped classroom is that other teachers were enchanted with the idea as well, so the total amount of screen time the students were expected invest over all was unreasonable.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I commend your efforts to make the flipped classroom work I think you approach needs to be looked at. Firstly, you are still trying to use a teacher centric approach where the individual teacher sets out with a plan for the material to be watched at home. Then to be followed up with planned practical activities carried out in the classroom. There is a flaw in this, ‘Governance’. As you have mentioned in your article ‘Passive Participation’ is a problem, what happens if the students don’t do the home activity and the first you learn of it is in the morning of class? You class can be completely undermined. Secondly ‘home activities’, why do you assume children should be doing anything at home? There is dogma that somehow homework is good and necessary, why? We live now in the 21st century in the age of Technology and access via the internet to almost the entire body of human knowledge, yet we still cling to the notion that children need to complete additional work at home after school. Why? If this was a job and you boss found out that you were still working at home after office hours to complete your work, I think you would be out of a job soon. Basically, this tradition is not fit for purpose and should be abandoned. The flipped classroom will only work if you apply a Technology based management system that monitors the students activities, participation and progress and finally perhaps more importantly some fundamental changes to entrenched teaching traditions. The challenge is not just to flip the classroom but the flip the Teaching profession on its head and start again.
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