Flipping the Classroom

What exactly is flipping the classroom?

This is a question that I had when I first encountered the term in my PIDP course. Since I love mixing it up when it comes to how we deliver adult education, I knew I needed to know more. I mean, it’s called FLIPPING the classroom, so I knew it had to be good.

“Flipping the classroom is a ‘pedagogy-first’ approach to teaching. In this approach in-class time is ‘re-purposed’ for inquiry, application, and assessment in order to better meet the needs of individual learners. Students gain control of the learning process through studying course material outside of class, using readings, pre-recorded video lectures… or research assignments. During class time, instructors facilitate the learning process by helping students work through course material individually and in groups.” (University of Washington)

Basically, a flipped classroom is one where the lecture portion of your lesson is done by the student, outside of class time, and the homework portion is what is then done in class.

A flipped classroom gives the student the power to engage in information in their own time and environment, and when they get to class we discuss the core concepts behind the lesson and engage in activities that promote thinking and problem solving. This allows the teacher to take on the role of facilitator and allows for deeper discussion on a subject, something that I think gets lost when you only have time in a lecture to introduce a concept. I love the idea that the student comes with a base understanding and the teacher engages with the learners to start the conversation or activity. I believe that deeper understanding would come out of this, and that the learner would feel more in control of their education.

This all has made me think back to a situation I encountered when presenting a treatment protocol and demonstrating the protocol in one of my classes two years ago. I had a student that really struggled with English comprehension. She asked if instead of following the written protocol, could she record the demonstration on her tablet and use that recording as a tool when she then did the hands on practice portion of the protocol. I allowed her to and it really helped her. Then everyone in her class started doing it. One would record, and then share the video with the class. It made me realize how visual my students are, and made me rethink using written protocols. I had the idea at the time that I would like to create a video series for my students, but found barriers to doing that, so I simply allowed them to keep recording me.

I was not aware of the term flipping the classroom back then, but in hindsight, that is what was happening. My student was telling me what she needed as an adult learner, and I went along with it to help her, not realizing that we were embarking on something much bigger. My student flipped the classroom on me and it was an amazing thing.

I cannot talk about flipping the classroom without mentioning Jon Bergmann, one of the pioneers of this method. He has a great website that is all about simplifying flipped learning. If you are thinking what I thought back when I wanted to create my video series, and that is about funding, you need to watch this video by Classroom Closeup featuring Jon Bergmann. It explains how to create a flipped environment without a big budget. Turns out there are a lot of teachers out there that are simply using what they have (think smart phone) to create video lessons for their students.

We have talked about what flipped learning is and how to easily flip your own classroom, but what then happens activity-wise in class? Well, that is going to depend on what you are teaching. There are many references on the internet to what other educators are doing. Because I am at a vocational college, where students need to be prepared for real life scenarios, I like to use case studies as much as possible. If I have a large group I break them into pairs to work on the case study together. If it is a small group, I have them do it independently. They have to share their findings with the class, and we then discuss those findings as a class. This allows for free thinking, creativity, and application of knowledge. And what teacher doesn’t yearn for that???

What are your thoughts on flipped learning? Are you already using this method? Leave me a comment.

–Audrey

This post was created as part of the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College. You can access their website here. To access the School of Instructor Education Facebook page click here.