2014-01 Ahangama Badalge Terence

Instructions

Your personal page serves at least three purposes. It is a place for you to:

1. take notes

2. enable your flipped presentation

3. submit your individual assignment

Use the rough scaffold below as a guide. You may add headers and content, but not remove any.

Part A: Imagine that you are submitting a Wikipedia article on the flipped classroom. Draft your article here. Bear in mind that your writing will be public and subject to scrutiny and critique. What would you write to educate others like your school principal and colleagues about the flipped classroom.

Part B and C: You are a manager of other teachers, Suggest a plan for a group of teachers to flip their classrooms. Prepare a flipped presentation in Part C to get formative feedback on your plans.

Refrain from uploading presentation or other files to this space. Instead, host your files in the cloud and embed them in your page. For help on how to do this, refer to the iTunes U courses provided by CeL in the Resources section or search Google or YouTube.

Name: A. B. Terence

School: Chestnut Drive Secondary School

Role: HOD/Science

Part A: Article on Flipped Classrooms

What is a Flipped Classroom?

“Flipping the classroom” is a pedagogical concept that replaces the standard lecture-in-class format with an opportunity to explore concepts and to review materials from outside of class. This can happen in many forms, but the underlying premise is that students review information outside of class and, instead of simply receiving information from the instructor, come prepared to discuss concepts. [1]

What the flipped classroom is/is not...

Implementing the Flipped Classroom:

1. Communication & Buy-in

Teachers:

1. Show results and benefits of flipped classrooms that have been published

2. Share testimonials from teachers and students who have benefited from flipped classrooms

3. Starting on a small scale

4. Assure teachers that support is provided in terms of professional development and resources

5. Show teachers the rich resources already available eg. Youtube, Khan Academy

6. Assure teachers that it will not be an additional burden on their time but weaved into the professional development (PD) plans and professional learning teams (PLT) time

7. Explain to teachers that benefits are twofold:

   • Better Student Outcomes

   • Teachers' Professional Development

Students:

1. Explain to students the concept of the flipped classroom early

2. Address any concerns they may have

Parents:

1. Inform parents of the flipped classroom approach

2. Share with them the positive outcomes of the approach

3. Assure them that students will be provided with support and resources

Designing and Developing

1. Identify the learning goals

2. Identify the specific knowledge & skills sets the students must gain at the end of the course

3. Identify the students' gaps and needs

4. Identify the activities that will help students to develop sound conceptual understanding, practice higher order thinking skills and gain the required skill sets

5. Identify the time needed for the lesson series

6. Identify the components that can be delivered online & those that will be done during face-to-face time

7. Identify the rules for & responsibilities expected of students

8. Identify the resources required to design the lesson series & evaluation process

9. Identify the curriculum design knowledge & types of pedagogy that will support effective learning

10. Identify the IT skills and knowledge that will be required

11. Plan for any training needed by teachers & students

12. Identify any other types of resources that may be needed

Evaluation

1. Evaluation of Student Learning

1. The teacher can evaluate the learning process by use a checklist to take note of the level and depth of learning in class during discussions or other activities designed to help students achieve the learning outcomes.

2. The teacher can evaluate the different products produced by students during the course of the lesson series to help students develop a good understanding of the lesson concepts.

3. The teacher can also use the tests, quizzes, assessments as a gauge to evaluate student understanding.

2. Evaluation of Flipped Classroom Structure

1. Feedback from students directly through surveys, focus group discussions and general conversations.

2. Feedback can be gained by evaluating the learning process as well as tracking students' results as a proxy indicator.

3. Feedback can be gained through students’ blogs or reflections.

4. Feedback can also be sought from other stakeholders like teachers and parents.

5. Students can rate their resources online as an indicator of their usefulness and relevance to the learning goals.

Overall, a combinations of the possible data gathering points listed above will help to give a more holistic picture of the flipped classroom design. It is important to identify at the start of the implementation what the main learning outcomes and success criteria are to gauge the effectiveness of the course.

Managing Flipped Classroom

1. Planning plays a very important role in managing flipped classrooms as it help to manage expectations and minimise disruptions.

2. Adequate time should be allocated to provide guidance and support for both teachers and students.

3. Clear rules and responsibilities should be given to students to minimise disruptions.

4. Contingency plans should be discussed in preparation for any disruptions.

5. Pilot it initially at a small scale so there is opportunity to learn through the process.

6. Might consider having two teachers in the classroom initially as lessons become more activity based rather than lecture –based content delivery.

Flipped Classroom Issues and Solutions

Professional Development for Instructors

Professional development for teachers is important to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct Flipped Classrooms with confidence.

With a more hands-on problem-based approach, teachers must be equipped with good facilitation skills and learn how to manage groups of students carrying out various activities effectively.

Teachers may need to learn how to craft effective activities which allow students to work collaboratively, develop deeper understanding of concepts, stretch them to engage in higher order cognitive processing like application, analysis, evaluation and synthesis as well as develop different manipulative skill sets and 21st century competencies.

Teachers may also need info-communication technology skills and knowledge to create online resources as well as fully tap on the affordances of various ICT platforms.

Paradigm Shift

Both teachers and students will need time to make the transition from the traditional classroom approach to the flipped classroom.

The students role will have to change from passively imbibing information in the classroom to taking responsibility of their own learning.

The teachers role will have to change from delivering content matter in class to facilitating discussions and collaborative group activities. The teachers also must develop skills to evaluate learning as a process as well rather than just from marking students' submissions.

Teachers must also learn to develop effective learning resources for independent student study as part of the flipped component. Teachers may have to adapt their teaching styles and/or learn new ones which better suit the flipped classroom approach.

Students do not review the online content prior to the lesson:

Possible strategies to address this issue:

Arrange for in-class quizzes, discussions or small group breakout sessions where each student has to lead in a particular component of the lesson. This will place the responsibility on students to prepare before coming into the lesson. These activities can also contribute to part of their grades as a formative assessment component

Extend the home-based learning component by having students write a blog post on what they have learnt and pose any questions that they may have. The teacher can then use those entries and questions for face-to-face discussions so students will be more invested in the discussion

Supplement the online content with recording of discussions or activities in class where instructors or students provide clarifications to doubts or misconcepts. These can serve as very useful tools to review past issues or clarify doubts again if needed.

Students who do not have internet access.

The online content can be provided to the on CDs or they can copy using their thumb drives.

Those without computing devices can even possibly use their smartphones. They can download the content through free wireless school access.

References:

[1] http://www.itslearning.net/flipped-classroom

[2] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704101604576248713420747884?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052748704101604576248713420747884.html

Part B: Flipped Classrooms in My Context

Outline a plan for mobilizing a group teachers who will flip their classrooms. You might:

Context:

As flipping is a new approach to be tried at the school, will try it as a pilot initially to:

• Identify any possible gaps between planning and execution

• Focus on two topics in Biology, which is content heavy subject

• Learn how to design effective resources for the home-based and classroom-based activities

• Target the pilot at the sec 3 level across both the express and normal academic streams

• Small team of 3 teachers

• Empower the teachers while relying on each other’s strengths

• HOD Sc to provide leadership, vision and serve in a monitoring role

Planning:

• Devise a detailed plan with sufficient time allocated for the various stages of planning and execution

• Devise a clear communication plan for articulating to all stakeholders

• Apportion appropriate resources to ensure any professional development needs are catered for

• Have adequate evaluative processes inbuilt to gauge the efficacy of both the home-based and class-based activities as well as the products of learning

• Arrange for a workable timeline that allows sufficient time for good planning, execution and evaluation so that the approach may be expanded in the following year

Part C: Flipped Presentation

Please click on the url below. Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/ntw8pz5