Instructions
Your personal page serves at least three purposes. It is a place for you to:
take notes
enable your flipped presentation
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.
Use of m.socrative.com
comics
screen-omatic
Powtoon
toondoo
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: Ng Bee Lian Jacquelynn Khuan
School: Catholic High School
Role: Math HOD
Part A: Article on Flipped Classrooms
1. Definition and origins of the "flipped classroom"
The word ‘flipped’ means inverted. A ‘flipped’ classroom means taking the conventional way of classroom learning and inverting the learning. Instead of having the teacher to deliver the content in class and students doing homework at home, the first exposure to content happens before class time. Students watched the content in the form of digital media and prepare for the discussion and work that will happen in class. Students engage in meaningful interaction amongst peers and with the teacher to provide feedback on the subject matter.
The idea of a ‘flipped classroom’ started when Science teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams wanted to record their lectures for students who could not make it to their lessons. When the idea received positive response from the students, they decided to flip for all their lessons.
2. What the flipped classroom is/is not
A flipped classroom is about teachers creating videos and resources to suit students’ learning needs. It is not about students using videos and technology but using them when and where appropriate for their learning. It is not about increasing curriculum time but increasing student engagement and optimizing learning in meaningful activities that takes place at own pace and own place. What happens in class now is no longer sit down lectures but students communicate actively amongst each other and making meaning out of the interaction. It is not a one size fits all teaching and definitely not top down. It is a tool to increase students’ learning and it is driven by teachers because they believe in it. It is not easy as the role of the teacher becomes even more important as the teacher gets every opportunity to work with every student in class all day. Most importantly, it is not a replacement of the teacher.
3. Designing, developing, evaluating, and managing flipped classrooms
Designing : Decide on the topic and the learning outcome of the lesson. Start with how learners learn and structure the learning according to the needs of the learners bearing in mind the learning outcomes. Decide on available resources that best suits yours and your students' needs. If available resources are not suitable, create your own. Use screen casting resources available to capture what the learners need to view before they come to class.
Developing : Instructions on what the students need to do must be clear. Provide opportunities for students to feedback on the process to make it better.
Evaluating : Evaluations can be in the form of short quizzes and post its and any platform that allows students to view the posts of other students in class. Interactions between students and between teacher and students in class can also be be used as a form of evaluation on how the students have progressed. Students can also create translate their learning into videos and the teacher can evaluate what they have learnt through the videos.
Managing : For a start, the teacher might take more time in preparing the online resources for students but once those are established, the resources can be used for years and managing ti become easier. There are more interactions between the teacher and students and among students themselves in class so the teacher must be prepared to stay active throughout the class time. A support group for teachers would be beneficial to assist the teacher if he/she meets with any problems in managing the flipped classroom.
4. Flipped classroom issues and solutions flipped classrooms
Flipped classroom issues are related to the various stakeholders involved directly and indirectly in this unconventional learning setting. The various stakeholders are students, parents, teachers and school leaders.
Issues related to students include:
1. Students who do not have access to the use of internet at home would not be able to view the content before class.
2. Students who have internet access do not take responsibility to watch the content and discussion in class would not be fruitful.
3. Viewing the content before class would take up some of the students' time at home and some are reluctant to do it.
4. Students who are not IT savvy would have problems trying to figure out the "What" and the "How".
Some possible solutions :
Creating buy-ins from students is important. Teachers need to go through expectations with students and give opportunities to students to voice out their concerns. Compare the conventional way of classroom teaching with flipped classrooms and get students to sieve out the benefits of flipping classrooms. Believing in the benefits would motivate students to prepare for lessons before class. For a start, teachers can provide guidance to students who are not so IT savvy by preparing step by step resources to guide these students. For students who have not watched the content before coming to class, teachers can allow them to do so at a corner of a room before joining the rest of the class for activities.
Issues related to parents include:
1. Parents are concerned about students always staying online and watching resources.
2. Parents would try to relate the form of learning to the kind of assessments students would take and if the learning would translate to positive academic results.
Some possible solutions :
Communicate with parents on the benefits of flipped classrooms and provide samples of what their children have done to show them how engaged their children are in flipped classrooms. Make the methodology transparent to parents. Allow parents access to view the online resources provided by teachers so they have a better understanding of what their children are watching online.Provide constant feedback to parents on their children's learning and development and emphasize to parents that the development of other areas of the child is just as important.
Issues related to teachers include:
1. Teachers' readiness to implement flipped classroom is also an issue. As flipping classrooms would require the use of videos and digital resources, teachers'inadequacy in handling these IT and digital equipment would deter them from considering flipping classrooms.
2. Teachers are held accountable when it comes to students' results therefore teachers are reluctant to move away from conventional way of teaching and paper and pen assessments.
Some possible solutions :
Involve key personnel and teachers who would be able to provide IT support to the teachers. Form support groups for flipped classrooms to support each other in terms of resources, troubleshooting and ideas. Teachers who have flipped can share their experiences with other teachers who have the intention to flip but are hesitant. Teachers need to learn to accept criticisms as part of learning to improve flipping classrooms.
Issues related to school leaders include:
1. School leaders are not receptive to the idea of flipped classrooms.
2. Concerned about Cyberwellness issues.
3. Impact on school's reputation if anything goes wrong in the process.
Some possible solutions :
1. Give teachers some autonomy in making decisions related to curriculum.
2. Get school leaders to participate in flipped classroom during staff meetings to try it out.
3. Get school leaders to sit in to observe your lesson and provide feedback to the flipped classroom. When school leaders see that students are engaged in the learning, they will be more receptive to the idea of flipping classrooms.
Some of the IT tools that can be used in flipped classrooms
Screencastomatic
Powtoon
Toondoo
Doceri
5. References
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjUtSvGvB-0
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcDL1A0Oc4&list=PLB632EC24182B4D40
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhSP0kgHRJ4
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjUtSvGvB-0
Part B: Flipped Classrooms in My Context
Outline a plan for mobilizing a group teachers who will flip their classrooms. You might:
Describe your context (what levels, what content areas, how many teachers, etc.)
Devise plans for communication, buy-in, professional development, evaluation, etc.
Provide a timeline
Context :
Content area : Mathematics
Level : P4 Preferably but anyone can come on board
Number of teachers : 6
Profile of teachers : 1 to 3 years of service (3 trs)
More than 10 yrs of service (3 trs)
5 out of 6 Math teachers in the P4 level are Math Committee teachers
Plan
2014 May
Establishing Math Flip Support before the MLS ends.
It is important to find strength in managing flip classrooms with the other HODs. Form a support group so we can assist one another in areas we have trouble in.
Creating buy-ins from School Leaders
Do a mini flip with my Principal. Get him to watch a video and arrange a meeting to discuss the matter. Send the link via watsapp instead of email because he does not read emails. My Principal is open to suggestions to improve learning in class. He would be more receptive if I try out in P1 to P4 classes.
2014 June-
Creating buy-ins from Math Committee teachers, with that it catch on with the other Math teachers
Before Committee meeting in June, send a video link via watsapp to all the members and include questions for discussions. Find out the readiness level of the teachers by giving them an opportunity to voice out what they know and what they think they know and concerns of the teachers. Discuss scenarios where it will fail and possible solutions to overcoming them. We may not try out for every lesson yet, it will be a small scale experience. Start out with one for every topic first for each of their classes P1 to P4. As my IT HOD has also attended the same module on Flipped Classrooms, we will work together to provide support to the teachers in terms of tools and implementation. Set up a support group for teachers who are keen to try out.
2014 July-October
I will have to try out myself first and invite them to my classroom for lessons. Get the teachers to participate in the lesson too and give feedback as what the pupils will do. We will try out for each other's lesson and give honest feedback. Support each other by giving acknowledgements and encouragements to one another.
2014 November
Get teachers who have tried flipping to share their experiences during the staff retreat. Teachers plan for a level of flipping in 2015.
Part C: Flipped Presentation
Embed your presentation for Part B here. You may include notes in a shared Google Doc if you wish.
Your peers will view this presentation before the last session and provide formative feedback.