Learning in the Flipped Classroom

This course uses a “Flipped Classroom” approach to learning. Some of you have had previous exposure to this teaching/learning technique in high school or in other college courses. For some of you, this is totally new territory!

So, what is the "Flipped Learning" anyway?

Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which the conventional notion of classroom-based learning is inverted so that students are introduced to the learning material before class, with classroom time then being used to deepen understanding through discussion with peers and to tackle problem-solving activities facilitated by teachers.

Let me begin with a personal story:

I was at a family gathering and my cousin was complaining about how her then ten-year-old son had a course being taught using a new approach. She told me that Luke's teacher asked him to review videos and readings at home and then come to class with some notes, prepared to complete activities and talk about what he'd learned. My cousin was horrified by this non-traditional approach to education. Where were the workbooks? Where were the projects? With her older child, she'd stayed up for hours working on assignments that proved her daughter had learned something at school. As a mother of seven, I was incredulous.

"Wait a second," I interjected, "You WANT to do homework with your child every night? You're objecting to your kid doing a little reasonable self-teaching by watching a video on his iPad and reading a bit, jotting a few thoughts down?

In our house, homework time is a virtual battle royal. I still dread the thought of arriving home after a long day at work to find a pile of dittos or worse, a project or book report waiting for me. With kids of varying ages and needs, I'd find myself pulled this way and that, teaching and checking and (I admit it) doing their homework. None of us got much out of the experience. I got high blood pressure and my kids frequently broke down in exhausted tears. The flipped classroom model my cousin so objected to sounded like a much more reasonable, child-centered activity.

Hands-on her hips, she defended her position, "Well, it's like the teacher isn't doing the teaching."

I turned to my cousin's son, "Luke, what do you do in your classroom?"

"Usually activities about what we learned, play games about the subject, talk about the subject."

"What's the teacher doing?" I asked.

"We work in groups a lot and she comes around and explains things. After we present our work, she tells us more about the subject."

"Does she correct you when you misunderstand?"

"Yeah. Sometimes she pulls up parts of the video on the smartboard or makes us take out our readings and look at the parts we didn't get and think about them again."

"So, it's like you're learning together and helping one another figure things out and she's just giving you a little push along."

"Sometimes. When we're really stuck, she gives us lots more help though."

My cousin's son had won my argument for me about the possible benefits of a flipped classroom, but I wanted to hammer home my point. "Do you find your classroom boring?"

"No, it's much less boring than last year because we get to talk to one another and move around and think most of the time instead of just listening."

Luke's assessment is exactly one of the reasons why I choose a Flipped Classroom Model to teach my courses. I like to think of myself as a facilitator of knowledge rather than a lecturer. I'd rather hear you guys talk than myself. This student-centered approach makes learning active and engaging and mirrors what real inquiry into subjects is all about. Flipped Classrooms teach students to be self-learners so that they can be life-long learners outside of the traditional schoolroom.

I use the Flipped Classroom Model is because I love online learning. I love building and teaching unique and enjoyable online courses for my students and the Flipped Classroom Model is the primary way information is delivered in online learning. As someone who always worked and had children young in life, it was so hard just getting to the traditional classroom, never mind coming prepared with tons of assignments! Learning online opened so many doors for me and I'm pleased to see SJU offering lots of wonderful online learning opportunities. I want my students in face-to-face classrooms to be prepared to embrace these opportunities, knowing that familiarity with this learning approach lends itself to success. I'd also add that many higher-level and graduate classes approach learning in a similar way, so familiarizing yourself with this approach will contribute to your success in more than one forum. Finally, Flipped Classrooms aren't lecture-based. If you're one of the millions of students who've found themselves bored to death in a lecture hall, maybe this format is for you.

Modern schools that flipped their classrooms report many benefits:

1. It allows all students to learn at their own pace as videos can be watched again.

2. It's more efficient, as students enter the classroom prepared to contribute.

3. It enriches the lesson as more time can be spent on group work and projects.

4. Doing homework in class allows students to help each other, which benefits both the advanced and less advanced learners.

Read the article "Flipping the Classroom" by Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University