Think back to when you were in school. You likely spent hours sitting in a classroom staring at a whiteboard (or chalkboard) listening to a teacher talk, then went home to spend a few more hours on homework. It wasn’t very exciting. And it wasn’t very effective, either. Thankfully, that lack of effectiveness has been the catalyst for change—meet the flipped classroom.
What is a flipped classroom? The flipped classroom is a blended learning model in which traditional ideas about classroom activities and homework are reversed, or "flipped."
In this model, instructors have students interact with new material for homework first. They then use class time to discuss the new information and put those ideas into practice. We’ll go over the benefits of flipped classrooms and how best to transition to this new learning style.
Benefits of a flipped classroom model
Interactive learning
In a flipped classroom, lectures and material are available online. That means being able to easily bookmark passages, send questions to the teacher before the next class, and watch related videos. This interactive component allows for a much richer pedagogy that can target all learning styles.
Teacher/student interaction and interaction with peers
A flipped classroom is highly collaborative, which means students are encouraged to spend their time working either directly with the teacher or in small groups. In addition to helping students absorb and understand the material better, this interaction also helps students develop interpersonal skills as they learn.
Actively engaged students instead of passive listeners
No more sitting in the chair, zoning out, or texting beneath the desk. A flipped classroom encourages students to become leaders and self advocates. Students sit in either small groups or meet with the teacher individually, so they’re not given the choice to be distant observers. This makes learning personal and much more compelling than sitting there trying to passively absorb material.
Student-led pace
The biggest issue with traditional classroom instruction is that the entire class is necessarily forced to move at the same pace. Some students will end up bored while others won’t have enough time to complete their work. When the instruction is primarily self-guided at home, students can take as much time or as little time as they wish with the lecture.
More attention from students
If your lecture needs to compete with the latest Kpop controversy, it won’t stand a chance.
The great thing about a flipped classroom is that it doesn’t require the same amount of attention as sitting in a chair and listening to a lecture. A student can begin listening to the lesson at home, pause for a walk or to play a game, then resume whenever they feel like it. The next day at school, the student can take a hands-on approach to the material. Instead of working against diminishing attention spans, the flipped classroom approach works with attention spans.
Time to process and reflect on new information
If you’ve ever come up with a really great comeback the day after a fight, you know that the human brain sometimes requires time to process information. You’ve also probably noticed that, often, after hearing new information and being asked if you have any questions, you don’t have any questions...until a few hours later.
The problem with a traditional teaching model is that it doesn’t allow for students to process the information they’ve been given and then ask clarifying questions. By the time they’ve absorbed the information, it’s on to the next lesson.
In a flipped classroom, students can think about the information for a while and come to class prepared to ask clarifying questions.
Videos and content created for outside lecture time can be reused year-to-year
This means potentially much less work on the teacher. It also helps fight classroom fatigue to help keep teachers excited and engaged with the material instead of repeating lessons by rote.
How to flip a classroom
Determine your technology
A flipped classroom relies heavily on technology. You’ll need to figure out a platform that allows for student/teacher collaboration, video hosting, and question gathering. First, list out what you’d like your dream platform to do, then find a solution to match it.
Lucidspark is a virtual whiteboard where students and teachers can collaborate (in real-time or asynchronously) to build mind maps and concept maps, brainstorm as a group, and swap ideas.
