Flipping the class is much deeper than portrayed here. I want to invite you to read some of my recent writing on the philosophy of a truly flipped classroom:
Redesigning Learning in a Flipped Classroom http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/redesigning-learning-in-a-flipped-classroom/
Moving the Flipped Class http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/moving-the-flipped-class/
Flipped Classroom Point http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/flipped-classroom-point/
1. Are you being paid, and given the time/training/software/hardware, to create and edit the videos and virtual classrooms? And to handle the online interactions that spin off from these?
2. Who owns the rights to the videos you create? Can the college re-package them as a virtual course, and not pay you anything? Or worse, just do away with you as a teacher altogether?
3. Can you really create compelling content that can compete with all the other stimulating media the student will consume after school?
4. If you provide videos and podcasts of the lectures, will students simply stop coming the classes (they'll assume they can just "get it later" on the video)? This will mean the teacher will be talking to an empty classroom or lecture theater.
I'd like to comment on my cartoon, of which Brian Bennett appropriately said "Flipping the class is much deeper than portrayed here." He is absolutely correct. I just read the article he and Aaron Sams have in eSchool News today (http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/05/31/the-truth-about-flipped-learning/) which addresses many of the popular notions about flipping the classroom, including those I have in my cartoon. An appropriately flipped classroom can in fact greatly improve student achievement. My point in the cartoon was to try to highlight the caveats Richard Byrne mentioned in his blog post (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/04/three-questions-to-consider-before-we.html) which I believe are important to consider prior to flipping. The popular media always simplifies things, as they have with the ideology of flipped classrooms. It is much more complex than that. It seems to me flipping requires a great deal of work to be done correctly, and if one is not going to do the work, then flipping will not succeed. When I was in school, as well as when i was teaching, many assignments involved readings for homework with discussion the next day in class. An early form of flipping, consistent with the ideology. In a school in which I consult many teachers have students begin the day with 30 to 45 minutes of silent reading; one could argue that time would be better spent interacting with the teacher and each other rather than doing something they could do at home. Truth is, though, many of the students would probably not do it at home, so in class is the time when they can hopefully learn to love reading (they choose their own material, and most of the teachers read as well). So, although I believe the points I was trying to make are important and valid, I did simplify the issue in a way that might have been somewhat misleading.
Flipping the class is much deeper than portrayed here. I want to invite you to read some of my recent writing on the philosophy of a truly flipped classroom:
ReplyDeleteRedesigning Learning in a Flipped Classroom
http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/redesigning-learning-in-a-flipped-classroom/
Moving the Flipped Class
http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/moving-the-flipped-class/
Flipped Classroom Point
http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/flipped-classroom-point/
Other questions to consider:
ReplyDelete1. Are you being paid, and given the time/training/software/hardware, to create and edit the videos and virtual classrooms? And to handle the online interactions that spin off from these?
2. Who owns the rights to the videos you create? Can the college re-package them as a virtual course, and not pay you anything? Or worse, just do away with you as a teacher altogether?
3. Can you really create compelling content that can compete with all the other stimulating media the student will consume after school?
4. If you provide videos and podcasts of the lectures, will students simply stop coming the classes (they'll assume they can just "get it later" on the video)? This will mean the teacher will be talking to an empty classroom or lecture theater.
I'd like to comment on my cartoon, of which Brian Bennett appropriately said "Flipping the class is much deeper than portrayed here." He is absolutely correct. I just read the article he and Aaron Sams have in eSchool News today (http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/05/31/the-truth-about-flipped-learning/) which addresses many of the popular notions about flipping the classroom, including those I have in my cartoon.
ReplyDeleteAn appropriately flipped classroom can in fact greatly improve student achievement. My point in the cartoon was to try to highlight the caveats Richard Byrne mentioned in his blog post (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/04/three-questions-to-consider-before-we.html) which I believe are important to consider prior to flipping.
The popular media always simplifies things, as they have with the ideology of flipped classrooms. It is much more complex than that. It seems to me flipping requires a great deal of work to be done correctly, and if one is not going to do the work, then flipping will not succeed. When I was in school, as well as when i was teaching, many assignments involved readings for homework with discussion the next day in class. An early form of flipping, consistent with the ideology. In a school in which I consult many teachers have students begin the day with 30 to 45 minutes of silent reading; one could argue that time would be better spent interacting with the teacher and each other rather than doing something they could do at home. Truth is, though, many of the students would probably not do it at home, so in class is the time when they can hopefully learn to love reading (they choose their own material, and most of the teachers read as well).
So, although I believe the points I was trying to make are important and valid, I did simplify the issue in a way that might have been somewhat misleading.