Here's What I Can Tell You About the Flipped Classroom

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of district requests and roadshows for The Eighth Floor.  I think roadshows are my favorite.  On roadshows, we go out to visit schools during faculty meetings, all school meetings, etc.  We roll into the auditorium (gym, classroom – wherever the meeting is) tell everyone how awesome we are, give them a coveted Eighth Floor notepad, answer a few questions, sign a few autographs, throw the microphone on the floor, and peace out!  We just leave the fog machines on.

Okay, Okay.  It’s not quite like that, but they are fun.  Roadshows are a great way for us to meet ALL the teachers at the school and invite them to take classes.  It is also an opportunity to test the waters, take the temperature, run ideas up the flagpole, you get the idea.

One of our new classes this fall is The Flipped Classroom.  Each time this summer I have asked if folks were familiar with the idea of a flipped classroom, I was a little surprised by the lack of familiarity.  Good thing we are having a class, right!

Here’s what I can tell you about The Flipped Classroom:

• The flipped classroom is not about teaching something new so much as it is about just doing the same thing another way.
• Many teachers take what is traditionally done in the classroom and flip that with what is traditionally assigned as homework. Other approaches are to move classroom discussion online and do more hands-on work face-to-face.
• Everything I have read so far shows improvement in student learning.  (I know – that’s why I said everything I read.)

I thought this blog post was interesting – the survey consists of self-selecting respondents. Take the survey if you are already flipped!

• What do Teachers Who Have Flipped their Classrooms have to Report?
• Teachers with 7+ years are the ones who are using this approach most.
• Science, math, and ELA are the more popular subject areas here
• 95% of flipped classrooms are secondary level.
• If you like infographics, check this one out http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/.

Hopefully, that kind of gives you an idea of what it is.  And probably, you are now asking, so what’s all the hubbub, bub?  Following is not a “fun” resource to read (like infographhics) but it is full of information and resources . . .  and a few pictures. 

User Generation. The Flipped Classroom Model: A full Picture.  Let me share a few of the statements made.  I am curious what thoughts everyone has about this.

• The advantage of the flipped classroom is that the content, often the theoretical/lecture-based component of the lesson, becomes more easily accessed and controlled by the learner.
• Due to Khan Academy’s popularity, the idea of the flipped classroom has gained press and credibility within education circles.
• The problem is that educators, as a group, know how to do and use the lecture.  When educators are asked to replace their in-class lectures with videotaped ones (either their own or others) that learners watch at home, educators may not know what to do with this now void in-class time
• The Flipped Classroom offers a great use of technology - especially if it gets lecture out of the classrooms and into the hands and control of the learners.  As it is being discussed, it is part of a larger picture of teaching and learning.  The Flipped Classroom videos have a place in the models and cycles of learning proposed by educational psychologists and  instructional designers.  Providing educators with a full framework of how the Flipped Classroom can be used in their educational settings will increase its validity for educators and their administrators.

I find the flipped approach interesting, and I am willing to bet many teachers are already doing some version of this – maybe not all the time, but sometimes. I am – without even knowing it.  Most resources I found seemed to rely heavily on the video to deliver content outside of the classroom. That still seems a little passive to me.  I like that video gives some students control in that they can review concepts at their own speed.  However, I am interested in knowing about different approaches to content delivery – for example, putting students in the teacher role.

Again, I am curious what thoughts are out there.  Anything? Anything?

Shawn Beard will be teaching the Flipped Classroom class this semester. 
Try to make it to one!

• Sept 18          T          4:30 – 7:30 pm
• Oct 13             S         8:30 – 11:30 am
• Nov 13           T          4:30 – 7:30 pm

Here is a schedule of all our classes: http://eighthfloor.org/schedule.html
Just thinkin’
Lee Anne