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INSIGHT | 41
LIGHTS, CAMERA – ACTION! HOW ARE EDUCATORS MAKING THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM A REALITY?
A growing number of institutions are adopting the ‘fl ipped classroom’ approach by recording material for their students to watch in advance so that they are prepared for a more interactive classroom session. How have they made the shift from ‘traditional’ to fl ipped learning?
The rise and rise of the fl ipped classroom As education institutions at all levels face increasing pressure to provide more engaging learning environments for their digitally-savvy students, many are looking to the fl ipped classroom model to deliver teaching in a compelling new way. Recent research indicates that 1 in 5
teachers are considering fl ipping their classroom. Those who already have are seeing improvements in both student engagement and student at ainment. Two broader trends have accompanied
the surge in interest around fl ipped learning. The fi rst is the growth of video as a communications medium, which has helped shape student expectations on how knowledge is accessed, shared and absorbed. The second is the trend towards student-centred learning, which places strong emphasis on the active participation of the student in the classroom. Tom Davy, CEO at Panopto, a video
system widely used to help fl ip the classroom at UK universities, colleges and schools comments: “Flipped learning is a logical response to these trends. Firstly, the fl ipped approach typically off ers core learning content via video – a medium we know students respond to well. Secondly, with the more passive learning done in advance, face- to-face time can be fully focused on the students’ needs.” But how can institutions go about
creating a great fl ipped learning experience?
Taking inspiration from fl ipped educators Dr Jeremy Pritchard, Senior Lecturer and Head of Education at the University
of Birmingham’s School of Biosciences has been fl ipping his classes for some time. He calls his experiments with the fl ipped classroom “the most exciting teaching I’ve done in 20 years”. Like many other academics using this technique, Dr Pritchard sends recorded lectures and ‘how-to’ videos to students in advance and then uses face-to- face time for a variety of interactive activities, from group discussions to student presentations. He has found that formally tying the fl ipped sessions to the fi nal exam assessment gives students a compelling reason to both view the recording and at end in-person. They can also directly see the link between how they engage in the fl ipped classroom and how well they will be prepared for their assessment.
they may mistakenly believe that the teacher is simply making students ‘teach themselves’. They may also not realise how important it is to do the pre-lesson work in advance and therefore come unprepared to the face-to-face session. Both of these issues can be resolved
by educators making it clear to students how the fl ipped classroom will work, what they need to do to get the most out of it, and most importantly, what they stand to gain from it. There are, of course, some practical
issues to consider as well, such as how to ensure all students can access the video-based learning content no mat er what device they have available to them. Educators need to look at technical options which are ‘device agnostic’, such as software-based Panopto, so that students can prepare for their fl ipped class using whatever technologies they have access to.
Re-imagining face-to-face time With a signifi cant chunk of learning being delivered digitally, academics and teachers need to ensure that class time is used to best eff ect. Many fi rst-time fl ippers within higher education are initially nervous that students might only watch the recordings and not come to live lectures at all. But with a well- thought-out and enticing programme of activities for this contact time, some fl ipped educators at universities have actually seen increased at endance at their live sessions. Flipped teachers at all levels fi nd that one of the key benefi ts of this learning approach is the freedom it gives them to experiment with a range of in-class exercises. These can include running quizzes to assess how much students have learned from the video, encouraging students to prepare their own presentations or get ing students to come to class ready with their questions to contribute to an interactive class debate. It goes without saying that teachers
ABOVE:‘Device agnostic’ recording: capturing content using a laptop, webcam and iPhone
Preparing students for the fl ip As fl ipped learning aims to empower students to become more active, set ing their expectations in advance is crucial. If students haven’t been in a fl ipped classroom before, they may have misconceptions – for instance,
must be aware that by making face- to-face time more interactive, this can encourage confi dent students to lead and quieter students to take a more passive role. It’s therefore particularly important in a fl ipped class set ing to identify the students that might need more encouragement to voice their views and fi nd ways to empower them to participate fully. This, after all, is the whole point of fl ipping the classroom in the fi rst place!
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