Module 8 - Activity 10: The Flipped Classroom Approach

The flipped classroom approach is one in which the teacher prepares video or audio lectures and makes them available to students (most often online) for home study.  The studying of the content at home really frees up the regular class time to do a lot more than would generally be possible by the time lectures are completed.  When the students come to class, they work on problem solving assignments, projects, have discussions and more.   In a way, its like having the students do their regular class lectures at home, and do their homework at school.  In so doing, students get to work more at their pace.  They can pause, rewind, and rush through video/audio lessons as best suits them, then in class as they work, they can collaborate more with other students and put more of what they are learning into practice.  They also get to interact with the teacher on more specific issues that they have with their learning as an individual.  For instance Student A might have problems with concept 1 and 3, while Student B has problems with concept 2 and 5 and so on.  Rather than each of those students sitting through a general class explanation on concepts they are comfortable with, they can go ahead working and get tailored help for their specific problem areas.

For this approach to be effective, the necessary infrastructure must be available to the student - media access at home (computer, smart device, internet etc.), or portable media (flash drives, CD ROM, etc) so students can take material home.  Parents also have to be educated about the process so they can support the students when working at home.  Teachers must also prepare a variety of interesting activities to keep students engaged for the duration of face-to-face classes.  These must revolve around the video/audio concepts studied at home.  They also need to have room for exploration and critical thinking.  Multiple activities must be available at any given time to accommodate the different paces at which students are working.  It is also important that students have access to teachers and peers while away from the classroom so they can seek clarity, engage in discussions and so on while away from the classroom.  This can be achieved through social networking portals.

The flipped classroom is not as easy as it may appear.  Teachers have to invest a great deal of planning time to prepare the materials, class activities and projects.  Added to which, the classroom becomes a space where all students may be working on different aspects of their learning rather than the whole class doing the same activities or being at the same place in their course.  This calls for excellent management and juggling skills by the tutor to be able to: harness the students creativity and energy; address problems spanning multiple topics or multiple subtopics in a single class; to prepare activities to keep all students actively involved during class time.

This approach is very interesting but must be carefully thought out and systematically applied for best results.