Thursday 17 October 2013

Rutherfoord, J. & Rutherfoord, R. (2013). Flipping the Classroom - Is It For You? pp. 19-22

The flipped classroom is not an entirely new idea, it was developed from similar activities such as 'hybrid or blended classrooms.' (p19).

The article talks about flipped classrooms giving students more freedom and control, enabling them to work at their own time and pace. In simple terms the flipped classroom is quite simply doing the homework before the lesson with the use of podcasts or videos, and then using the lesson time to complete further work in more depth with the teacher on hand if needed. Many people are in favour of the flipped classroom however there is 'still a lot of controversy among educators.' (p19).

The early work of Eric Mazur at Harvard (1990's) links to the flipped classroom approach, by using computers to give instructions he then had more time to help his students rather than just feed them information.

Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams used a software that allowed speech over powerpoints, they also began posting live lectures online for pupils who were absent from the lectures. This soon became a popular method and they were asked to speak about it around their county.

Clintondale High School, Detroit: Teachers created 3 videos per week lasting 5-7 minutes for students to watch at home. Class time was then used for different activities and students had the teacher in the same room if they needed any help. Before the study 50% freshman failed English and 44% failed Maths. Afterwards only 19% failed English and 13% failed maths. (p20).

The flipped classroom is beneficial as it allows students to become aware of the lesson material before they arrive. Students may absorb more of the information watching a video or lecture at home in their own time. Teachers can spend more time in lessons helping students with what they don't understand rather than just teaching things off a powerpoint.

Benefits: 'Critical thinking by students.'
'Student ownership of learning.'
'Student exploration.'
'Faculty having time to assist students on things they couldn't learn by themselves.'
(All p21).

The flipped classroom has proven successful and beneficial in education, 'benefits to the students and faculty outweigh the time involved for creating this new learning environment.'

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