(Photo by Persnickety Prints on Unsplash)
I love the idea of a flipped classroom! As an instructor, I much preferred to spend class time going deeper into what we were covering than being the the sage on the stage. However, having a flipped classroom also means that the students need to have done the pre-class work so a flipped classroom works. And we all know that this is not always the case, and if students don’t do the pre-class work, the flipped classroom can end up being a flopped classroom.
Recently in one class we were divided into small groups to discuss a podcast we were suppose to have listened to. I was super keen on the topic and was excited to discuss it further. Unfortunately, only 2 of the 4 of us had listened to it, so our discussion was not as robust as it could have been had all of us listened to it. (This is not to pass judgement, as I have been the one to not do the pre-class work in other classes and thus not had a lot to contribute to the group discussion.) This makes me wonder, what could be a good way to deal with this so that a robust discussion can still happen. In discussion with Rich, he noted that the more consistent the teacher is with pre-class work, the more likely it is that students will do it. Second, although small group discussion can be better, if a high percentage of the students are not doing the pre-class reading, having bigger groups for in-class discussion that are based on the pre-class work could help. The third lesson for me comes from my own experience in doing or not doing pre-class work. As a teacher, I need to make sure the pre-class work is interesting, doable and relevant. For me, I am more likely to watch a few videos, read a couple of pages and try and exercise than I am going to read a 10 plus page article.
In summary, the three tips for helping a flipped classroom work from my experience in this program include:
- be consistent in giving it – then students are more likely to do it.
- make the groups bigger for in-class discussions so if a high percentage of students have not done the reading those who have done it can still have a robust discussion.
- make the pre-class work interesting, doable, relevant and use a variety of mediums.
Below are a few pro and cons about flipped classrooms in general. And if I am doing a flip classroom, I must keep this in mind, especially the point about accessibility!
