A recent entry on the Superintendant’s blog gave me an idea to explore for this month’s journal. The topic on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 discussed blended learning and “flipping the classroom”, topics that are gaining popularity in contemporary educational theory.
“Flipping the classroom” is a technique inspired by Salmon Kahn of Kahn Academy who has developed hundreds of subject content videos that allow students to view short explanations and illustrations of complex math and science (and other subject) concepts. Flipping the classroom refers to the technique of approaching subject matter content through student review of these (or other) videos assigned as homework, then utilizing class time to have discussions or work through problem sets as group or unit work instead of the other way around, using the class as lecture time and assigning problem sets as homework. Flipping the classroom allows students to learn at their own pace away from the instructor and use class time to lead conceptual discussions when together. According to contemporary theory, the flipped classroom is about making connections with learners and differentiating instruction.
Flipping the classroom is an adaptation of another teaching technique gaining attention as computers become more available and students have more access to machines in a classroom--blended learning, which relies on digital media to move beyond simply augmenting face-to-face teaching into a peer role where online and offline interaction directly supports learning goals. Both processes change the place when content is delivered, away from the classroom, which allows students to show up not to learn new things but to apply and also to ask questions about what they’ve learned at home. These techniques also modify the traditional role of the teacher from information provider who tells students what to do, what assignments to read, and when to do it, to tutor and learning guide.
I decided to try to use the technique in my own classroom. Since we were transitioning from studying Small Basic, a more rudimentary programming language to Visual Basic, a more complicated one, I thought it might be an opportune time to “flip the classroom.” The content topic we needed to review in the new programming language concerned data types and variables, material we had gone over before, some months ago, when we started to talk about computer programming principles.
I assigned a video from Kahn Academy
The first video was short and students were able to watch it the first night. The second video was much longer and I had to assign specific sections for review, which I intended the students to watch during the 2nd and 3rd night of the unit.
During class time, I prepared a number of short labs, computer programming assignments of increasing complexity that utilized data types and variables, all due at the end of the unit. I also divided the class into small groups that acted as teams for students to help each other out with specific coding they might be unfamiliar with, and to help to fill in the gaps in their own knowledge. During some of the class time, I sat down with each group and guided them when needed. For the rest, I answered specific questions, tutoring the groups on the specific details of getting the labs to work. Over the 3 day time period allocated for the project, I noticed a few things that seemed interesting and worth exploring:
- Students were able to work in the manner in which they felt most comfortable, reviewing parts of the videos they watched the night before together as a group or asking for explanation on a concept that they didn’t understand.
- Students were able to gain an “ownership” of the material, deciding when and where to complete the tasks and assignments that were due by the end of unit date.
- Students were able to assist others in their learning, which helped them to become more familiar with the material themselves.
- Students could continue to learn the material when not in school. Because a good deal of the assignment required “out of class” work, students could continue to work on it when they were absent for that day.
The assessment at the end of the unit seemed to reinforce the success of the practice, among the highest grades of the semester.
Although I wouldn’t immediately abandon the traditional lecture for “flipping the classroom”, I feel that the experiment was successful enough to be another tool in the bag of teacher tricks needed to keep students on task and engaged.
