The most popular trend of education in recent times is the flipped classroom. Flipped learning, in a simpler form, where students do homework at school when they do a home preview of the material and then expand the learning with school practice.
The concept inadvertently emerged in 2007 through Aaron Sams and J Jonathan Bergmann, both high school chemistry teachers from Colorado. They recorded their lectures using PowerPoint presentations. Later, they shared these recorded videos online for the attention of students who did not attend the class. Most of the students benefited from the videos, giving rise to a trend of giving direct instructions digitally to be viewed at home. Teachers later used the spare class time for hands-on, activity-based teaching and collaborative sessions for which teachers hardly get time.
Flipped Classroom in Nutshell
The traditional teaching method introduced new materials at school, followed by home assignments and projects for students to do independently at home. The flipped classroom, the reversed method, asks students to watch reading aids, online material, and recorded lectures when home and confidently face classroom sessions well prepared to complete learning activities expected in the curriculum.
In a conventional class, teachers talk about a subject in school and give homework revising the day's literature. In a flipped class, instructions are delivered online, i.e., outside the class.
The digital form of lectures can be uploaded online or delivered on DVD or pen drive. Usually, the flipped models involve interacting with friends and buddies, and teachers through online discussions.
The objectives of the flipped classroom are:
- Using classrooms to create an active learning environment,
- Enabling students to learn at their own pace, and.
- Providing the instructor more time to teach students personally than with the whole class.
Flipped Learning shifts learning activities
Under normal flipped classroom conditions, students can watch pre-recorded videos at home, then come to school to do homework armed with questions and at least some background knowledge.
Flipped classes are more learner-focused than traditional classes. This is because the majority of students are free about how and when to watch lessons. They also have the flexibility of halting and replaying as they wish.
The flipped model facilitates teachers to adequately fulfill the needs of lower-level students as well as engage more skilled students.
Benefits
Flipped classrooms give teachers multiple chances to explain difficult concepts and help students. If a student has difficulty understanding, the teacher is there. Students with questions about online material including the videos or presentations can get answers to the questions during class. Pre-recorded lessons satisfy the need of students who miss classes for unavoidable reasons.
Other than freeing up class time, teachers have also found that their flipped classrooms have improved learner-control and student engagement, providing more opportunities for variation than traditional models, and for some, improved learning outcomes.
For more busy, student-centered classrooms, flipped classes take advantage of the extra time spared by moving out of the classroom. In this way, teachers and students can interact in the time of newly acquired learning.
Moving direct suggestions out of the classroom provides space for engaging and engaging activities based on discussion and interaction in the target language.
Research on flipped classrooms
The key findings from the survey conducted by Faculty Focus, based on 1,089 responders, shows the following facts:
- Net Benefits– about 3/4th of participants (74.9%) found greater student engagement, and nearly over half (54.66%) noticed improved student learning.
- Learning Experience– The majority of faculty members (70.3%) and their students (64.8%) rated the experience of the flipped classrooms positively.
- Participation– More students found they turned collaborative (80%), communicative (76.61%), and participated. They were vocal and asked more questions.
- Challenges– The most common barrier was limited time. Nearly 70% of participants felt adopting flipped learning is a very significant challenge.
- Awareness– About 38.9% were unaware of this pedagogical strategy while 27.4% found it fashionable.
Challenges
The flipped class approach is not easily acceptable by students, their wards and society as we are accustomed to conventional instructional models. By actively conveying to all beneficiaries about the flipped model, stakeholders, including teachers, will adopt the model for better results.
Students, especially young children, may oppose the flipped model as they will need to take responsibility for their learning. Students need to manage their time accordingly and come to a ready class; Sitting and listening, including the playful activities in the school, is no longer an option.
There requires considerable time and resources to prepare students to transit. Educators suggest this model expects disciplinary approaches by students.
Instead of merely facing the class and becoming an artist, the role of the teacher turns to the learning instructor and facilitator. Each student learns a concept according to his or her understanding which may differ from the average idea commonly considered in traditional lectures. This places responsibility on teachers to restructure students’ concepts.
The Flip Side
The word "flipped" carries a contradictory message with the strategy turned down through reluctance. Many flipped classrooms are unsuccessful in raising students' scores, and when not implemented well, can even set vulnerable students back.
In a regular classroom, success depends largely on the quality of the teacher, the clarity of communication, and the quality of the curriculum, assessments, and suggestions. Further, equity is still a major issue, and most educational systems do not pay attention to the dated approach taken for the curriculum.
Teachmint is keen on changing the future of education with its advanced LMS and ERP tools. With more than 20+ modules for educational institutions like admission management, attendance management system, performance management, and more; it is changing the teaching-learning experience.
