Has the Flipped Classroom's Time Come?
Flipped classrooms have been the latest craze and one of the more widely implemented instructional strategies used as of late. The idea behind flipped classrooms is novel. It would allow students to gain a knowledge about a specific topic prior to that information being taught in the physical classroom. Having students watch instructional videos at home gives them a base knowledge and then frees up the teacher to work in flexible groups to give more detailed instruction to the students who need it. It truly allows a teacher to accommodate and modify instruction to fit every individual learner's needs. A quick intro to flipped classrooms can be found just below:
There are however, challenges that can be encountered when putting the flipped classroom in place. The first challenge I see with flipped classrooms is that they are being implemented many times in far too many classrooms without a truly deep understanding of how they work. Many times flipped classrooms are simply "flipped" for the sake of being able to say I've flipped my classroom. To truly get the most out of flipped classrooms teachers need to understand how and why to flip their classroom. Additionally, flipped classrooms should be utilized when it benefits the instruction, and not just because an administrator wants a classroom to be flipped. Another challenge that I have seen with flipped classrooms is that students choose not to watch the videos that a teacher is relying on them having previously viewed. When this happens it sets back the learning of that individual student. Without students having the motivation to view flipped lessons there is a lack of learning that takes place in the classroom. The article and the video included just below details some other challenges as well as some benefits of flipping a classroom.
Overall I don't think teachers are quite ready for the flipped classroom. I think the first issue that we need to address is motivation for students who choose not to do the things needed to make a flipped classroom successful. The current policy of our school district is that students cannot receive a grade based on homework or homework completion. However, if a classroom is flipped and a student or multiple students choose not to watch the videos necessary, their overall knowledge on that topic will be greatly lessened. This will, in turn, affect their grade negatively! Students themselves have to take the initiative to complete their work and we as teachers must find ways to motivate them to want to do so. I think once more studies have been done on the flipped classroom we can more effectively attack the flipped learning approach.
