“Blended” Flipped Classroom??
My musings this week were taking me in the direction of my “blended” flip classroom. I guess the word blended is being used to describe a classroom that does vodcasts and follows some of the ideas that Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sims present in their book “Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day,” Amazon.
I don’t do a flipped classroom during the whole year, some of the material I present in class. I feel students are better prepared with these topics. I hope I’m making sense here! I know Flipped Classrooms are considered by some to be “Blended” Classrooms. I can see why this is when you look at the definition of Blended Learning in wikipedia
“Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace”
I enjoyed reading Aaron Sims entry “ There Is No Such Thing as THE Flipped Class”. This really did address the point about Khan Academy and others who say they use the “Flipped” Model. There are different ways to implement this and you have chose the best way for your classroom. This is where I think the word “Blended” can be used. Again I ‘m not an expert on this matter. I’m still learning.
That being said, I do use the basic principle of the flipped classroom. I believe I’ve already blogged about this, but I will revisit the topic in this entry.
I have taped recent vodcasts for students so we can complete labs in class. Using Discovery Education assessments tools, I would give students homework quizzes that were based on the vodcasts. The sections I used for the flipped part of my classroom were excellent introductions to the concept of flipping in class. Students at first were not happy about it, but as time had gone on, they have gotten use to the format. By the end of the year, they knew what was expected of them. I do have to admit that I need to change certain areas around, one of them is the use of classroom time to address questions etc. I know that students were frustrated sometimes because they wanted more discussion time in class. I do need to improve on some of the lessons and vodcasts. Currently I use a PowerPoint and desktop capturing, Smart software. I do try to incorporate internet websites and movies. For those of you without Software or certain equipment. Here is something you could do, use your webcam. By placing it on a tripod you could create a document camera to use with the vodcast.
So what worked, I believe the assessments given to students after and during the vodcasts worked well. They were well received, grading was standardized. Students could take the assessments as many times as they could to get a 100. This they liked. Using the Discovery Assessments worked well, but I need to make sure I have different versions of the assessment. Since we don’t use Moodle having different versions are not easy. I’m only now trying Edmodo, which offers different options for quizzes. The vodcasts were liked, so the format I was using for the vodcast is working for my students. You really do have to experiment with it, “one size fits all” doesn’t work in this instance.
Mistakes happened throughout the year. One was discussion time, I did not give the students enough time to discuss the vodcast or ask questions. I have read that other teachers use Blogs. I’m thinking of using this so students can keep a journal. Still trying to figure out how.. I think I need to revisit this part of my teaching strategy. I have to figure out the answer to the question:
If you flip, WHAT will you do in your class now that you are not lecturing?(Flipped Learning: Turning Learning on Its Head) Good set of questions to answer before you flip.
I did use time in class to have students complete labs and other homework. But I think more discussion and question sessions are needed. I will definitely know how this all worked this year. I recently gave students a survey on the class. From the results, I hope I can improve on the class.