Introduction to the Flipped Learning Model

Video Transcription

Welcome to an Introduction to the Flipped Learning Model. In today's tutorial we will be discussing the following questions. What is the Flipped Learning Model? What does that model entail? And also, what are the advantages and the challenges to using this model in my own classroom?

So let's start by talking about traditional learning versus flipped learning, and what the differences are between the two to give you a better idea of what exactly flipped learning looks like. Traditional learning is where the teacher provides direct instruction usually by means of lecturing or standing in front of the class and presenting the material and concepts. After the teacher presents the material in the classroom setting, the student is then generally asked to take that material and those concepts and practice in the form of some kind of homework. Sometimes this includes homework that comes directly from the curriculum that the teachers use, or other generated worksheets or writing prompts for the students to complete at home.

In contrast, flipped learning is opposite. Instead of the teacher standing and lecturing first, the student is asked to take the material and practice it and learn about it at home before the lesson actually even starts. So they're asked to use podcasts or videos online and cover some material that will be presented in future class periods so that they have an idea of what is going to be covered before they even get to class. Sometimes the instructor will give some writing prompts or questions, some kind of a learning activity to use at home during this learning time where the student's watching the video. Then the instructor plans some engaging, active class activities where students are able to use the material that they've learned and get their questions answered, as well as dive a little deeper into those concepts.

According to Flipped Learning Network, "flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting groups space is transformed into a dynamic interactive learning environment where the educator guide students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter." So this is a great model for both students and teachers to use.

Let's talk about the benefits. What are the advantages to using the Flipped Learning Model? So there are many benefits to this model, and it's a great model to think about. So some benefits to flipped learning are the ability to individualize your learning. Not only can you as an instructor create some very powerful tutorials or find some tutorials to use that are very powerful and engaging and directed towards your specific group of students, but you can plan your class time and the activities to your students as well, giving them much more one on one and small group time and opportunities to really answer questions if they have any. It also allows your students to feel empowered about their learning. They are responsible. They are responsible for taking the material home and actually committing to doing the activities and watching the videos. And then in their class time, they are actively engaging in those high order thinking skills.

It creates a very flexible environment for you as the teacher. You can use your time much differently in the classroom by giving the students that really needed that one on one attention or small group attention, and you can also challenge those students that need to be challenged by giving them some different or advanced activities to do either at home or in that group setting. This model really allows your students to learn at their own pace. If you have learners that need a little extra time at home, they can stop, pause, rewatch parts of the videos or tutorials, and in the class you can really provide activities that are meaningful to each and every individual student.

Another great reason to use flipped learning is that those students that are not in the class or are absent every so often, this allows for them to actually take some ownership and responsibility for their learning because they have some of those tools to use at home. There are some really nice advantages to using this model, flipped learning, in your classroom. But on the other side of things, you do need to think about the challenges that you will face when using flipped learning, so let's ask yourself these questions or think about these questions when you're planning to use flipped learning.

Do my students have the access to the tools that they need? Most students nowadays do how computers. They do have internet access. But there are those students who, for whatever reasons, do not have the access to those tools that they will need. How can you help your students through that? There are some options that you could use. You could record or burn to a DVD your videos or tutorials, or save them on the flash drive.

Another question to think about is, can I offer support if students do not have access to these tools? So like I just mentioned, there are some alternative options like recording the tutorials and having your students watch those via DVD or a flash drive using maybe a computer lab at your school or a computer in your classroom before school or after school, during a break maybe. You can also take this material and put it on a class website where students could have access to it at a public library. So there are some options available.

Another question to ask yourself is, how can I motivate my students to complete the work at home? It's a very hard to know for sure if your students are going to actually do the homework, although as a teacher you do want to trust your students. You need to make sure that there are some motivating factors for students to actually go through and watch the tutorials from beginning to end at home. So while there are some challenges to flipped learning, I believe that the advantages really do outweigh the challenges in this learning model.

So let's review what we learned today. Today we discussed, what is flipped learning? What exactly does it look like? And remember, this is changing the way that you are teaching in your classroom by presenting material via some kind of tutorial to watch before the lesson and changing that activity to more engaging active learning where we can problem solve with our students and put them into different groupings. The advantages and challenges to using this model were also discussed in this tutorial. Many advantages to using this model including increased flexibility and allowing your students to feel very empowered about their learning.

There were some challenges to think about, remember, in that all of your students may not have access to the tools to actually go through and watch these tutorials and videos at home, as well as you might not always be certain that your students will follow through with the homework that will be presented to them before the activity. So making sure that there's the motivating factors there and really gaining that trust in your students is really important. I've enjoyed discussing these ideas about flipped learning with you today, and I hope you are able to use these tools in your classroom setting.

So how can we apply these ideas? Let's reflect with these questions. What might the challenges be to using the Flipped Learning Model? Can you think of a lesson that you can adapt using flipped learning? To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.