Monday, June 11, 2012

Thoughts on Flipping the Flipped Classroom C&I 579 Blog #1B


David Thornburg at thornbugthoughts recentely brought up some good points about the Flipped Classroom movement (http://thornburgthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/flipping-the-flipped-classroom/)  I agree that there are issues and that one size or technology does not fit all, but I think we need to look beyond the tool to how it is used by people in education. Here is my response to David:

I believe the goal is not to do traditional homework in class, but to move it beyond recall towards sustained projects with inquiry and higher order thinking. Yes, the videos can be boring, but no more so than a lecture. But, if you want them to be more interesting, keep them short and link in other sources including primary sources, credible websites and even other videos. The videos are used to present the basic background information and then class time can be used in exactly the ways you suggest. 

The real problem to me seems to be that people think that technology will solve the problems, it won't. What can solve problems is using technology (or a technique) in creative ways by educators (people) to engage students by enlisting them as knowledge creators (not as vessels to be filled) and thereby making learning relevant to the world today. Of course as you point out, a flaw in this logic is the assumption that students will watch what they won't read. If there is no accountability for not watching, then they won’t. Basically, it isn't the tool, it is how it is used and as Jon Bergmann (who helped start the flipped classroom concept) notes, it might not work for all classes or grade levels. See: http://flipped-learning.com/?p=577

Rowen and Bigum (2012) would call for us to be "sportively skeptical"of new technology ideas (p. 222).

See:
Rowen, L., & Bigum, C. (Eds.), (2012). Transformative approaches to new technology and student diversity in futures oriented classrooms: Future proofing education. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.

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