Advantages Of The Flipped Classroom
What is an upside down classroom?
The interaction between teachers and students is very valuable in learning, and teachers play one of the most important roles in the learning process. With the rise of technology, education professionals began to think about how to use technology to maximize the benefits of student-teacher interaction.
They argued that a teacher simply delivering a lecture in a live classroom is equivalent to students hearing a recorded video lecture unless there is interaction between the teacher and the student. In most classes, at least 80% of the time is spent listening to the lecture without interaction. This significantly reduces the effectiveness of the learning outcomes.
Here comes the upside down classroom concept. It was first raised by two elementary school teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams. They thought that if the pure lecture part could be removed from the live classroom, the entire lesson could be used for student-teacher interaction. Students can watch video lectures recorded from home and come into the classroom prepared with questions and doubts that the teacher can address.
This model has been popularly known as the upside down classroom. This is essentially a mixed model where the core content is delivered to students in eLearning form such as videos, web-based content, etc. and the face-to-face sessions are used for interaction rather than content delivery.
The components of the flipped classroom include:
- Study at home
- Watch a recorded lecture
- Study online reading materials
- Read books or digitized texts
- Take part in an online discussion
- Do your own research for content
- Study in the classroom
Practicing skills:
- Query the discussion with colleagues and teachers
- Participate in debates
- Make presentations
- Take part in station learning
- Do laboratory experiments / soil research
- Conduct peer review or group activities
The 4 pillars of FLIP learning
The success of the upside down teaching method depends on four pillars:
- Flexible environment
It enables different teaching formats and the provision of content. Teachers can choose between online and offline modes depending on the complexity of the subject and the needs of the students. Students have the opportunity to better prepare for the lessons. - Learn culture
The flipped classroom shifts the teacher-centered model to the student-centered model, in which students are given greater responsibility and encouraged to participate and interact. This promotes a learning culture. - Intentional content
The upside down classroom is not a fixed model. It improves with every interaction, and the educators can decide which content has a bigger impact and which needs improvement. It enables educators to improve the content. - Professional educator
The role of an educator in an upside-down classroom is much more complex and demanding than in a traditional classroom, which used to be where only one lecture was given. This is where they need to think about offline and online content, interactions, delivery mechanisms, and overall control of the learning curve.
Advantages of the upside down classroom
The flipped classroom, wherever implemented, has shown several advantages over the traditional classroom. Some of them are:
- Better time management
Taking the maximum amount of content offline gives teachers more time to interact with students, understand their problems, and guide them better. - Use of school time
Going through the content outside of the lesson hours will make better use of their time, which might otherwise have been wasted. - Improvement of the content
Because the content is recorded outside of the classroom and there is more interaction between the teacher and the student, the teacher can better evaluate the effectiveness of the content and modify the content based on the student’s questions and doubts. Thus, the content continues to improve, which is otherwise not possible. - Better skill management
The main skill of a human teacher is not just to deliver the content, but to understand and guide the student. The upturned classroom allows teachers to fully utilize their skills.
Criticism of the upside down classroom
The success of mirrored classrooms depends heavily on how the teacher manages the offline and online content and how they ensure that students actually go through the content. If the design is poor, the division of content can be detrimental to learning and students can become frustrated.
Conclusion
The flipped classroom is an emerging educational concept that has shown impressive advantages over the traditional classroom. A carefully designed flipped classroom model can greatly improve learning outcomes and contribute to the overall development of students.
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