In Fulton's article, "Upside Down and Inside Out: Flip Your Classroom to Improve Student Learning," the effectiveness and daily process of a flipped classroom is explored. Fulton realizes that fads come and go, and questions whether or not a flipped classroom is just that, a fad. She takes a look into a Calculus I class at Byron High School in Minnesota in order to see what students are getting out of classrooms that are structured in such a unique way. Like many other flipped classrooms, Faulkner's Calculus I class is required to view the video lessons before the arrival of class and then "homework" is done in class to reiterate the lesson. Faulkner walks through the class, observing students working, and offers any help that might be needed to clarify the lesson. He also gives daily quizzes in order to ensure that students are doing their work at home. Fulton explains that Byron High School found itself without money to pay for new textbooks, so the math teachers came up with an idea to get rid of textbooks and make up their own curriculum. They worked together, along with their community, to come up with the flipped classroom. The math team at the school relied on each other to create lessons and tests, and to better their curriculum as they proceeded into the year. Teachers were faced with the challenges of keeping up to date with their videos, classroom management, and time management, but they felt that it was worth it because it was the right thing to do for the kids. Although this type of learning is fairly new, the results have been promising, and achievements of students have been rising. Students and parents have shown liking of this new approach as well.
I was very unsure about the idea of a flipped classroom. There were so many questions that I had, but many of them were answered in this article and reassured me about flipped learning. I really like the idea of having a quiz on the material that students were supposed to cover the night before. It not only shows the teacher who went over the videos, but what areas of the subject matter need to be recovered or expanded on. Flipped learning allows students to go at their pace as well. One concern I had was about the length of the video. If a number of classes had videos that were a good length, then students would be spending potentially as many hours reviewing videos at home as they do sitting in class. I guess this means that teachers need to keep this in mind when they assign videos. I really like how BHS provided students with a jump drive or CD if they did not have internet connection at home. Also, students that were unable to view the videos the night before are able to review the videos in class while they are working on their homework. Many students liked this type of learning because they felt it was more engaging and was more flexible to the unique needs of each student. I am now very interested in this type of approach to teaching, and I hope to sit in on a class that uses this style in their classroom.
A flipped classroom uses ISTE Standard 1 where students use models and simulations, or video lessons, to explore complex issues or systems. Students view the videos the night before and then use the videos to work on a series of problems in the classroom. Depending on how the student learns, if they choose to work within groups during class, they will then be contributing to a group to solve problems, ISTE Standard 2. They will definitely be using ISTE Standard 4, problem solving and critical thinking, in order to finish their daily tasks and quizzes that deal with the video lesson content.
Fulton, K. (2102). Upside down and inside out: Flip your classroom to improve student learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(8), 12-17.
I was also was unsure about the idea of flipped classroom learning. When I first heard about it, I thought it was just a fad. However, all the trial classrooms that I have heard of have given promising results. I never thought about flipped classrooms as a way to save money, but it would completely eliminate the need for expensive textbooks as long as teachers are willing to put in all the extra hard work and the students continue to show positive results. As time goes on, it will be interesting to see how the flipped model changes as more classrooms try out different methods.
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