In a flipped classroom the teacher records their lesson for
students to view at another time. There
are multiple advantages to these flipped videos for the students but there are
advantages to the teacher too.
Advantages for teachers?
Teachers are often very busy and do not have time to
regularly observe their fellow teachers.
We can often learn a lot from observing other teachers but rarely have
the time. The teachers in my department
have recorded their own lessons for our common curriculum (same notes and same assessments). We can easily “observe” each other by
watching each others’ video lessons on our own time. In our video lessons we have the same
examples but we each have a different way of explaining the concepts so by
watching each others’ video lessons we can gain new insights in to teaching the
concepts and learn from each other.
While watching a colleague’s lesson we are exposed to a new way of
explaining the material or make new connections of how this concept relates to
a different area of mathematics. It is
common for me to step into a colleague’s room during his prep time and see him
watching another teacher’s video lesson.
Using flipped classroom videos to improve our professional practice is a
great use of our videos even though the videos were initially created to help
our students.
A second advantage of flipped videos was shown to me last
spring. I had a student teacher for one
of my classes. He would watch three
different teachers’ lessons to see how the experienced (old) teachers taught
the material. He would then develop his
own lesson and record his video lesson using the best practices he saw in the
experienced teachers’ lessons or improvements to the lesson that he was able to
bring in. As a new teacher, this was a
great way for him to learn how to present the material to students in an
effective manner. As someone who started
teaching in the early 1990’s, I would have found this technique very
valuable. Using flipped classroom videos
as a way to help young teachers develop into a more effective teacher by
“observing” multiple experienced teachers was an unexpected but great use of a flipped
video.
A third advantage for teachers I have noticed is that since
I have been flipping my classes I do not have nearly as many students in before
or after school asking questions. Recording
video lessons requires significant time up front but in the long run the
teacher gets that time back with not having as many students in before and
after school needing help.
A fourth advantage of videos in a flipped learning classroom
is that if a student is absent, they can watch the video before they come back
to school. Students can come back to
school caught up on what they missed. It
is not uncommon for me to have students gone and they come back having watched
the lessons and completed the assignments.
This means the teacher either has more time since they are not working
with previously absent students before or after school to get them caught up,
or the teacher can continue to work with all the students in the classroom
versus ignoring most of the class while reteaching the previously absent
student one on one during class time.
Advantages for students?
Each teacher that teaches one of our courses records their
own videos at the request of our students.
We expect our students to watch the lesson before class but since we have
multiple teacher videos for each lesson students can choose to watch which ever
teacher. Most students will watch the
video lesson of their classroom teacher but some choose to watch a different
teacher because that teacher’s style matches with the student’s learning
style. Some students will watch their
teacher’s video lessons on a daily basis but will watch a different teacher’s
lessons as a review for an assessment.
The key thing is that students are learning the material, we do not care
who they are learning it from.
Students are able to rewatch lessons either from their
teacher or another teacher as part of their review for an assessment. My Augsburg College class meets once a week
and students watch the lesson before class then have an assessment on that
material the next week. Almost all my
college students rewatch the lesson as part of their review for an assessment while
others will rewatch the lesson multiple times.
Students are able to pause and rewind the teacher during the
lesson, even rewinding the teacher multiple times to understand that part of
the lesson. In a lecture a student may
ask a question once, it is not likely but possible they would ask the same
question a second time if they still do not understand. If they still do not understand, they will
likely give the teacher the impression that they do understand because they do
not want to look stupid in front of their peers. But with a video lesson a student can rewind
and listen to part of the video lesson as many times as needed to understand
the concept.
Most teachers that start out flipping their classroom anticipate
the student advantages like the student can pause and rewind the video as
needed, watch the lesson when they have time and that students can rewatch the
lessons for an assessment. But as you
have read there are multiple unexpected advantages for the teacher like being
able to “observe” their colleagues and learn from them, to helping younger
teachers develop their skills and become an effective teacher, or having more
time before and after school. As I
continue flipping and reflecting, I am sure more unexpected advantages will
come to light. I would encourage you to
consider flipping your class, so that you can experience these advantages too.
