Unexpected Advantages of Flipped Classroom Videos

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.

Teach Students How to Watch Videos for Instruction

Today’s students are consumers of videos for entertainment.  Is watching a video for learning/instruction different than watching a video for entertainment?  Yes, how you watch a video for entertainment is totally different than watching a video for learning or instruction.  This may seem clear to adults, but isn’t necessarily for students.   Most students do not realize that there is a difference, so we as teachers need to explicitly teach our students about the difference.  Giving students tips on how to watch a video for learning/instruction, then modeling in front of the students how to watch your videos for learning/instruction is important for flipped learning success.

Below is an acronym that I use to help my students remember what to do:  LIFT.  The first thing I want my students to do when watching a video for learning/instruction is to focus on Learning  versus just starting the video and letting it play.  Having the video play before your eyes does not mean you are learning the material.  Watching a video for learning means that the students should be Involved  in the video by pausing the video at times to either write notes or work on a problem before they watch me do the problem on the video.  They may even need to rewind part of the video if they either missed something or did not understand something.  Being Involved also means taking notes.  For me that means writing down, at a minimum, all the material that I write during the video.  

During the beginning of your course with the students, you should model what it looks like for students to be Involved in your video.  You can and should tell your students how to be Involved in the video, but you must model it for them.  To model being Involved in the video, play the video for the lesson in the classroom then pause the video at different points and tell the students why you paused the video and what they should be doing during the pause.  At times rewind the video and explain to the students why you are rewinding the video at this spot.  Depending on your students, you may have to do this for several days before they fully understand when to pause/rewind and why.  You may even want to tell your students in the initial videos when to pause/rewind the videos to help the students to get use to pausing/rewinding videos.

In addition to wanting my students to focus on Learning and being Involved in the video, I want them to Focus their attention on the video.  To help students Focus on the video. they typically have to deal with their Tech.   What does Tech mean?   It means if you are watching on a tablet like an iPad, turn off your notifications (so you will not be tempted to look at the latest thing to come from your friends during the video), close extra apps (music, game, and other apps), and close extra tabs in the browser of the tablet.  If you are watching on a computer, then close extra tabs in your browser (email, Twitter…), turn off your music, and close programs that you do not need for watching the video and taking notes. No matter on what device you are watching the videos, turn off your music, listen with headphones and deal with your cellphone (ideally turn it off or at a minimum turn off the volume and vibration so you will not be tempted to look at your phone when the latest notification comes through).

LIFT when Watching Videos for Learning.

·                  Learning -  be concerned about learning vs. just getting the video watched 

·                  Involved - be involved in the video by pausing/rewinding the video and take notes

·                  Focus - focus your attention on the video

·                  Tech - turn off notifications, close extra tabs, put electronic devices away, close  extra apps, do not answer cell phone calls and messages, listen with Headphones

 Modified from Lisa Light's FIT acronym

Technology is such an integral part of our students’ lives.  This simple acronym helps me remind students how they need to engage differently with their technology depending on whether they are using it for instruction or entertainment. 

Why Some Teachers Don’t Flip

The following is a summary of an email exchange with Ed Mass of CrazyForEducation.com of which Ed posted on CrazyForEducation.com.

Ed asked, “Why don’t other departments in your school Flip since all five math department teachers have Flip and have had some success with Flipping?”  I reply that, “I do not know why they have not Flipped.  However, I will offer some possible ideas.”

My responses (listed in order of the most likely reasons to the least likely reasons):

·         Many teachers are resistant to change. They teach the way they were taught. Whether new, or teaching the same way for decades, they don't adapt easily to changes.

Response: If there is a resistance to change, I ask, "Why?" How does the resistance to change serve you? How does it serve your students?

·         Some teachers like being "in control." They feel that if their students are quiet, they are in control of the classroom. They also like being the center of attention (the power) and being the source of information. It gives them a sense of importance.

​Response: As a teacher, are we here for our own ego and self-worth or are we here to help students learn and do what is best for our students? If you answer to help students learn and do what is best for them, consider Flipping.

·         It takes time to record the lessons up front and some teachers do not want to take that time.

Response: What they do not realize, even if we have told them, is that you get that time back when you are Flipping because you do not have students in your room before and after school nearly as much as prior to Flipping.

·         Some teachers are so busy just trying to keep their head above water that they do not have time to think about ways to change.

Response: If you are so overwhelmed, then you should look at ways to change and improve, that make you more efficient with your time and effective in both teaching and your students' learning.

·         If I Flip my lessons, what will I do in class?

Response: This is a great question. The possibilities are endless but some teachers are afraid to answer the question.

·         Some teachers have the myth that if I Flip then my students will not need me.

Response: I have experienced the opposite and my students have told me the same. That is, in a Flipped Classroom the teacher is even more important. It's easy to replace a lecture. However, a teacher that engages students and makes the classroom fun, while enhancing students' learning, is highly valued by students and administrators, and much more difficult to replace.

·         Some teachers view my math department as a little crazy or "just out there" and they do not want to be like us.

Response: Why not? What is better than higher student outcomes while students take more responsibility for their own learning and have more fun while doing so?

·         Some teachers are not comfortable having their lessons online where anyone could look at them including their principal or fellow teachers. In other words, they are insecure about their own teaching ability or lessons.

Response: What better way to learn, and improve our lessons and teaching, than from the critique/feedback of other professionals? Plus, you have the opportunity to view other teachers' lessons and learn from them. You can do this whether you Flip or choose not to Flip.

·         Some teachers are not comfortable with learning the technology to record and post lessons.

Response: It is fairly easy whether you use the SMART Recorder software or the Ink2Go software recommended by CrazyForEducation. It is super easy to upload them and use all the enhanced features in the CrazyForEducation system. You can post them on YouTube but then you have all those ads and uncontrolled content that don't exist anywhere in the CrazyForEducation system. They are totally ad-free.

·         Flipping is just a math department thing. Some teachers do not understand how they could flip their subject.

Response: I have ideas on how they could Flip their subject and I could help some teachers generate ideas. Here are several thoughts to get you started:

* Have students learn about Art outside of class so they can spend class time creating Art pieces.

* Have students learn about different physical activities/games (PE) outside of class so the students can use class time engaging in those physical activities/games.

* Have students learn about Spanish outside of class so they can spend class time reading Spanish, writing Spanish, speaking Spanish.

* Have students learn about science outside of class so that students can have more time to actually do science; play with stuff to get first hand experience and better understand science; conduct more science experiments.

* Have students learn about cooking outside of class so they can spend class time actually cooking.

* In social studies, have students learn the basics of different topics in history outside of class so that in class the students can be in large group discussions with the teacher about the material, and in small groups creating projects related to what they learned outside of class.

* In English, Flip the grammar rules, Flip basic writing techniques, so in class the students can practice writing with the teacher there to guide them. Flip citation formats; Flip the student writers conference, where the teacher either audio records, or video records while showing the student's paper, their thoughts and comments about the student's work.

* In music, Flip the following: how to play a particular note, background of a musical piece, sing/play a particular style.

* In our school, the foods teacher is having his students record themselves making a particular food at home.

* Our music teachers are having students record themselves playing/singing a particular piece outside of class.

·         Some teachers are not comfortable with having their voice/image online.

Response: Whether you like it or not there is already a lot of material online about us.

One last note: Typically Special Education teachers like a Flipped Classroom because the teachers can either a) watch the lessons themselves to better help their students and/or b) they can have the students watch, and replay, the video lessons to better understand the material. Teachers also watch the lessons with the students to help them learn how to engage in the lesson, pausing and replaying, and taking notes. A Flipped Classroom gives Special Education teachers more options to assist their students in learning processes.