While the pre-class work (videos, guided notes, etc.) is labor-intensive and time-consuming, a fantastic classroom experience makes flipping worthwhile for both the teacher and the students.
Imagine having a class where the instructor doesn't have to deliver a lengthy lecture on the content base, and the students are not busy with comprehending the material, hurrying to take notes and feeling clueless or confused all at the same time. The beauty of flipped teaching is that both the teacher and the students are prepared to take learning to the next level. When the class meets, - They can discuss challenging topics and try to solve difficult problems. - They can compare similar/contrasting concepts for a more holistic understanding. - The instructor can share insightful ideas on the material. To be effective, the majority of the class time should probably be conducted via student activities, group discussions or other active learning strategies, which means the instructors do need to develop (or continue to sharpen) their skills in this area. However, even for someone who is more comfortable giving lectures, he/she would immediately appreciate having more time talking deeper to a more prepared audience. Next: (4) Love to Lecture? You'll Love Flipping
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A colleague in a liberal arts discipline once asked me how my flipped teaching is different from him asking students to read the book before coming to class. My responses are:
1) Expectation. Students in flipped classes must know the majority of the material. They study a lot more than doing a preview level of reading. 2) Accountability. In my flipped classes, various measures are created to help students learn and to also prevent them from not learning. I can effectively weed out "pretenders" or "free-riders". Here is how I raise expectation and enforce accountability in flipped teaching: Video lessons and/or reading guides. For advanced classes like Real Analysis or Modern Geometry, I use a detailed reading guide. But for most classes I teach, I use video lessons (up to Calculus III.) Each video lesson is 8 to 15 minutes long. (A recent research claims that 8 minutes are optimal for student attention but one sometimes simply has more to say.) If you have a lot of material, break it up into smaller chunks. Guided notes. These notes are based on the video lessons, and students must use them while watching the videos. My guided notes require students to write down important information, answer/solve basic questions, and self-assess their understanding. The notes are spot-checked in class for grades. Check-in Quizzes. Students also take a short online quiz, 5 multiple-choice questions or so, based on the video lessons and guided notes. The questions are rather straightforward Students must complete the quiz before the class begins. The better the instructor holds students responsible for learning before class, the more effective the flipped teaching would be. Next: (3) In-Depth Learning in the Classroom In this series of blogs I will discuss how to teach using the flipped classroom pedagogy, and why this method works well based on my own experience.
What is flipped teaching? In a conventional math or science class, students learn the material in class (classroom), and review/practice harder problems at home (homework). In the flipped classroom, the tasks for classroom and homework are reversed: Students learn the materials at home and before class (homework) and they do more advanced learning in class (classroom). Why do I like flipped teaching? - Students are accountable for learning at least the fundamental material. - Students come to class with sufficient preparation to learn at a higher level. - Spending class time on learning activities such as group discussion. What are the possible challenges for instructors flipping for the first time? - The mindset, the pedagogy and the expectations. - Preparing the pre-class material for homework time. - Designing the active learning experience for classroom time. - Creating effective grading and assessment strategies. Next: (2) Preparing Before Class |
AuthorDr. Ben Weng Archives
September 2021
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