Flipping the classroom

First, I have to say that this blog was initially written in Dutch (by me) a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have given it more thought and therefore the content of this blog might differ with the Dutch one. No harm done, it only got better since I only got more enthusiastic!

Flipping the classroom sounds very interesting... I first encountered this term on inspirational heaven 'Pinterest' and was intrigued.... I started to come across it so often that I had to find out what the fuss was all about. I immediately loved the concept because it gave me a different vieuw of education and that is totally inspiring. Flipping the classroom could give students the motivation to start working on their own, they could create their own insights because of it and their attitude could change from consuming to thinking for themselves. In a nutshell: I love it! If you don't know what it's all about (surely you wouldn't be  reading this blog otherwise ?) watch this video to get an idea.

Now, this video below is a Ted talk where Salman Khan speaks, it is quite a long video (20 min.) but it is worth every second of it. I would almost say that watching it is mandatory! PS: watch closely behind Khan at 20:08, Voldemort is in the audience....

Feeling inspired? I am! Unfortunately as a language teacher I cannot use this website since it has no Language content. So Mr.Khan, if you are reading this, I (and I'm sure Lotte would too) would love to help you with that :).

Have a look at the infographic below of you are more of a visual person:

In a nutshell:

As the word 'flip' already says a ' flipped lesson' is a lesson which is turned around: homework happens in class and lectures happen at home. Students watch videos at home where their teacher or someone else explains what they need to know through video (youtube, Khan academy, etc). They then come to class to make their ' homework' which is doing assignments, projects, experiments, etc ; simply applying what they have learned from the videos they have watched at home.

The benefits of Flipping the Classroom are:

• Students can watch the video's at their own pace. They can watch it more than once whenever they feel the need. They can pause or rewind it. 
• Students don't have to feel embarrassed about asking a what seems like obvious question, they can simply rematch an explanation again online. 
• Students get the chance to educate themselves if they are not able to come to class.
• Students can ask questions to each other or the/a teacher or coach whenever they want, online. 
• Teachers are available when they are needed most: when students apply what they have learned. 
• Teacher have more time on their hands for helping students since they can use content of other teachers like videos, online assignments, etc to prepare their lessons. 
• The quality of the teacher-student relationship is improved because no time in class is spent on explaining things which is very time consuming. Also, the teacher can moderate students' progress online thus knows exactly who to help and with what. 

Disadvantages could be:

• Students won't be able to do their work in class if they don't do their homework ; watching a video online. Handling this could create some problems. Depending on what website the teacher and students use, the teacher can or cannot view students' activity and progress. If they cannot view these they will not know if students have done their bit at home. This will only become obvious once a students starts trying to apply what they haven't learned when they are already in class. This could create a more serious problem since one teacher could approve of this behavior and say "Watch the video now and then get to work" where another teacher would remove this student from class, the ticket to class being having watched the video. When teachers disagree about how to handle this situation it could bring down the whole concept of Flipping the Classroom. 
• Finding quality videos where the instructor speaks according to the students' language level can be a difficult task. This could be solved by making your own videos and sharing them with colleagues. However, making a really nice video could cost a lot of money and time and most of us don't have too much of those. 

OK. I hope you now have an all-round view of what flipping the classroom is. The big question is if you feel like you can start doing this in your classroom. If you do think about the following things: What will students watch at home? What will they do in class? How can I monitor their actions and progress? Which materials do they need? What is the main form of communication online?

Another possibility of flipping the classroom is through ed-ted. Watch the following video and find out!

With ted-ed you can flip your classroom using a video made by ted-ed or by using a youtube video. Isn't that great!!

Here are some other resources that you can use to find material:

• Youtube for Teachers
• Youtube for Schools
• Youtube Spotlight
• Ted.com
• You can also have a look on our Pinterest page for materials

Let's get flipping!

Roos