why bother?
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In this video, Katie talks about why she flipped her classroom (pocketlodge, 2012).
The Friday Institute, which Katie referenced in her video, provides additional training on how to flip the classroom. |
I think it is extremely important to point out that the focus must always remain on students and the benefits to their learning, regardless of the learning environment they are in. As a result, we need to tightly align the online portions and the face-to-face classroom activities with one another so that students can see how they are connected and will benefit their understanding of the material (Strayer, 2012). Strayer (2012) goes on to discusses a teachers ability to create a more stable learning environment allowing students to take the time and thoughtfully express their entire understanding of a topic. Learning environment theories show a strong positive correlation between student’s perception of their learning environment, a strong classroom community and enhanced learning, regardless if the classroom is online or in a face-to-face environment (Fulton, 2012; Strayer, 2013).
The research conducted by Strayer (2012) showed increased cooperation and innovation in the flipped classroom, which is supported by Fulton (2012). However, Strayer (2012) did report less task orientation in the flipped classroom. Task orientation is obviously crucial to learning, however it is our job as teachers to determine how to increase task orientation in a flipped classroom. In my opinion, providing a full period in class to work on an assignment or “homework” is ineffective practice. Students need to come to class and remain engaged in their learning and we’ve seen from the work by Marcia Tate that “worksheets don’t grow dendrites” (Corwin Press, 2011). For this reason, we should not be giving students the “lecture” at home and a worksheet at school, we need to provide them the information at home so that they can come to school the next day prepared to be engaged in an activity that promotes higher order thinking. If we can successfully provide students with engaging activities at school, where collaboration and inquiry is promoted I believe we will see increased task orientation in the flipped classroom model, resulting in greater learning.
The research conducted by Strayer (2012) showed increased cooperation and innovation in the flipped classroom, which is supported by Fulton (2012). However, Strayer (2012) did report less task orientation in the flipped classroom. Task orientation is obviously crucial to learning, however it is our job as teachers to determine how to increase task orientation in a flipped classroom. In my opinion, providing a full period in class to work on an assignment or “homework” is ineffective practice. Students need to come to class and remain engaged in their learning and we’ve seen from the work by Marcia Tate that “worksheets don’t grow dendrites” (Corwin Press, 2011). For this reason, we should not be giving students the “lecture” at home and a worksheet at school, we need to provide them the information at home so that they can come to school the next day prepared to be engaged in an activity that promotes higher order thinking. If we can successfully provide students with engaging activities at school, where collaboration and inquiry is promoted I believe we will see increased task orientation in the flipped classroom model, resulting in greater learning.
Cover Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8166/6961732976_807b46ae40_o.jpg