The flipped classroom teaching approach is technologically driven and allows students to do that aspect of work normally done in class to be done at home.The class time is used mainly for scaffolding learning and clarifying issues in the already learned content.
As I understand them, they are rather like taking part of the blended learning classrooms (based on Vygotskyan ideas (ZPD)) home to work on, and no, they don't devalue or replace classroom teachers but rather, put more demands on them to scaffold what is learned at night back inside the classroom during the next day. If you want a wonderful paper on what we teachers must do in the 21st century classroom (and what she offers will bridge us into both flipped and blended learning and using IT as an information source), try Susan R. Goldman (2012) Adolescent Literacy:Learning and Understanding Content-about developing the Literacy skills implied in each content area, enough to process content across the curriculum in the present day, and what we as teachers need to think about as we face them in the classroom.
That's right; but the teacher must be in the class to solve the doubts of the students.
First let's get your question right: this approach is technologically supported and enhanced vs. driven. Secondly, "scaffolding and clarifying" is not the only focus of the Face-to-Face/classroom time. Starting from 'explanation" all levels of the revised Bloom Taxonomy plus project and inquiry based learning can successfully take place in the flipped classroom. Teaching presence (from the CoI model) is instrumental in the successful implementation of the above. Thus, yes, one could argue that the role of the traditional/sage on the stage teacher is eliminated. Instead we enjoy the emergence of the guide-on-the-side role of the teacher.
It is heavily based on social constructivism. I think it's wiser to see the flipped classroom in this light rather than to focus on the technological aspect. You shift direct instruction, the mere note reading/ taking - or the conventional access to data - to the home environment but this does not inherently require tech use. Tech has made this a lot easier (hence the recent explosion of flipped models) but it is not a cornerstone of the model by any means. Importantly class time becomes collaborative and interactive. But social constructivism does not claim that the teacher is redundant. On the contrary, their role is significant in this process that seeks to lead the learner to the ZPD. That is exactly what the teacher does in the flipped model: provide the key questions that will test out the students' understanding, push learners beyond their raw first understanding of concepts, and trigger the application of their newly acquired skills on real world problems. Funnily enough I think, from experience, that teaching within a flipped classroom is a lot more work than using conventional lesson plans. A lot of work goes into of course firstly providing resources for exploration of concepts at home that are relevant, up-to-date, flexible, differentiated, fully accessible and appeal to the learner. Secondly the flexibility of the interactive class then requires subtle, inconspicuous design if you want the learner to truly feel at ease and empowered in an interactive culture. The teacher has a significantly richer role, but one that is much more subtle in its design, flavour and intentions.
Hi Frederic,
Thanks for your reply. I am being guided by your discussion as I move along.
Jacqueline.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology
- Mental Processes
- Learning