Because not all learners ARE committed and motivated, the flipped lesson plan needs to hold students accountable for the out-of-class activities. Some possibilities:

• Clearly explain the theoretical basis for using flipped learning. particularly why it results in better learning.
• Ask students to write a response to the textbook and video lecture before coming to class.
• Ask them to take a quiz at the beginning of class and students who do not achieve a certain grade must do remedial work.
• Find ways for teachers to directly monitor the out-of-class work, such as having students discuss their new knowledge with partners using technology, and having the teacher or TA be part of the discussion to monitor it.

Students who have integrative motivation will generally like flipped learning because they see that it is a good idea.  Students who are not motivated may need more instrumental motivation.

Article Using the flipped classroom to enhance EFL learning

Margarete, an interesting dilemma. Firstly, students are actively trained to NOT work in this mode. I don't just mean that they aren't trained in the mode. This is true, but they are also trained in their schooling to not believe that this mode is 'real' teaching. Real teaching (in their experience) tells them answers but doesn't ask them to be thoughtful. Most systems are geared to test knowledge moderately superficially, so they expect to be told the 'right' answer. This is not consistent with flipped teaching.

Students do not value this mode because it is inconsistent with their beliefs about learning from their experiences in school.

Students are uncomfortable in this mode because it is threatening. It is in conflict with their previous lived experience with schooling, so will actively try to position you to go back to a mode that is less threatening, even if less effective.

As far as the ethics goes, that is a tough question.

1. Should students be penalised because the system leads them to believe the wrong thing about what is valued in learning and they can't accept a different view quickly?

2. Can you give early lessons in working in this mode?

3. If this is a first year course, can you examine your criteria so that the students who are not comfortable with a flipped mode are not penalised too much so they learn to understand it for later years?

4. Can yhou make early assessment formative, mostly giving quality feedback, to help them understand that the flipped teaching mode is the most effective and how to use it?

Hi Margaret,

The problem with flip classrooms as it is called is that it is rooted in an assumption: all learners will be committed. The reality is that this is often not the case. My experience is not far removed from yours in terms of attendance and commitment. The truth is that with the current dominant attitudes that students display, anything that is not mandatory is ignored. As such, you will find that there will be beneficiaries, but they are usually small in number.So, in response to your questions

1. The ethical issue will naturally gnaw away at the conscience of a committed teacher. What about the remaining 300 students? A legitimate question, but one that we have no answer for. In our clamour for technologically driven engagement with our learners, we forget that they are human beings and will be influenced in terms of participation by the realities of the world in which they live. If it is not compulsory for them to attend, then there is nothing you can do. The other side of that issue though, is that you would constantly worry about what else you can do to better engage them and encourage them to attend. In my experience, there is nothing beyond making it mandatory. As has been noted in the literature, two of the weaknesses of this approach are: a. reliance on preparation and trust-- which we cannot guarantee, and b. significant workload at the front end. With this, the assumption, wrongly, had always been that the workload is largely the teachers. The reality is that it is for both the teacher and the learner. The learner has got to engage pre and post your own initial input. So, a lot of benefit for those who engage and obviously, nothing for those who do not.

With regard to your second question, I say students are human and when regulation is in their hands, they generally act human. As in every sphere of life, some people will take advantage when they can and this can mean a lack of commitment, while others are fully committed. So, there is no easy answer. You will have to see if you can 're-flip the flipped classroom'. What I have done is to integrate mandatory attendance into non-mandatory attendance. Requires long-term planning, but worked for me. There are sessions that I make mandatory and built into these sessions are elements of formative assessment, feedback etc. Others, which are non-mandatory, invites the optional engagement. The trick is that for them to be able to perform in the mandatory sessions, they will need to fully engage with the non-mandatory sessions.

Not sure if I make sense, but that is what my experience tells me.

Because not all learners ARE committed and motivated, the flipped lesson plan needs to hold students accountable for the out-of-class activities. Some possibilities:

• Clearly explain the theoretical basis for using flipped learning. particularly why it results in better learning.
• Ask students to write a response to the textbook and video lecture before coming to class.
• Ask them to take a quiz at the beginning of class and students who do not achieve a certain grade must do remedial work.
• Find ways for teachers to directly monitor the out-of-class work, such as having students discuss their new knowledge with partners using technology, and having the teacher or TA be part of the discussion to monitor it.

Students who have integrative motivation will generally like flipped learning because they see that it is a good idea.  Students who are not motivated may need more instrumental motivation.

Article Using the flipped classroom to enhance EFL learning

This paper aims to analyse the trends and contents of flipped classroom research based on 20 articles that report on flipped learning classroom initiatives from 2013–2015. The link has been added for further perusal. sounds interesting!!

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2274

The flipped classroom model is getting much attention of late. Some say it is the most radical move by education in years. Others say it hinders teaching and doesn’t work. What are the Pros and Cons of a Flipped Classroom? see the links below.

https://www.academiaapps.com/flipped-classroom-pros-and-cons/

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-pro-and-con-mary-beth-hertz

The problem with flipped classrooms is not new as many have noted.  What to me is at issue here is HOW Well the Teacher/Researcher understands how students learn.  The research literature from psychology and neuroscience suggests that all of us naturally self-regulate and are intrinsically motivated to use these skills in academic settings IF they PERCEIVE learning tasks and strategies are meaningful and personally relevant.  For some, group activities at preferred while for others, learning alone (or with their choice of mentors or peers) is preferred.  The KEY is proving clear explanations of what is expected and giving students choices as to hw they want to accomplish course goals.  The American Psychological Association's (APA) Educational Division addresses these issues in online teacher modules that can be accessed at:http://www.apa.org/education/k12/learners.aspx

It is a good student strategy to ignore what is not monitored! I believe that teaching and testing need to go hand in hand. Every class room session needs to be linked to a quiz, to be taken ideally within 24 hours.  This is independent of what style of teaching is adopted.  The quiz may consist of only a few questions, it does not matter as long as the questions touch the essentials taught and are well designed. 

Self-assessment approaches are also a very powerful way to engage students ...  They are pretty good t identifying what they know, do not knw, want to know, and do not care about.  If we adults do all the testing and designing of all the tests, who really cares except those students with a high need to achieve and do well?  That eliminates a good number of others ...

Margarete, you described my problem with flipped classes exactly. I would love to implement this approach but unfortunately I found that many of my students do very little preparation before coming to class, so my strategy has been to introduce just a couple of weeks and assigned the 'out of class' component as a group project. This worked well and gave students an intro into what flipped classes are about, without a long term commitment. 

Whilst the question mentions the notion of a “flipped classroom” it is really about the far more fundamental issues of the role of the teacher and the learner and what ‘learning’ is and how it takes place. It challenges us to consider and examine the processes, principles and purposes of higher education and what the ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ bring to the table.

In response to question ‘a’ I would suggest that the manager of learning has a responsibility to ‘teach’ in a manner they feel achieves their objectives. These objectives may be the transfer of knowledge or the development of more critical and analytical capacities. In some cases this may not be what the learner wants. (a ‘lecture’ where you can sit at the back with a coffee….may be seen as desirable by some students...but that does not make it good learning!!).

With respect to “b” - Students can usually handle what they are used to. They may be unsettled by something new, a relationship between teacher and learner which they find culturally strange or in some cases which requires them to be active rather than passive.

The ‘flipped classroom’ can take many forms and it does offer challenges to the ‘traditional’ model of learning. Some changes require us to make radical steps….others can be achieved incrementally.

I would suggest where learning habits are involved ‘little steps’ to empower the learner are the best way.

I don't have the experience of a "flipped classroom" scenario, but think that the following and similar articles on the Web might be useful in considering this question.

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/blended-flipped-learning/10-pros-cons-flipped-classroom/

Possible Drawbacks to Flip Teaching

https://owlcation.com/academia/Learning-via-the-Internet-The-Flipped-Classroom-and-Education

Hello Margarete,

I recently edited an issue of the Mathematics Education Research Journal. One of the articles in this special issue dealt with Flipped Classrooms. It might be of interest to you.

Kevin

http://link.springer.com/journal/13394/28/1/page/1

It sounds like you are doing amazing work with your flipped class model! In my experience, encouraging student engagement in both the out-of-class and in-class activities is crucial in a flipped classroom model. At home - after students view online lectures - students might be prompted to take quizzes, participate in an online discussion forum, or respond to prompts and submit their thoughts at key points in the lecture using a tool like EdPuzzle. Likewise, in-class engagement can be encouraged by having student participate in mini-workshops where they work in pairs or small groups to tackle discipline-specific problem. Students receive credit for participation in both the in-class and out-of-class components. This helps invest them in their own learning and encourages their participation and attendance.

In my modest consideration the achievements of flipped classroom tasks will largely depend on the way we motivate our students and the type of tasks we ask them to do: the closer these are to their field of interest, the better option we have for them to engage in the process.

I work with information technology students and I am used to asking them to use tool “to do things”. Depending on the task, I ask them to work in couples, trios, or in teams of four students.

I have excellent experiences in teaching writing; with most of the students taking active part in the sessions. This is what I do.

I often use Just for Laughs Gags videos, related to the topics I am teaching. I put the video in Moodle, together with other content for them to study (grammar, vocabulary, speech acts, among others) and ask my students to subtitle and/or caption the scenes using .srt or .txt files, trying to be a funny in the process of writing the subtitles.

They work independently for some days and, when the time comes, we discuss all the subtitles in class, and select the best ones in terms of humor and good writing. I put “the best works” in the site for the subject in Moodle, for all university students to see what have been done.

Communicative functions, vocabulary and grammar are mostly acquired by my students, and though I know there is still a long way to go, I feel a great sense of satisfaction.

In my short experience as a teacher I consider that this way of teaching helps the students a lot. In my classes I practice in seminars and workshops, I give them the bibliography for the activity and they are in charge of preparing a material that addresses the topic to be treated. Most take it very seriously, and do a good job. When a team exposes their work the others ask them questions, it is something similar to the role of the teacher (the teacher exposes and the students ask). In particular I like this method.