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© 2012 SAIS www.sais.org
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The Flip Needn’t Flop By: Holly Chesser Published: September 2012
Launching its new Lunch and Learn series, SAIS will host a number of educational leaders across the country to share their expertise in an informal setting at our headquarters in Atlanta. Our first Lunch and Learn highlights one of the hottest topics in education today,
“flipping the classroom.” Matt Scully, Technology Director of Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C., will be presenting on this form of blended learning on September 24th.
No doubt you’ve heard the buzz about flipping by now, but like the telephone circle game we played as kids, the original intent has lost some of its clarity. Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergman, the pioneers who coined the term “flipped classroom,” are delighted to see such widespread enthusiasm but would like to shift the focus from the practice to its purpose. As Brian Bennett, an early adopter, so aptly states, “The flipped class is an ideology, not a methodology.” As traditionally understood, the flipped classroom reverses instruction and homework so that students receive content at home via taped lectures and then complete homework in class under the guidance of their teachers. Advocates argue that flip teaching allows students to move at their own pace and to rewind and review when necessary so that class time focuses on meeting the individual needs of students and ensures that students who miss school don’t fall hopelessly behind. The rise in popularity of Khan Academy, an online collection of more than 3000 video tutorials, helped catapult the meme of “flipping” into the mainstream educational vocabulary. But as adoption has become more commonplace, many educators have begun questioning whether content delivery strictly in the form of a lecture is any more effective when watched at home. How does “flipping the classroom” engage the reluctant learner? How does the teacher ensure that the students watch the videos? How does one method of content delivery meet the needs of students who would benefit from multiple instructional methods? What if not every student learns best through a screen? Matt Scully, our Lunch and Learn presenter, sees these questions as an opportunity to move the focus of flipped teaching away from the videos to the increased interaction between students and teachers in the classroom. He argues that “flipping” creates an environment where the students have to assume greater responsibility for their learning and where more hands-‐on constructivist activities can take place with the teacher as guide. He also encourages teachers to move beyond the lecture via video to “homework” assignments that are interactive and engaging and that act as formative assessments for teachers to gauge where there are gaps in understanding.
© 2012 SAIS www.sais.org
the conversation continues inside of
SAISconnect http://saisconnect.sais.org
Matt promotes adapting the traditional model further by adapting the “why, what, how” learning structure to the flipped classroom. Begin with an initial focus on inquiry, “the why,” by assessing prior knowledge and igniting interest. Assign the content, comprising the “what,” for at home review. Ask the students, now sparked by interest and armed with content, to apply what they know, “the how,” in class. The flip needn’t flop. It just needs to be reenergized with the reminder that it’s not about the video; it’s about the learning.
