Initially, when I thought about this idea I saw the "flipping" as occurring between the teacher and the students. I thought it was more about teachers stepping back and letting students dictate more of the learning and activities. Now that we have talked a little more about it I understand it to be more about leaving the lectures/reading/content for outside of class and discussing, doing activities and assignments during class time.
I tend to agree that this is not a new concept, although the invention of powerpoint may have changed the face of it and it got a trendy new name. I think some classrooms would definitely benefit from this and I think that quite a few classes (especially in some disciplines) have already been embracing this idea for years now. I definitely think that some classes need a new idea if they are still assigning reading and then lecturing over the material during class time. That is a waste of everyone's time! The classroom should be a place to discuss ideas with others and clear up confusion.
So, overall... good idea, but maybe with a little modifying.
I actually like the idea that it's flipping traditional student/teacher roles, because I think that if you do it successfully that kind of happens naturally in a lot of instances. To me, flipping the classroom really means flipping everything in the interest of engaging your students more fully. I also think it flips the environment of the classroom, bringing the more informal, perhaps more fun and welcoming environment to the class and enhancing interactions with your students.
ReplyDeleteI too like the idea of flipping roles between student/teacher. I think specifically in our discipline flipping the classroom has been around for a while... maybe because it is more of a social science...who knows. I do agree that at times there should be more modifications!
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