Flipped Classrooms

To flip or not to flip?

Flipped classrooms have some pretty big implications for program design and delivery in 21st century schools, both in the classroom and in the library space.

 

Classroom

In terms of the classroom, flipping frees up a lot of time for teachers to work individually with students on problems and questions as they have already learned or experienced the content at home. Where it has been reported to work practically, flipped learning has seen a beneficial effect on student learning in the classroom, as students are able to take responsibility for their own learning, experience content at their own pace to increase knowledge and understanding and potentially get through the content quicker than they ordinarily would in class (Earp, 2016). However, this relies on a number of assumptions of our students, particularly around having access to the work (some may not have internet access or an appropriate device), possessing the literacy and information literacy skills to work their way through the content unassisted, and being motivated to actually engage with the content at home.

The same could be said for myself over the course of this degree as the units could be seen as ‘flipped’ in some capacity (although delivered online we have the opportunity to interact with our tutors/convenors/peers and ask questions). I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to go through the content at my own pace and feel like I have connected well with the content and the way it is delivered, although I have found staying engaged to be a personal challenge at certain points of the year. In saying this however, and knowing how disconnected I was during my first degree at Macquarie University, I have definitely seen an improvement in my own learning process over the year or so that I have been doing this course and would ultimately put that down to the flipped nature of the content.

 

Library

In terms of library program design and delivery, flipping content is a very interesting idea. Programs that target information literacy by using Web 2.0 tools or specific online resources would require explicit training for students AND staff so that they can get the most out of them (although most online tools/resources have troubleshooting facilities available to users). In fact, this process could potentially mirror very closely that of the flipped classroom, in which students would be provided with the understanding around a tool/resource to be used in the next lesson and then given time in the lesson to apply the tool/resource to relevant problems and activities. This would allow TLs to focus specifically on working with students to improve their understanding of how to apply their new knowledge most effectively, without having to spend half the lesson cementing students’ knowledge around a certain tool/resource. The same could be applied to library research lessons, whereby students are given time at home to learn how to use research tools to find specific information and then given time in class to use the tools and their new understanding and skills to complete their research task.

 

 

 

References

Earp, J. (2016, February 3). Homework culture key to flipped learning success. Teacher. https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/homework-culture-key-to-flipped-learning-success

Teachings in Education. (2017, June 20). Flipped classroom model: Why, how and overview [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/BCIxikOq73Q