Flipped Learning

It was started by Bergmann and Sams. It was seen by Jon and Aaron who were teachers at Woodland Park High School. They were noticing how students were missing classes due to sports and events. Then, they found the software that allowed them to put voice into their ppt which would allow them to send the ppt to students. And these are not the only teachers who have seen satisfaction with this program. Research found that teachers had 88% improved job satisfaction. And the teachers were even impressed with what it did for students. Studies showed that 67% of teachers saw improvement in student grades. This most likely happens because  even if students miss a class the teacher can send them the lectures and notes showing students what they missed. Also, it allows teachers to get more 1:1 attention with the students because they are moving the lectures outside the classroom. And since the lessons are made into videos the students are able to look over information as much as they want to better understand the concepts. There are 5 major points to this classroom that are described in more detail in the article Flipped Learning: A Response to Five Common Criticisms.

                                          

One benefit to Flipped Learning is that it individualizes learning. Students are giving the lectures by the teacher which allows students to work at their own pace. Also, it allows students to get the one on one attention they want. Another benefit is that it eliminates students falling behind when they miss. In the Flipped classroom the students are sent videos and podcast of the lesson so even though a student might miss class they can look at the videos and see what they miss. Another pro is that it has shown to reduce behavioral problems in students. Since students can work at their own pace the students don't start acting up because they are behind or gifted. The people falling behind can have more time while gifted students can work ahead.

A con to the flipped classroom and the biggest one is that some schools simply don't have the technology to fulfill the needs for this style of teaching. Some schools just can't afford the money to supply the technology. Another disadvantage of a flipped classroom is that all the students' homework time would be spent in front of a computer screen. It is already hard to get students up away from the computer and TV, and now they are being put in front of it to do homework too. Not to mention that students learn in different ways and not every student can learn in front of a computer. The next con is that the students are going to fall even more behind if the students don't watch the videos. The whole system is based on the videos and if the students aren't watching them they will fall behind.

I believe that flipped learning could have huge implications on teaching in the future. The classrooms are going to be purely based on technology. Students will be taught responsibility a lot earlier because they will be working at their own pace, but it is up to them to get their work done. There eventually might be no need for classrooms anymore. Teachers will make universal lessons that students can few from home to teach themselves. Desks might be replaced by computer stations. There might never be a need for paper and pencil in a classroom ever again.

-Ben Cox