My motivation for covering lecture material outside of the lecture classroom was to build a greater understanding of the instruction being presented at the lecture to complete that week’s lab assignment. With that deeper understanding of the material I was able, if necessary, to ask informed questions about the supporting concepts that would bring meaning to my application of the knowledge through completing the lab. This was not a formalized approach by the teacher, but in his mind, the best use of the classroom time for students. His informal “flip” of his classroom spared the students the pain of a lecture on material they could easily take in on their own time, outside of class time. This left him with more time in class to help students who understood the concepts, through successful completion of the assignment.
At this point of my career I find myself seriously questioning why I haven’t attempted to emulate that approach, as anomalous as it was, in my own practice. Like so many of us in higher education, I have spent numerous class hours lecturing to students on concepts just as I was when I was a student. The lecturing has continued to occupy a considerable amount of my assigned class time, even though, I find myself often frustrated with the clear lack, on the part of the students, of synthesis of those lecture concepts as evidenced through their assignments and tests. I consider myself to be a rather dynamic lecturer. I have a good sense of humour and I do, on a consistent basis, engage many students in conversation on the concepts. The problem is that it is always the same students who are engaged, and as a group those engaged students are fewer and fewer each semester.
This blog, the conversations with my group, and other colleagues, regarding flipping the classroom, have brought me to the realization that many of my students have already flipped out of my class by tuning out of my lectures. That in itself is not a problem as I do provide a rich online repository of lecture notes, demos and supplemental material for students to access anytime, anywhere. The real problem is that they are not always engaging with those materials either. There is a growing sense across all faculty members in my program that if we give students anything to read longer than a short bulleted list they will not bother. Would they view recorded lectures? Why would they if they don’t tune in, in person? Is a lecture of any kind necessary, recorded or live?
Should I consider formalizing the “flip” that my SAAD professor informally implemented years ago? The additional time provided by flipping the lecture out of my class would enable me to work with students more directly, one-on-one and in small groups. We could work together building an understanding of the concepts delivered online while working through the synthesis and application of those concepts. I can’t help but believe it to be a much more constructive use of my time, and the students’. And along the way, the students might just start to gain a greater appreciation for, and fully engage with, the materials available to them online.
Flipping the Classroom 