I’ve done a fair bit of processing regarding the idea of the “Flipped Classroom” lately, despite having written very little. Being a person who hesitates to get started, especially when it comes to writing… I must contemplate that assigned blogging may be an even bigger personal hurdle than I first anticipated.* Nonetheless, it is relevant to share some of my thoughts.
I don’t believe that the Flipped Classroom is “a” pedagogy, in and of itself. A conclusive definition of the flip is virtually unheard of. It is perceived and interpreted differently depending upon an individual’s current practices and belief structures. Without a substantive change in the loosey-goosy definition that I’ve encountered, I can’t see how it would be reasonable to attempt to measure its effectiveness in the face-to-face classroom. I say this because the part of the flip that continues to be undefined is in fact what happens within that little box. You see, as far as I can tell flipping your classroom means taking the lectures outside of four square walls, which leaves an empty vesicle that an individual instructor may fill with whatever pedagogy they see as relevant.
Incidental observations report that instructors get lost in the practice of constructing their video “lectures” for home consumption and put much less effort into considering how they might make most of the classroom time that their vodcasts have afforded their students. This is where the true magic is likely to happen, in the shared opportunities that the students are provided for constructing knowledge… or not. So, what really happens in those freed up hours? The pedagogy met by the students is ascribed to them, an expression of the pedagogical viewpoint of the teacher.
Did Aaron Sams and Jon Bergman (and other early adopters of the idea) see that some instructors may choose to employ individualized, paper-based “homework” in those empty hours? Perhaps, yet this certainly wouldn’t be their recommendation. Their lean would be towards an environment that is highly collaborative, creative, and supportive in nature.
Well, it seems my description paints a picture of an “un”pedagogy likely to meet an early demise. Is this in fact the case? I would say, no. In my role as Instructional Technology Specialist** I can report that one of the professional development opportunities that has met with the most excitement, and possibly resulted in the most significant classroom changes, has in fact been the creation of vodcasts that have let lectures take a silent second to the classroom adventure that learning might afford. I don’t believe these individual instructors appreciate the potentially transformative nature of the personal learning journey they step in to, though I would say it doesn’t take long for them to figure it out.
The Flipped Classroom is an invitation to consider carefully your belief structure about how students learn. If you relegate lecture (pedagogy to the book) to a digital medium you no longer can excuse your classroom practice as not chosen but mandated through time restrictions. Vodcasts allow for teachers to let go of that excuse. An “un”definition might be exactly what they need to adopt this personal change.
Why do I draw this conclusion? I’ve come to believe that adult learners are motivated through the provision of three invaluable attributes: autonomy, mastery, and purpose (Dan Pink – Ted). Being that teachers are very likely expert learners they aren’t an exception to the rule. Exercising choice and control over a learning opportunity is a catalyst for transformation. Certainly, best practice would advise that teachers recognize the learning needs of the students they encounter, but I think most teachers are already pretty good at this. What differs between instructors is their personal spin on how this might be managed. Is one way better than another? Well, I can’t be certain. What I do know is that you can’t tell a person how to be. They just are. They can change, but this change is better embraced and more fruitfully employed if autonomous in nature. I haven’t met a teacher that couldn’t articulate what works for them. Why? Because they are a master of being themselves and this adds to the personalized feel of the community they support. Teachers cannot be carbon copies of one another, nor should we expect them to be. We wouldn’t propose this be done with our students…
Does/will research continue to advance our practice? Perhaps better than ever before. Technology has allowed for excuses to be set aside. With the excuses removed the barriers encountered are of a more personal nature, yet still harder to come by. This is a good thing. What will tomorrow’s classroom look like? A Freudian Flip will dictate that you look no further than your classroom of the present to figure that one out. But that doesn’t have to be the case. What we encounter with the Flipped Classroom is an opportunity to revise this expression, to in fact flip our pedagogy. So, you tell me. How will you define this invitation to change?
~Ruth
*[Then again, I may just be using what I know of adult motivational tendencies to my own devices. 😉 ]
**A misnomer, in today’s world!
Flipping the Classroom 
You have hit the nail on the head Ruth with regard to defining the “flip” as whatever works for each instance of a class, a teacher or a student. This means a considerable flip in terms of how we manage our classes, and I don’t mean classroom management. What I’m referring to is the complete lack of time afforded each of us to provide that “individualized” experience for each student, in each course, without a clear framework that can be easily transferred teacher to teacher and implemented with success.
Through my own experiences and our discussions on the topic I’m becoming more and more convinced that flipping the classroom can be defined as a need to find a “different” approach to teaching and learning in the digital age. No surprise, after all isn’t that what we are all trying to define though our work in EDUC 5103? To flip the classroom then might just be the start of a move to that “different” approach. Some of our discussion topics in class and various blogs seem to reveal what might be key elements in a flip to a new approach. Three of these key elements are; a move to a purely student-centric model of teaching and learning; assessments and feedback that provide a meaningful indicator for each individual student; and learning materials that are accessible anytime, anywhere, through a variety of digital and social mediums. If we can deliver on those three key elements, we may just find ourselves in a flipped classroom environment, and one step closer to defining a pedagogy for the digital age.
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