The Flipped Classroom: It’s Not Just About Watching Videos At Home

Note: This is a revised version of a post I wrote sometime in 2013

What exactly is a “Flipped Classroom”?

With the most common application a of flipped classroom, students review direct instruction in a prerecorded video format before class as homework. In-class time is then dedicated to discussions, interactive exercises, and independent work that would have previously been completed at home, under the guidance of the teacher, who is present and available to respond to any questions that may arise.

I’ve been using computer-based video as an instructional tool since 1999.  Needless to say, I was a bit envious when I saw a guy featured on “60 Minutes” in 2012 being hailed for his innovations in using video as an instructional tool.  But kudos to Sal Khan and the Kahn Academy for bringing attention to what potential this technology has. 

Part of what prompted me to begin creating my own custom video tutorials was the fact that some students aren’t always totally attentive when I give a presentation.  Also, I sometimes found myself a bit frustrated when I had given what I believed was a near-perfect demonstration to a class, only to have a student miss it for one reason or another. (Bueller, Bueller?) 

But once I began using my own video tutorials I noticed a significant improvement in the performance of my students.  Much of the curriculum in Career and Technical Education courses require demonstrations of skills for various hands-on tasks.  Using video that students can view and review at the own pace really benefits most CTE courses.  In addition, visuals from videos such as these benefit students that might otherwise struggle with interpreting technical reading material due to a disability or a language deficiency. 

   

Years after primarily teaching CAD and other computer-related courses, I found myself teaching a mechanical drawing class (Pre-Engineering Design we called it) for the first time in 14 years.  I was in a bit of a panic. 

How was I going to create video tutorials for a class that wasn’t centered around learning software applications?  How was I going to teach skills in a room that wasn’t very conducive to whole-class demonstrations?  The room was much larger and had a very different configuration from when I last taught in it.  

The answer was what I call “live-action” video.  I spent the summer in the drafting room with a video camera on a tripod recording myself demonstrating technical drawing techniques on a drafting board. 

An “Aha!” moment came early in 2010.

I had two “Pre-Engineering” classes the first semester.  When it came time to introduce my first video, I projected it to the entire 2^nd period class then instructed them to watch it again at their own pace using the computer at their drafting workstations. 

However, I observed that not too many of the students were really reviewing the video and almost every student demonstrated some degree of misconception while completing the first drawing exercise. 

When my 4^th period class met later that day, I briefly described the exercise, but I didn’t show the video to the class as a whole.  Instead I instructed them to watch the video individually on their computers.  As result I observed almost no misconception of the first drawing exercise. 

Now some teachers feel threatened by this technology. Perhaps it’s not so much the technology, but the fear of how politicians and “reformers” might abuse this technology to downgrade the value of teachers.  In fact whenever I present at conferences I am always posed the question “Aren’t you afraid that you won’t be needed as a teacher?” 

Well guess what? I’ve been using video tutorials since 1999 and I’m still teaching.   

While the videos provide explanations and examples, once the students begin working on their activities they still need oversight and guidance plus they still have questions.  The videos are not always and will never be 100% effective with every student.  Some students need more personal interaction than others.  Their work still needs to be evaluated and graded.

However, this tool has allowed me to give more individualized attention to students and has helped them to focus on the lesson.  Visitors to my classroom usually observe that I’m still a pretty busy guy. 

Plus I still strongly believe the timely withitness of a teacher, the teachable moments, the personal interactions and the student-teacher relationship are things that are vital in the education of our young people and cannot be replaced by digital technologies.  

On a related note, In 2010 I created a YouTube channel featuring many of my tutorial videos.  Since then, whenever one of my former students contact me with a question about something they remember from my class, I can refer them to a video on that YouTube Channel

Now in 2020, teachers face the uncertainty of uninterrupted face-to-face instruction.  "Flipped" strategies are not a substitute for in-person teaching, but by having such digital videos in their arsenal teachers will be able to provide some continuance of instruction if and when the need arises.