Flipped Classroom

Great Guest Blog on Flipping the Classroom

Posted on by David Grebow


Wendy Roshan: With Flipped Classroom, ‘Old School’ No More

By taking advantage of technology, math teacher Wendy Roshan details how she has evolved her teaching using the ‘flipped classroom’ model.

by Wendy Roshan

I started teaching in the early 1970’s, when one of the most important resources teachers had was the mimeo machine.  All worksheets and tests had to be handwritten and run through a hand cranked copier, which would turn your hands blue from the ink. There weren’t computers in every classroom, we didn’t use SMART Boards (just chalk) and students came to class carrying pencils and notebooks, not smartphones and tablets.

Wendy Roshan

Yet, 40 years later, my computer, iPad, and trusty iPhone has revolutionized my life as a teacher. Today, there’s more information at my fingertips than ever before, literally. I can type up an assignment and email it to the whole class, or even have tests taken (and instantaneously graded) online.  Students can stay in touch with me, and I can communicate with parents 24/7 by email.  It’s a major change from the past, and has a lot of benefits for my students.

However, the biggest change for me occurred a few years ago when my daughter, Stacey Roshan, decided to follow in my footsteps and become a math teacher too. However, having grown up in a different generation, she became a different kind of teacher. While I continued to resist new technologies that were starting to be used in the classroom, these tools came easily and naturally to her. In 2009, Stacey attended the Building Learning Communities Conference and learned about Camtasia Studio, software that would allow her to literally flip her classroom. She began video recording her lectures, which students watched for homework, and during class she walked around the classroom and worked with students 1-on-1 when they needed help solving problems.

After much coercion, Stacey finally convinced me to give the flipped classroom a try, and just one year later my entire teaching life has been turned upside down. I began flipping my AP Calculus class last year, and as a result, 80% of my students scored a “4” or “5” on the AP exam, with half of the class earning a perfect score! Not only were my students thrilled at how high their scores were, I had one of the most enjoyable and rewarding years of my teaching career, as I was able to spend significantly more time working with students individually and in small groups, helping them solve problems, rather than lecturing – and that’s really my favorite part of teaching.

I had no idea how much technology could change the learning experience for me and my students, and I’m not sure I ever would have given into change if Stacey hadn’t practically forced me too. After such an exhilarating year, Stacey and I have been spending the summer preparing for the challenge of flipping our Algebra II classes, which we will both be teaching this coming school year.  We have been making videos together and are really excited to provide a new group of students with an entirely new learning experience then they’re used to.

While at one time, I was only looking forward to my retirement, I now am looking forward to the new and exciting year ahead.  Technology has made me feel young again, as the boredom and tedium of the mimeo machine is gone, and in its place is a whole new world!

Wendy Roshan started her career in Montgomery County public schools teaching Math.  She taught in Tehran, Iran at the Tehran American School for 3 years, was an Adjunct Professor at Montgomery College, and taught at the Langley School in McLean, Virginia. She is currently in a math teacher at the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, where she serves as department chair.

Case Study: Flipped Classrooms Work for Financially Challenged Students

Posted on by David Grebow


flipp

I’ve been advocating for the flipped classroom since I first read Daniel Pink’s article in the UK Telegraph 3 plus years ago. Since then some amazing changes have been happening (see previous post). This case study grabbed my attention for several reasons. It is written by the Greg Green, the Principal at Clintondale High School in Clinton Township, Michigan. It talks about how he flipped what he terms “… a financially challenged school near Detroit”. The flipped version of the school way out-performed the standard model that was failing in almost every respect. And he wraps it up with the following statement:”Instead of placing blame on each other, we need to recognize the solution, which has been right in front of us the whole time. It’s time to change education forever.”

Thank you Greg Green, my new Education Hero of the Week! You showed us that money is not the problem, teachers are not the problem, unions are not the problem, and the kids are certainly not the problem.
The problem is the lack of vision and ability of people running the schools to change the educational model from the traditional disabling approach to one that is truly enabling for all. The answer really has been in front of us for several years now. Time for the people who control the schools and administer the districts to learn the lesson.

Courtesy Troy Steinby Greg Green,

Greg Green is the principal at Clintondale High School in Clinton Township, Michigan.

I’m a principal at Clintondale High, a financially challenged school near Detroit. I’m in charge of doing my best to make sure that Clintondale students get the best education possible when they walk through our doors.

There are constant hurdles to making this happen. We are a school of choice, so not all students come in with the same skill levels in reading, math, science or other subjects. Almost 75% of our students receive free or reduced-price lunch because of today’s economic climate, and a large part of our student population commutes from Detroit, which often times takes an hour or longer, especially if the bus is late.

Every year, our failure rates have been through the roof.  The students weren’t paying attention, they weren’t doing their homework, they were being disruptive, or they weren’t coming to school at all. Sadly, these issues are not that uncommon, particularly in this economic climate, where the percentage of students who fall into the poverty category is increasing by the day.

It’s no surprise that these issues are happening in our schools. Everyone from politicians to parents admit that our educational system isn’t working, and we’re all screaming for change.  But no one gives advice on what changes are needed to improve education. The time has come to realize that the problem isn’t simply lack of effort or money, but the misalignment of our school structure.

To watch this happen every day, where it is your responsibility to try to provide the very best you can for the students, is beyond frustrating. It’s heartbreaking.

Our staff agreed that our failure rates were not good. But how do you go about addressing these issues with no money, no additional resources and no clear solution from the experts who already know the system is broken?

How do you get your staff on board with change you want to implement, but no one else has ever tried it on a mass scale? How do you get your students excited about learning when they’ve never shown much interest before?

You flip it. Here’s how it works:

At Clintondale High School, our education model wasn’t working, and the people suffering most were students. We recognized that a change was needed and applied for a grant from TechSmith, a local company that makes screen and lecture recording software. They provided us with some technology licenses and helped us create a flipped class structure, which we first implemented in the ninth grade and eventually put into action for the entire school.

Our flipped school model is quite simple. Teachers record their lectures using screen-capture software (we use Camtasia) and post these lecture videos to a variety of outlets, including our school website, and YouTube. Students watch these videos outside of class on their smartphone, in the school computer lab (which now has extended hours), at home or even in my office if they need to. Now, when students come to class, they’ve already learned about the material and can spend class time working on math problems, writing about the Civil War or working on a science project, with the help of their teacher whenever they need it. This model allows students to seek one-on-one help from their teacher when they have a question, and learn material in an environment that is conducive to their education. To change the learning environment even further, we’ve used Google Groups to enable students to easily communicate outside of class, participate in large discussions related to their schoolwork and learn from each other.

In addition to flipping the classroom, we wanted to give our students the opportunity to learn about each subject or topic from someone who is a recognized expert in each area. So we decided to team with other schools across the country and world. Now, some of our calculus students are able to watch video lectures from a math teacher in a private school in Virginia, and our students learning about the Holocaust can watch videos made by a teacher in Israel who just brought her class to Auschwitz. This type of learning network will enable us to close the gap of inequality that schools are subjected to because of their financial standing, and provide all students, no matter what district they’re from, with information from the best teacher or expert in any field.

At Clintondale High School, we have been using this education model for the past 18 months. During this time, our attendance rate has increased, our discipline rate decreased, and, most importantly, our failure rate – the number of students failing each class – has gone down significantly.  When we first implemented this model in the ninth grade, our student failure rate dropped by 33% in one year.

In English, the failure rate went from 52% to 19%; in math, 44% to 13%; in science, 41% to 19%; and in social studies, 28% to 9%. In September of 2011, the entire school began using the flipped instruction model, and already the impact is significant. During the first semester of the year, the overall failure rate at the school dropped to 10%. We’ve also seen notable improvement on statewide test scores, proving that students’ understanding of the material is better under this model.

Our schools have long been structured so that students attend class to receive information, and then go home to practice and process this information. When many students go home after school, they don’t have the resources necessary to understand, and sometimes don’t complete their homework. Many families are not able to provide the expertise and technology needed to help with their children’s homework, so when we send kids home at the end of each day, we’re putting them into environments that are not capable of supporting their learning needs.

By reversing our instructional procedures so that students do their homework at school, we can appropriately align our learning support and resources for all of our students, and eliminate the inequality that currently plagues our schools. When students do homework at school, they can receive a meal and access to technology (during a declining economy), and an overwhelming amount of support and expertise. When students do their homework at school, we can ensure that they will be able to learn in a supportive environment that’s conducive to their education and well-being.  For the first time in history, we can provide a level playing field for students in all neighborhoods, no matter what their financial situation is.

As we continue to expand and improve the flipped school model, it’s important for educators to come together and work with each other toward a common goal of fixing our education system through teamwork and collaboration, so all students can have access to the best information and materials. Instead of placing blame on each other, we need to recognize the solution, which has been right in front of us the whole time.

It’s time to change education forever.

[NOTE: Part of an online article first printed January 18, 2012 –  http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/18/my-view-flipped-classrooms-give-every-student-a-chance-to-succeed/]

The Flipped Corporate Class?

Posted on by David Grebow


FLIPTHINKING_1713383c

Flipping the classroom has been a topic since Daniel Pink wrote about it in 2010. In Cyberspace & Internet Time that’s far away and long ago. Seems to be happening only in Grades K-12 and Higher Education. The very places that tend to be the slowest to change. If you’ve been off the planet for the last few years, here is a primer on flipping the classroom. I’ll add this before we get to the Big Question.

Here’s the latest piece I read from Dr. Nellie Deutsch:

“What is a flipped class? In a flipped class the teacher prepares the students, their parents, and other stakeholders for the lesson in advance. Teachers create assignments that motivate students to watch a video or connect with the content and try to learn on their own at the comfort of their homes. Learning on your own is not easy for most people. Many prefer to connect socially for learning. After the students are introduced to the material, they come to class ready to engage with the teacher and the other students on the content and beyond. Being introduced to the content in advance prepares the students for the class. The students and their parents (K-12) know what each lesson will be about. The teacher prepares the students for the classwork. The students can ask questions, engage with their class mates, and receive individualized instructions during class.

The rationale behind the flipped class is to engage learners in and out of the classroom. 

Benefits of the Flipped Class

There are many benefits to flipping the class:

  1. Less stress because know what to expect.
  2. Boost confidence because can prepare for the class in advance.
  3. Parents can get involved.
  4. Teachers can be better prepared.
  5. Everyone is on the same page.
  6. Raise interest and curiosity in students.
  7. Students can make up work if absent.
  8. Students learn about taking responsibility for learning
  9. Teachers can cater to student needs.
  10. Students can receive individual attention.
  11. Students can go at their own pace.
  12. Students can become independent learners.
  13. Teachers and students can focus on the process of learning.

Flipping Online Classes

I love teaching online because technology allows me to experiment with what I do in my face-to-face classes. I decided to flip a fully online class. I flipped Learn English Online (LEO) online course. Students can watch the recordings ahead of time in preparation for the face-to-face or the online (asynchronous and/or synchronous class). I invite other teachers to do the same. You can use WizIQ live class to create a video recording for your students and flip your face-to-face and/or a fully online class.” 

Here is a great story about flipping you class:

… And here are 5 things you might have wanted to know BEFORE you flip it:

Now to the Big Question: I cannot understand WHY in K-12 grades and colleges and universities classes are being flipped every week, and I have yet to hear about it happening in a corporate educational environment. Aside from getting parents involved, learning is learning at any age. A flipped class in a corporation makes even more sense, since everyone is under greater time constraints and learning has become more and more performance based  – what you know-how to do versus what you know. So being able to practice with others and with an ‘expert’ either in the room or on the screen would be a perfect fit. Instead we get endless PowerPoint slides,  sometimes homework, and usually no real chance to see if we know what we’re supposed to know-how to do.

Not a great use of employees or teachers time. Yet the model seems part of most companies learning DNA.

I’ve noticed that even MOOCs seem to be replicating the old ‘sage on the virtual stage’ for tens of thousands of students at a time. At least they can form up into Communities of Learning that can graduate into Communities of Practice.

We’ve been working on flipping a corporate class lately and looked for other examples. We came up empty handed. If anyone has heard of a company smart enough to use the flipped class model please let us know. And hats off to all the hardworking teachers in K-12 and Higher who are making this new and better model a reality.

Flipapalooza – When Education Moves @ Lightspeed

Posted on by David Grebow


The next two articles actually make me believe that change can come to Education sooner than later. It’s a case of ‘if it’s broken fix it’. It’s the model that was first talked about here by Daniel Pink two years ago, in September, 2010.   Two years in the world of education is mere pedagogical blink and yet here we are.

I added some sources for you to learn more about this rapidly spreading way of learning in the new Idea Economy. The next step is to get corporate education flipped even if it’s a virtual classroom so the lecture is your “homework” and the time spent with your peers and instructors practicing what was preached is your schoolwork.

All I can say is “Flip it, flip it good!”
The secret flipped side of Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/coach/resources
An Educator’s Take on The Flip http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/1534
Here are two articles, the first from NPR and the second from Liz Dwyer, Education Editor for Good Education.
From NPR 

Welcome to the 21st century classroom: a world where students watch lectures at home — and do homework at school. It’s called classroom flipping, and it’s slowly catching on in schools around the country.

When Jessica Miller, a high school sophomore in rural Bennett, Colo., sits down to do her chemistry homework, she pulls out her notebook. Then she turns on an iPad to watch a video podcast. Whenever the instructor changes the slide, Miller pauses the video and writes down everything on the screen.

Miller can replay parts of the chemistry podcast she doesn’t understand, and fast forward through those that make sense. Then she takes her notes to class where her teacher can review them.

Back in the classroom, chemistry teacher Jennifer Goodnight walks up and down the rows of desks giving verbal quizzes, guiding students through labs and answering questions.

Goodnight is one of about five teachers flipping their classrooms at this small school on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. She’s part of a growing group of teachers using the concept since it emerged in Colorado in 2007.

In Durham, N.H., Oyster River Middle School seventh-graders Patrick Beary and Morgan Bernier play with StoryKit, a free app that helps middle-schoolers put together simple presentations, and elementary students make storybooks.

Goodnight’s been teaching for 12 years and has been flipping her class for the past two. The effort is paying off with better test scores, she says.

“If they’re going to have their iPods all the time, might as well put a lecture on it,” Goodnight says. “So on their way home from school, on the bus or whatever they can maybe watch your lecture for homework that night. It’s truly about meeting them where they’re at, and realizing that the 21st century is different.”

Jerry Overmyer, creator of the Flipped Learning Network for teachers, agrees. “The whole concept of just sitting and listening to a lecture is really, that’s what’s getting outdated, and students are just not buying into that anymore.”

Overmyer’s network has almost 10,000 members. He says the flipped classroom concept is particularly popular in math and science classes, where students can easily become frustrated working problem sets at home.

And while the video component of the program seems to get the most attention, he says what really matters is how teachers use classroom time.

“It’s about that personalized face-to-face time. Now that you’re not spending all of class time doing lectures, you’re working one on one with students,” Overmyer says. “How are you going to use that time?”

While there’s little academic research on the concept, it appears to work in a variety of schools from Colorado to Illinois and Michigan. Outside Detroit, Clintondale Principal Greg Green tested the idea in 2010 as a way to curb disciplinary issues and boost test scores. It worked well enough that Green flipped the entire school, which has a large number of at-risk students.

Jessica goes over her work with teacher Jennifer Goodnight. Goodnight says "flipping" her class has improved students' test scores.

Grace HoodJessica goes over her work with teacher Jennifer Goodnight. Goodnight says “flipping” her class has improved students’ test scores.

“Now you can simply just take about five steps and record a video and then simply send it to your students and parents and keep everyone informed,” Green says. “So now we’re becoming even more transparent.”

That transparency can go a long way toward winning over parents who are skeptical of the idea.

Back in Colorado, Bennett High School parent Denise Patschke was once one of them. She questioned classroom flipping videos when her son first came home from school with one. But as time went on, she began to watch them.

“I can listen to the video as well when they need help, and then I can try to help him understand what [the teacher] is saying,” Patschke says.

Chemistry is tough enough for high school students — let alone parents whose last chemistry class was 25 years ago. A flipped classroom, advocates say, could make helping students easier for everyone.

From Good Education – One Small Step for Students One Giant Leap for Education          

lecturing.professor

Another sign that the college lecture might be dying: Harvard University physics professor Eric Mazur is championing the “flipped classroom,” a model where information traditionally transferred during lectures is learned on a student’s own time, and classroom time is spent discussing and applying knowledge to real-world situations. To make it easy for professors to transition out of lecture mode, Mazur has developed Learning Catalytics, an interactive software that enables them to make the most of student interactions and maximize the retention of knowledge.

Mazur sold attendees at the recent Building Learning Communities conference on this new approach by first asking them to identify something they’re good at, and then having them explain how they mastered it. After the crowd shared, Mazur pointed out that no one said they’d learned by listening to lectures. Similarly, Mazur said, college students don’t learn by taking notes during a lecture and then regurgitating information. They need to be able to discuss concepts, apply them to problems and get real-time feedback. Mazur says Learning Catalytics enables this process to take place.

The way the software works is that first the instructor inputs the concept she wants students to discuss. The program then helps create either multiple choice or “open-ended questions that ask for numerical, algebraic, textual, or graphical responses.” Students then respond to these questions using electronic devices they’re already bringing to class, like a laptop or smartphone.

The instructor can see a snapshot of who “gets” a concept and who still needs extra help, and then pair up students accordingly. The students even receive personalized messages on their devices telling them who to talk to in class, like “turn to your right and talk to Bob,” until they master the concept. And, when it’s time to study, they can access questions and answers from the class discussions.

Learning Catalytics was so successful in Mazur’s physics classroom that it’s being rolled out across Harvard, but it’s also open to other users on an invitation-only basis. If this tech-based flipped classroom approach takes off, maybe we’ll end up with a generation of students that retain what they’ve learned, long after the final is over.

FLIP IT, FLIP IT GOOD!

Will a Harvard Professor’s New Technology Make College Lectures a Thing of the Past?

Posted on by David Grebow


This is straight from Good Education by Liz Dwyer. It actually makes me believe that change can come to Education sooner than ever before. It’s a case of ‘if it’s broken fix it’. It’s the model that was first talked about by   Here are a few more articles and sources for you to learn more about the new way of learning in the new Idea Economy. Definitely trumps the Industrial Economy model of mass education for mass consumption.
The secret flipped side of Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/coach/resources
An Educator’s Take on The Flip http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/1534
There’s a lot more and Liz Dwyer’s piece is a great place to start …

Education Editor

lecturing.professor
Another sign that the college lecture might be dying: Harvard University physics professor Eric Mazur is championing the “flipped classroom,” a model where information traditionally transferred during lectures is learned on a student’s own time, and classroom time is spent discussing and applying knowledge to real-world situations. To make it easy for professors to transition out of lecture mode, Mazur has developed Learning Catalytics, an interactive software that enables them to make the most of student interactions and maximize the retention of knowledge.

Mazur sold attendees at the recent Building Learning Communities conference on this new approach by first asking them to identify something they’re good at, and then having them explain how they mastered it. After the crowd shared, Mazur pointed out that no one said they’d learned by listening to lectures. Similarly, Mazur said, college students don’t learn by taking notes during a lecture and then regurgitating information. They need to be able to discuss concepts, apply them to problems and get real-time feedback. Mazur says Learning Catalytics enables this process to take place.

The way the software works is that first the instructor inputs the concept she wants students to discuss. The program then helps create either multiple choice or “open-ended questions that ask for numerical, algebraic, textual, or graphical responses.” Students then respond to these questions using electronic devices they’re already bringing to class, like a laptop or smartphone.

The instructor can see a snapshot of who “gets” a concept and who still needs extra help, and then pair up students accordingly. The students even receive personalized messages on their devices telling them who to talk to in class, like “turn to your right and talk to Bob,” until they master the concept. And, when it’s time to study, they can access questions and answers from the class discussions.

Learning Catalytics was so successful in Mazur’s physics classroom that it’s being rolled out across Harvard, but it’s also open to other users on an invitation-only basis. If this tech-based flipped classroom approach takes off, maybe we’ll end up with a generation of students that retain what they’ve learned, long after the final is over.