For sure, flipped classroom can improve the quality of learning but it also requires additional teacher preparation time and energy (at least initially).
If you are a teacher and you do not know how to transform your classroom in a flipped one or you have doubts about it, you are in the right place.
Here you will find some practical tips to deal with the flipped classroom in the best way.
We are a team of teachers and trainers involved in adult education working at Fondazione Mondo Digitale (FMD) and CPIA 2 in Rome (Italy). Every day we face new challenges due to both 1. the particular target to which our work is directed (heterogeneous groups of adult learners, made of several diverse cultures and native languages), 2. the crucial changes of the 21st century.
In the flipped classroom, we found our squaring of the circle.
In fact, flipped classroom approach represents an innovative method adaptive to the needs of learners that supports their progress.
For this reason, we are pleased to share our experiences and good practices, that are the result of our experience in the classroom. Our hope is that they can be useful to you and maybe can lead you to become a flipped classroom ambassador in your organization.
The first advice is: flip your role. No longer is content delivery the focus of the class. You take on – in addition to the teacher one – the role of a tutor, a mentor, a facilitator of the learning process.
The next step is: flip your students. Make them feel responsible and actors of their learning process. They should be actively involved in knowledge acquisition and construction as they participate in and evaluate their learning. So plan together! The lesson is the result of joint planning between the teacher and students.
Do not forget to check the learning process, providing tools to control the learning process (tools for self-evaluation, use of peer to peer or teamwork methods).
Do not forget the potential of the smartphone as learning device and use attractive and easy-to-access apps.
Here two of the useful tools we often use:
It is a powerful tool to be used in a flipped classroom, because it enables you to create interactive images and videos. You can edit an image, adding tags (text, media or content from a website).
2. Google Drive
Google Drive is a free cloud-based storage service usable from all mobile devices. It enables you to share with your students a classroom-folder and create/share/correct text, sheets, slides.
It is also important to personalise and individualise the learning process for each student. Each student should get his/her own education tailored to his/her individual needs.
It is therefore clear that the flipped classroom methodology takes more time than preparing traditional teaching. You should plan time for you and your students to adjust to an unfamiliar classroom setup and maybe you may not see results in the short period, but be sure: your students will benefit from the innovative method of the flipped classroom! It will help them to develop and enhance their basic skills and key competences of lifelong learning, taking into consideration their individual needs.
For more ‘Practical Tips for teachers’ the FLIP IDEAL online training course on flipped learning will be available for free for external audience by early 2020. Stay tuned!
Written by: Fondazione Mondo Digitale, one of the FLIP-IDEAL project partners
Comments