Flipped Classroom

    The flipped classroom model has become much more prevalent label in education compared to years past, but what does it mean? Flipped classrooms involve students learning a lecture or lesson on their own as homework and then, by the time they come back to class, the information should be known. The teacher then can use class time to answer questions, review material, and create activities around the lesson, assuming the students have acquired the new information. According to an article made by Harvard University, "Flipped Classrooms," this model is correlated to active learning, where the students are engaged in learning the new information shown through discussions, activities, beyond listening and independent reading. Benefits of this model include flexibility, "students can learn at their own pace," and "students taking responsibility for their own learning." These benefits are important for the student in progressing in their education and can also create better social experience at school when discussing and engaging with the lesson, rather than having that class time strictly for lecture. 

Explanation of flipped classroom with visuals how education responsibilities are flipped

    Throughout my education, I've had varied experiences with flipped classrooms, some positive and some negative. The reason why some experiences were negative were because of the teacher more than the actual flipped classroom model. The teacher would provide us a previously recorded lecture video, to which it was a little too long to just be for homework. After we were to watch those for homework, the teacher wouldn't provide any engaging activity or answer many questions about the lecture and just incorporate more quizzes and graded material. There was no incentive to actively learn and felt very overwhelming at times. I believe that a flipped classroom can be successful with the right kind of teacher where they are willing to further explain any material where there is confusion on. The positive experience I've had with flipped classroom involved a much more engaging atmosphere. There were activities, games involving the material, teacher led discussions, and was a safe space to ask questions about any of the material. I think overall to have a effective classroom where the students are actively learning and completing the assignments, the teacher needs to take the initiative to create a safe space for the students to discuss with their peers, create opportunities for those introverted students to participate in discussions and create incentives for the students to stay on task for these assignments due to the independence of this model. 

                                                                             Upside down image of someone typing on a laptop 

with the words "Flipped Classroom" labeled on it