10 Common Mistakes in a Flipped Classroom (part 2)

A week ago we looked at part one and the first 5 common mistakes teachers make when starting out on their flipped journey. Here you will find the remaining five mistakes to consider before flipping your classroom! .

6. Your videos are too long.

Short videos are good videos! It’s tempting to just record previous lectures / classroom sessions and bang them up online for students to watch. These are BORING! We’re not trying to digitize ourselves here, we’re trying to provide key content for our students to consume so that when they arrive in our repurposed classroom, they are equipped with enough knowledge to begin learning and applying their skills in active, real world contexts!

Videos 3-6 minutes in length are much easier to digest, have enough time to cover 1-3 key concepts and will ensure your students are more inclined to watch. Don’t settle for making your existing classroom content available online, instead create engaging learning experiences for your student – an exciting journey from video to classroom!

7. Failing to check student understanding.

One of the most surprising mistakes I see people new to flipped learning make, is not checking student understanding of your content. It’s all well and good to have your students consume key concepts at home via flipped video, but if they don’t understand that content then the entire experience is pointless.

You must provide an opportunity for you and your students to receive feedback on their level of understanding. The easiest way to do this is to provide some form of automated quiz at the conclusion of the video. This can be done several ways, but the simplest way to do this is to create a Google Form asking 5-10 focus questions based on the video content.

Everyone successfully answering the questions? Great! Extend your students in the classroom lesson following. Lots of students struggling? Not a problem! Revisit key concepts to ensure a foundational level of understanding before progressing onto the next concept. In addition to this, you can add student questioning and teacher lead focus questions into the mix during your repurposed classroom time!

8. Not repurposing your classroom space.

The power of the flipped classroom is not in the flashy, cool content you make. It’s in the ability that the consumption of this flashy, cool content gives you to repurpose your classroom space from a traditional learning environment, to a more blended one.

What does that mean? Simply put, instead of chalking and talking for 40 minutes, then sending your students out the door with homework to complete where they don’t have the support of their peers or teacher – we repurpose our classroom space, so students are immediately focusing on higher order thinking skills and creating, evaluating and analysing with their peers. Instead of being at the front of the classroom, you become a guide on the side, facilitating discussion, student-student relationships and helping create authentic and meaningful learning experiences.

9. Thinking flipped learning is a silver bullet.

Flipped learning is not going to save education or make you a great teacher. Hell, it’s not even suitable to use for a number of lessons! Some people use the method for single lessons, others use if for a few units throughout the year.

However, when implemented successfully it can:

  • Allow students to be self-paced
  • Provide better support for students
  • Improve student-teacher and student-student relationships
  • Improve higher order thinking skills
  • Provide access to your expertise anywhere at anytime

10. Going alone.

There is a huge community of flipped educators willing and ready to support you to begin flipping your classroom. Don’t feel that you must do this alone. Reach out to people and ask for help!

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