Don’t make these mistakes with flipped learning

From stale practices to no accountability, even flipped learning can fail students

Flipped learning has taken off in classrooms across the country, but what many educators are realizing is that the new toy feeling of videos as homework is wearing off. The reason: You can’t re-package stale teaching techniques as something new.

To get the most out of flipped learning, the trick is in the design.

During a recent edWeb.net webinar on flipping the science classroom, Marc Seigel, a chemistry teacher at Middletown High School in Middletown, N.J., explained how four years ago, the concept of flipped learning was intriguing and just catching on.

“At first, I used a handheld camera to tape some lectures and post them on my website as a supplement for students. But I didn’t use them for instruction yet,” he said.

Seigel soon began posting podcasts on YouTube as homework assignments for students, and asked students to complete tasks in the classroom. According to Seigel, this worked for approximately one month before students lost interest again.

“I began to lose track of what day of the week it was,” he said. “It was sort of like a vacation where everything blended together because it was the same effortless things day after day. And that’s not good.”

According to Seigel, the students began to lose interest as well, and that’s when he realized he’d been making classic “rookie” mistakes with flipped learning—mistakes some teachers make with regular teaching methods as well.

(Next page: Flipped learning mistakes to avoid)