Flipping: A light goes on

By grespa on August 7, 2018

(Last Updated On: )

By Beth Lamb

So, you are a digital class or teacher? You work in a 1:1 environment? From a paperless school? That means you’ve cracked it right? The digital utopia is yours, you are a 21^st century educator leading edge, etc, etc.

But somewhere in the back of your mind is this nagging doubt. Is this it? You have attended conferences, PLD, you can converse about the SAMR model and TPACK but still your class has really really expensive typewriters?

If this sounds even a little like you, fear not you are not alone. Teachers everywhere are waking up to realise that ‘being digital’ does not by itself improve education. We need to find the time in the busy day for teachers to do what teachers do best – Teach! How is this achieved? ‘Flipping’ and ‘Inflipping’ is the answer.

Flipping makes sense

Imagine having students come to lessons front loaded with some of the ideas and concepts you wish to teach. Imagine a struggling student being able to gain access to the demonstration/content as many times as they require without embarrassment or stress. Imagine parents and caregivers being able to ‘see’ the lessons. A student off school? No problem. For teachers who care about students, flipping just makes sense.

Schools and parents are experiencing huge financial stress by purchasing devices because educators say learners need digital. I would suggest that for schools not to embrace flipping is a negligent misuse of the possibilities afforded by these devices. School leaders need to embrace flipped learning as the meta strategy for all education across the curriculum and across the school levels. Flipping is hard work but rewarding work and makes a difference. Until now digital classrooms could without question claim to have engaged the students as never before – but can that claim be extended to raising achievement?

Sound processes and resources

There is now an overwhelming body of evidence as well as anecdotal teacher and student stories that prove this works. Fear not the transition to flipped. No longer will you sound like a lone nut rambling about videos. There are sound processes, resources and PLD to give you strength in supported numbers as class by class, flipping takes on education. The fact that this is a global pedagogy, well documented and supported, will assist you in informing your parents and all other stakeholders about how you are changing your practice for the better. Having a good grasp of the research behind the outcomes for flipping is essential to empower you to go beyond the gut feeling of this being a great change.

I challenge you to give flipped learning a try and please share your journey with others. Log into the global community and join in with the exciting discussions.

Beth Lamb is a 1:1 Digital Immersion Facilitator for the Tai Tokerau Education Trust and a Google Certified Educator Levels 1 and 2. She currently leads a digital immersion cluster in Whangarei and will be presenting at next month’s RESCON NZ. More at resconnz.com