With online teaching, the time is right to ban lectures and flip the classroom
When I attend lectures online from home, I easily get distracted. Only occasionally, I can blame the presenter. At home, there are too many distractions and, apparently, not enough incentives to ignore them.
The biggest distractions are just one mouse click away. Like a quick look-up on the internet or some administrative chore that I think I can do while staying engaged, but that I cannot really. Asking questions gets harder as soon as I am no longer sure that the presenter hasn’t already said what I missed.
Online, I can avoid embarrassing questions easily as others in the audience may not know that I’m listening. I don’t have to ask questions. I often don’t have to attend the lectures, let alone to remember later what the lecture was about.
How different is that for our students.
Students are expected to pay attention and encouraged to ask questions. In every class. More than one class a day. It doesn’t surprise me that they have a hard time staying focused.
I have tried various ways to make my lectures more engaging, until earlier this year. When I was preparing a 3pm Spring course, I decided to ban the lectures, and flip the classroom. That was a lucky move as the format appeared ideal for online teaching…
