The Flipped Classroom Concept — A Twist in the old Traditional way of Teaching

The days of traditional classroom is a thing of the past with a more advanced version of it — the flipped classroom.

The tradition of classroom lectures, days of overburdening homeworks and piles of books are slowly giving way to modern, technologically advanced modes of education. The advent of technology is affecting all of us in all possible ways and education is perhaps, one such sector where constant upgradation is taking place every now and then. A pretty exciting concept has been doing the rounds off late in the education sector- the concept of flipped classroom and it has created a lot of noise with some institutions finding good results; while others facing difficulties coping with it. Before we talk about the good and bad side, let us know what this concept is all about.

Flipped classroom is a kind of virtual classroom created by teachers for their students comprising the class lectures in the form of videos which students can see at their convenience. Hence, teachers have a lot of time left to go for one-to-one interaction with students in the classroom. On the other hand, students have the option of going through the lectures anytime, anywhere. Students have the option to see the lectures at home in computers and utilize the class timings in meaningful interaction with the teachers. This concept first came into being when two teachers, Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergman in a desperate attempt to help students who missed classes created recorded lectures online. This motivated other teachers as well to do something similar in order to help students outside the classroom as well.

This kind of classroom definitely has lot of benefits for the teachers as well as the students. Teachers and students can spend more time in solving problems and this helps to develop a better student-teacher relationship. This also helps students take their own time to learn things through video lectures for they can easily play the videos as many times as they want to learn. And teachers too, can concentrate on slow learners. Perhaps, the greatest benefit of flipped classroom is that students who miss classes due to illness or any other serious reasons don’t have to miss class lectures anymore. They can catch up with those missed lectures online!

Even if flipped classroom has a lot to offer to its users, it has some drawbacks to it. Critics believe that this kind of education can force student to invest more time in front of the screen. Besides, not all students have the chance to get hold of electronic devices like tab, computers and mobiles. That means students from the not-so-privileged background will be gaining nothing from this classroom.

Now, its on us to decide if this concept is at all doing good or bad to students. It might be individual choice; but you need to sit and give it a thought considering all these points. So, what’s your take on this?

Here is a good infographic by knewton.com on flipped classroom concept — http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/

Originally published at www.edtechboard.com on September 10, 2013.