A while back I was having my teacher observation done. The lesson that I had prepared for the day involved one of my screencast for learning SketchUp, a free CAD program. I gave a lesson that was describing what an array is and how to create one in SketchUp. This was done via video lesson because experience tells me that it would be extremely difficult for an entire class to follow this lecture and successfully create the array without asking at least 3-5 questions each. With a class of 20 that would could add up to be a lot of questions per class not to mention I would be teaching this same lesson in my other four sections. Using a screencast or video allows the students to go back and listen to the instructions as needed. I must say videos are awesome if you have a 1:1 computer/student ratio. I have found that when students watch the videos they are more focused on the content then when I am lecturing to them. They seem to take more accountability for some reason. The lesson went smoothly as planned, I was praised by my administrator for using Flipped Learning in my classroom and how well it worked. I replied thanks not knowing what Flipped learning was as I had never heard the term before.
Over the last year I have created close to 70 videos for my students to use in class not because of the Flipped Learning movement but simply because it works. One of the best reasons to use videos to teach is that it frees up the teacher to help struggling students. I have also found that my course was running about 20%-25% faster than before, allowing me to cover more material. Another added bonus is the ability to get students who were absent or at a band lesson caught up without giving them the in a nut shell version of the lesson. Preparing videos is time consuming, in my case it pays off quickly as I have five sections of the same course twice a year. In other words I teach the same lesson 10 times a year. My students seem to be disappointed when I don't have a video for the day's lesson. I have approached other teachers with how powerful this method is and am normally greeted with a comment of how they don't have time to do this. I guess I think differently then others and tend to look at the big picture. Making one ten minute video could take 30 minutes worth of time with editing. If you have 3 sections that use the video it just paid off in one year. If you have 10 more years left of teaching you just saved 5 hours of teaching time that can now be used to help struggling students. I have twenty years to go so in my case a ten minute video lesson equals about 33 hours of time that has been freed up. Please Like and Comment below. I welcome your thoughts and experiences with Flipped Learning.
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