Flipped Classroom – Pros, Cons, Tools for Implementation

By now, most teachers are familiar with the concept of flipping the classroom. The concept consists of watching the lecture portion of instruction outside of class, leaving more time for critical thinking activities during class. This model allows students to become self-directed learners. But like most instructional methods, it has it advantages and disadvantages; it is not for everybody. So here are few pros and cons of the flipped classroom. Later in this post, I have some tips to make it easier.

Pros

1. Allows for deeper exploration of subject matter
2. Provides more practical application in class
3. Promotes student collaboration
4. Lectures can be watched multiple times by students
5. Greater access to material by parents
6. Students work at their own pace

Cons

1. Requires significant time investment
2. Must trust students to come to class prepared
3. Testing can become problematic (See Pro #6)
4. May create or increase a digital divide

Tools for Flipping

If you’ve read this far, you probably have some interest in flipping your classroom. It is not a coincidence that the first item on the con list is time. The biggest concern of most teachers who flip the classroom is the time it takes to create lectures. Here are a couple of tools to help with this issue.

EdPuzzle

EdPuzzle is an website that allows teachers to access pre-made lectures from other sites such as Crash Course or Khan Academy. The site also allows teachers to embed their own questions into videos, holding their students accountable. The site also allows teachers to upload their own videos. The site is free for basic functionality.

Screencastify

For those with a little more time, or who want more control over the content, Screencastify is a screencasting extension that works with the Google Apps for Education. This extension will record the screen, webcam, or the screen with the webcam embedded in the corner of the screen. Teachers can use pre-existing slide shows or presentations and record their lecture, and save it all to Google Drive or share through Google Classroom. This takes longer than EdPuzzle, but is easier than creating all new lectures entirely from scratch.

Other sites you might want to check out

• Flipped Learning Global Initiative
• Flipped Learning Network