I’ve heard people argue that you don’t have to flip every single class when you first start flipping. After experiencing firsthand the incredible amount of time required to pull off a single flipped lecture, I can really see the value of NOT committing to the complete, instantaneous change. However, there are a couple of reasons I decided to take the plunge and jump into the icy water of “Flip-Mania” in one fell swoop, flipping everything in sight, instead of carefully wading in, inch by inch.
- Our students have been participating in traditional classrooms for FOREVER. Most of their education has taken place inside a box where they were asked to sit still, think inside their brains, be good, and above all else, be quiet. Changing expectations and habits in the classroom (or anywhere!) is hard work and I wanted to create an entirely NEW classroomparadigm to help ease this transition. I knew that if I flipped a few lectures at a time, students would be less likely to commit to the new approach.
- I really believed my flipped class would be BETTER and MORE EFFECTIVE than my traditional approach. This made it extremely difficult to justify only partially flipping the content.
On the other hand, I do think there were areas of my flip that could have been significantly better if I had simply slowed the pace and taken more time to get everything done. While I was able to have video lectures recorded at least a few days in advance, my class activities often were not as stimulating, organized, interesting or engaging as they could have been. I am sure that if I had taken more time to prepare, I could have had a more effective product during the first round of implementation. But by simply biting the bullet and taking the plunge, I was able to dive into the experience and begin the learning process much faster than would have otherwise been possible.
I am grateful for the tiny bit of crazy that lives in my brain (and for the patience and understanding of my students!), because I now have experiences under my belt that will enable a much more thoughtful, effective approach this coming fall.