Technology Can Flip the Classroom

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The concept of the flipped classroom, where students learn a lesson at home and do "homework" in the class, has been around for some time, but technology might be the key to making it work.

Students learn the material prepared by the teacher at home, in their own time, and most importantly, at their own pace. In class, the teacher acts as a tutor, helping students and providing a student-centered type of classroom. The traditional classroom is all about having the teacher lecturing for 40 to 80 minutes about the subject to a passive class. Flipped classrooms are believed to be more student-centered.

In the flipped classroom, the students come back to class with the subject learned in a more dynamic, entertaining way. They are now ready to be guided by their teacher, who acts as a facilitator. The students are engaged in activities where they will apply what they learned at home. If they are stuck, the teacher goes into action and helps to make sure the student's knowledge and understanding of the topic keeps on flowing.

Flipped teaching is not against face-to-face interaction, as some critics suggest. On the contrary, it enhances the students' interaction with their teacher in the classroom, in a more collaborative and friendly atmosphere.

But a flipped classroom relies on engaging online material that students can study at home -- usually screencasts provided by the teacher, or video courses like the ones provided by the Khan Academy or Crash Course. It is only after they've learned the lesson at home that students come to class to put that knowledge into practice.

Watch this video where Aaron Sams, a chemistry teacher, who in 2006 started using and developing this educational tool called Flipped Classroom, explains how his Flipped Classroom works:

What about the students' perspective? Here is what students from The Flipped High School, the name by which the Clintondade High School is known, say:

Greg Green, principal of the ClintonDale High School in Detroit, flipped the entire school. As a result, the students are more engaged, and scores have considerably improved. The technology they use is centered around Tech Smith's Camtasia Relay, Wacom displays and tablets, and Dell laptops. The school has reported a reduction of failure rates of 33 percent, and a reduction of 66 percent in their discipline problems.

How can CIOs help the flipped classroom? Supporting it by making sure the teachers in their educational institution have the right tools and IT support to create an efficient technology-assisted environment for their students, and by helping teachers in the creation of good streaming video presentations. Producing a video lecture is a one-time thing, and it will be used multiple times, making it a great time investment, but only if the material is engaging and useful.

Whether you're really ready to flip all your classrooms, there are concepts any CIO can put into place. Many CIOs often center their technology investment on in-class experience. Flipped classrooms demonstrate the value of allowing technology to leave the school and enter the home. Engaging students in learning needs to be a 24-hour effort. The only way that is going to happen is for CIOs to change their outlooks.