Education Week, Vol. 32, Issue 02, Pages s6, s7, s8

Published Online: August 27, 2012

Published in Print: August 29, 2012, as Educators View 'Flipped' Model With a More Critical Eye

Includes correction(s): September 4, 2012

Educators Evaluate 'Flipped Classrooms'

Benefits and drawbacks seen in replacing lectures with on-demand video

By Katie Ash

A growing number of educators are working to turn learning on its head by replacing traditional classroom lectures with video tutorials, an approach popularly called the "flipped classroom." Interest in that teaching method was in full

view this summer at the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference in San Diego, where almost every session on the topic was filled to capacity.

The movement was inspired partly by the work of Salman Khan, who created a library of free online tutoring videos spanning a variety of academic subjects, known as the Khan Academy, which many view as a touchstone of the flipped-

classroom technique. But, much like the Khan Academy itself, the approach is attracting increasing scrutiny—and criticism—among educators and researchers.

The term "flipping" comes from the idea of swapping homework for class work. Students typically are assigned the video-watching for homework, freeing up class time that used to be spent listening to lectures for hands-on activities and

application of knowledge, which used to serve as homework.

However, as most educators who have begun to use the technique are quick to say, there are a multitude of ways to "flip" a classroom. Some teachers assign a video for homework, while others allow students to watch those videos in
class. Still others make videos for the lesson, but do not require students to watch them at all, giving students a variety of resources and allowing them to choose what they utilize to learn the required information.

But just as the Khan Academy has recently come under fire from some in the education blogosphere for what critics say is flawed pedagogy, the flipped-classroom technique has also garnered criticism from some who believe that flipping
is simply a high-tech version of an antiquated instructional method: the lecture.

“My concern is that if you're still relying on lecture as your primary mode of getting content across, … you haven't done anything to shift the type of learning that's occurring,” said Andrew Miller, an educational consultant who

works with the Alexandria, Va.-based professional-development group ASCD and the Novato, Calif.-based Buck Institute of Education, which works to promote project-based learning in classrooms.

"That's not how all of us learn," he said. "Just because you flipped your classroom doesn't mean your students will watch the videos. How are you engaging your kids?"

Ramsey Musallam, a chemistry teacher at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, a private Catholic high school in San Francisco, shares Mr. Miller's concerns.

"Everyone initially thought that [flipping] was an innovative way [to teach] because we're so rooted in this idea that students don't like homework," he said. "However, when you step back a little bit, what you're looking at is simply

a time-shifting tool that is grounded in the same didactic, lecture-based philosophy. It's really a better version of a bad thing."

Mr. Musallam, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco's college of education, began flipping his classroom in 2006, but after noticing little difference in student learning despite the extra in-class time

for labs and hands-on activities, he shifted his perspective.

He still uses flipping as an instructional technique, but instead of giving students the video initially, they first go through an exploratory, guided inquiry-based period. Next, the students receive basic instructions and materials to

complete lab work and observe the phenomena they are studying.

Only then, "when I feel that they can't form any more ideas on their own," does Mr. Musallam make videos to address misconceptions and provide instruction, he said.

Delaying the direct instruction as much as possible increases students' curiosity, he said.

Using the flipping technique is not necessarily negative, Mr. Musallam said, but teachers should be realistic about what it really is.

"I say keep the flip alive, but lower the volume and think about it like we think about anything," he said. "It's a thing you do in the context of an overarching pedagogy," not the pedagogy itself, he said.

Sharing Questions

Jonathan Bergmann, the lead technology facilitator for the 600-student K-8 Kenilworth school district in Illinois, is considered one of the pioneers of the flipped movement. He and his former fellow teacher Aaron Sams began using the flipping technique in 2006 at the 950-student Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, Colo., to teach chemistry.