Videos – Make or Find

• Only make videos for your students if it is the most appropriate thing to do. Consider using someone else’s videos to save time, and if you aren’t good at making your own. You can even have your students help you search. There are lots of free videos online and you can buy the author’s if you teach chemistry. They use Camtasia Studio but there are lots of options. You may want to draw on the screen with a pen. You can do so with a separate tablet or just use an interactive whiteboard. This chapter contains lots of tips for making videos your students will love. Your tech department can help you make the videos available online and you can burn a DVD for students without online access at home. Do one topic per video and keep the length between 10 and 15 minutes.

PE, PBL, & Foreign Language

• Jon and Aaron discuss briefly how teachers of various subjects can use the flipped concept. Even physical education teachers can use the ideas. In their case, kids can learn the activity by watching a video so when they arrive at class they can get moving right away rather than standing around while the teacher explains what to do. Flipping can facilitate project-based learning, which allows students to control some of the content. They also were pleased to find that first year foreign language students where spending much more time speaking in the target language during class time.

Mastery Learning

• This idea entered the profession in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Few teachers use it, however, as it is difficult to teach and monitor students learning different things at the same time. Flipping can make mastery learning easier as students can watch the videos appropriate for their current understanding. Assessment can be done with a bank of exams online. Students take the test they are ready for and if they don’t demonstrate mastery, the teacher can provide remediation prior to taking another form of the assessment. The teacher checks with each student daily and organizes groups who need to work on the same topic or do the same lab activity. This chapter includes a sample unit plan. Jon and Aaron warn that this constant activity on the teacher’s part can be tiring. They also must be comfortable letting students control their learning.

It Seems Like a Game and There Is No Just Getting By

• The flipped mastery approach turns out to be an easy way to differentiate and personalize the classroom for all students. In the traditional classroom this is very difficult or impossible. Students take assessments they are ready for and don’t move on until they demonstrate understanding. This prevents frustration down the road. The classroom becomes a learning space and the focus is no longer on the teacher. Unit assessments are given and graded on computer and students get instant feedback. If they show mastery, they move on. If not the teacher remediates and the student tries an alternate form of the test. Just getting by no longer happens. You can use the term level rather than unit to make it seem like a game where you unlock a level. The students who like the sit and get form of delivery will usually come around, and some students will start bugging other teachers to flip.

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