The History of the Flipped Class

How the Flipped Class Was Born


Tomorrow I am skyping into the Insight and Innovation for Technology Leaders Conference in Chicago. Scott Meech and Dan Rezac are leading a session entitled Flipping the Classroom. Dan has been asking me via email today about where the whole idea of the flipped classroom came from. I enjoyed sharing with him where all of this came from and realized many of my readers have not heard the story and the chronology before. So if you are interested on where the Flipped Classroom came from, here is my attempt at the history of it. Note that this is how we see this happening. There may be others who also came up with the same or a similar idea about the flipped class. This is only how I have see this develop.

In the spring of 2007 Aaron was thumbing through a technology magazine and showed me an article about some software that would record a PowerPoint slideshow including voice and any annotations, and then it converted the recording into a video file that could be easily distributed online. As we discussed the potential of such software we realized this might be a way for our students who missed class to not miss out on learning. Thus, we began to record our live lessons using screen capture software. We posted our lectures online so our students could access them. When we did this, YouTube was just getting started and the world of online video was just in its infancy.

In all honesty, we recorded our lessons out of selfishness. We were spending inordinate amounts of time re-teaching lessons to students who missed class, and the recorded lectures became our first line of defense.

Our absent students loved the recorded lectures. Students who missed class were able to learn what they missed. Some students who were in class and heard the live lecture began to re-watch the videos. Some would watch them when reviewing for exams. And we loved it because we didn’t have to spend hours after school, at lunch, or during our planning time getting kids caught up.

However, we never could have expected the side-effects of posting our lessons online: the emails began. Since our videos were posted online, students and teachers from all over the world began thanking us for our videos. Students, just like ours, who had struggled with Chemistry found our videos and started using them to help them learn. We participate in several online science teacher forums and we began to share the links to the recorded lectures, and teachers from all over the country began to take notice. Chemistry teachers began to use our video lectures as sub plans and some new teachers used them to learn chemistry content so they could teach it to their students. All in all, it was amazing to see what we were doing in our small town being noticed across the country.

As we began this journey we had no idea that what we were doing was going to spread beyond our four walls. Then, out of the blue, we got an email from a neighboring school district wanting us to come and share with them about the Flipped model. They even offered to pay us! So we packed our bags and spent a day in Canon City, CO. Most of you have sat in staff development training where your principal or superintendent has brought in some “expert:” someone from out of town with a slide-show. Well, we were those “experts.” When we started most of the teachers were sitting there with a glazed expression, as if they were daring these two yahoos to capture their attention.

As we shared our story, their slumped bodies began to become straighter. Soon the teachers in the audience were asking questions and seemed genuinely interested in the Flipped model. And then as we broke them into groups to begin practicing how to make their own videos, we realized we had stumbled upon something which was much bigger than ourselves. One seasoned teacher told us that in twenty-six years of teaching, our presentation and workshop was the most valuable professional development day he had ever attended. I do not know if his comment had as much to do with our presentation skills as it did with the simplicity and reproducibility of the model we presented.

A few weeks later our assistant principal came into our rooms and asked us if we were expecting anybody from Channel 11? Much to our surprise, the education reporter from one of the news stations had heard about us and just showed up on our doorstep. They made a short news-clip about what we were doing, and as they say...the rest is history. We got invited to speak at conferences, invited to train schools, districts, and even colleges. We have spoken in Canada, Georgia, Texas, Washington DC, South Dakota, North Carolina, Chicago, and right here in Colorado.

Channel 11 Video Clip (From 2007)

So What Did We Call This?

When we started out we didn’t call it the Flipped Class Model. We were trying to figure out what to call our model. We first called it the Pre-Vodcasting model. Since our videos were first being distributed as podcasts, but video podcasts, we called them vodcasts. However as we have shared our story we realized many teachers who are afraid of technology see the word podcast or vodcast and think they could never do what we are doing.

During this time frame we scoured the internet to see if anybody else had thought the flip. We didn’t find anybody and even went as far as considering copyrighting the idea. We contacted my cousin, a lawyer, and he told us how difficult the idea was and since we really wanted to see this change education, we never pursued it.

As we continued to struggle with what to call our new teaching methodology, we decided to begin calling it Reverse Instruction. This term stuck for quite some time, but in the Fall of 2010, Karl Fink wrote a blog about the Flipped Classroom and that term has stuck. Dan Pink wrote a blog and used the term the Flipped Class and that term has stuck like glue. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7996379/Daniel-Pinks-Think-Tank-Flip-thinking-the-new-buzz-word-sweeping-the-US.html

Dan Pink credited the flipped class to Karl Fisch from Arapahoe HS (He is the guy who made the viral video Shift Happens) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U) but Karl had found out about the reverse classroom from one of his teachers who had attended one of our workshops and then he (Karl) started reversing his classroom. The good news about Karl is he is a very humble guy. When people started calling it the Fisch Flip he told people to not call it that and since he got the idea from a couple of guys in Woodland Park.

And of course this is just the beginning of the story. Our story has become the story of so many other educators across the world who have either experimented with the flip, have fully flipped, or who are still thinking of flipping.

The State of the Flipped Class Model.

Recently, the Flipped Classroom has gotten a lot of attention.   Sal Khan of the Khan Academy gave a TED talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html ) where he talked about his vision for the future of education.  He received a standing ovation from the audience after he spoke.  During his TED-talk he referred repeatedly to the Flipped Model.  He spoke about utilizing videos so students could work at their own pace and how teachers could have more time to work individually with students in the classroom. 

Aaron and I watched with rapt attention as he wowed the audience.  He perfectly described the model of instruction we use in our classrooms and demonstrated some amazing student-progress tracking software his team had developed.  He spoke of students taking responsibility for their own learning, students really learning the key concepts of our classes, teachers roving around the room helping kids who struggle.  It was exciting to see the Flipped Class model shared with such a large audience.

As I watched this I thought of Melissa.  Melissa is struggling in my Chemistry class right now.  It may be one of the hardest classes she has ever taken.  I spent 15 min with her individually during one block this past week.  I was able to identify her need to understand some basic algebra skills so that she can really learn the chemistry topics she is struggling with.  I thought of my own daughter who is getting ahead in her flipped class so that she will have more time to prepare for her lead role in the spring play.  I could go on and on about kids who are learning and benefiting from the flipped class and how we are seeing it changing students lives. 

We have also been humbled as we have seen what started in a small school in the mountains of Colorado explode.  People are blogging about the Flipped Model, tweeting about it (#flipclass), and talking about it.  This past two years we have had many educators want to visit our classrooms and see the flipped model in action.  We had so many requests we finally decided to host one open house per month.  We have lost count as to how many educators have visited our classrooms, but in the past year it has probably been around 200 individuals.  We even had two teachers fly out from San Francisco to spend four hours with us.  This has been a humbling experience for us. 

This past week Aaron and I had an interesting discussion about the Flipped Classroom Model in light of how it fits into the education reform movement.  Especially now that Sal Khan has exposed the model to a non-educator audience.  Our conclusion is that the Flipped Model is NOT a magic bullet that will fix today’s schools.  We believe education’s only magic bullet is the recruiting, training and supporting of quality teachers.   Our biggest fear is that the Flipped Model will result in teachers thinking that the model will solve their classroom issues and they will become apathetic.  We fear that some will choose to use other teachers’ videos (which is fine, and we encourage this in our upcoming book), but they will not adequately engage with the students and will bore their students to death with video.  We have seen this happen over the years with many technologies in the classroom: death by filmstrip, death by PowerPoint, death by VHS, death by DVD, death by online video, death by inquiry, death by any other instructional practice!  Good instructional models are never an excuse for bad teaching, and by teaching we do not mean direct instruction.  Bad teaching while using a good instructional model comes in thinking that the model will do the work for you.  Good teaching always has been, and always will be the gathering of constant feedback of students and modifying instruction to meet their individual needs.  Technology simply makes that possible.  The same is true with the Flipped Model.  If the Flipped Model is not carried out effectively, it will not work.  We know the most important ingredient in student success is not the teaching methodology, but rather the teacher.  That said, we believe the Flipped Model makes GOOD teachers BETTER and makes GREAT teachers SHINE.  But under no circumstances will it “fix” a burned-out or disinterested teacher.

We believe strongly in the proper implementation of the Flipped Model because it has so many benefits which speak to the heart of education reform.  The Flipped Model allows for:

• ·         Students Taking Responsibility for their own learning
• ·         Students who truly learn topics
• ·         Students who are engaged in their own learning
• ·         More time for teachers to help out students who struggle.
• ·         True Differention in Class
• ·         And so many more benefits

So what is the future of the Flipped Model? 

We see the Flipped Model growing exponentially in the coming years.  Educators and policy makers are seeing the value of the Flipped Model and we are again humbled to be some of the leaders in this movement.  This is best illustrated by our packed speaking schedule.  We have been asked to speak at a large variety of conferences and districts this summer.  We have gotten to the point where we can’t do them all!  This year we will have a pre-conference at our annual Flipped Class Conference where we will train six educators on how to conduct their own Flipped Conference.  We are thankful to the Morgridge Family Foundation for funding our pre-conference and getting behind this movement.  Here is the link to the flipped class pre-conference. https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEtfOFVFSWtoTm9hZC1BZzhKVVBYeUE6MQ&ndplr=1

Other thoughts as to the future of the Flipped Model

• ·         We feel fortunate that ISTE (http://iste.org) is going to publish our book on the topic and hope this book will continue the conversation about how to best use technology in the classroom.
• ·         We continue to see better and better assessment systems being developed which will help teachers truly identify which objectives students don’t understand and which will really help kids learn deeply.  We are not computer programmers, and we encourage enterprising individuals to develop systems that will streamline this process.
• 
  
• ·         We are encouraged by the amount of research that is starting on the Flipped Model.  I was recently asked by an Education Professor if there is any research demonstrating the validity of the Flipped Model.  We have several people who have done either their master’s thesis or their doctoral dissertation on the Flipped Model.  Some have completed their work and many more are in the process of conducting research.
• To summarize:  We are excited where the Flipped Model is heading.  It will make good teachers better and make great teachers shine. 

More Information:  If you are interested in learning more about the Flipped Model here are a few links for you to explore:

• Come to the Flipped Class Conference:  http://vodcasting.ning.com/events/mastery-learning-the-flipped
• The Flipped NING:  http://vodcasting.ning.com        
• Our YouTube Channel:  http://youtube.com/learning4mastery
• Twitter:  @jonbergmann, @chemicalsams or follow the #flipclass hashtag

Less Us, More Them!

I had the privilege of listening to Gary Stager online at the TEDX NY this weekend.  He is an engaging speaker and he finished his talk with four words:  Less Us, More Them.
 

Profound words:  Words we educators need to heed.  Too often we as educators spend too much time “teaching” and don’t allow enough time in our classes for LEARNINING.  Our students need t ime,support and coaches, not lecturers, expositors, and experts.  In this globally connected world, students need to see us guiding their learning, but not scripting everything in their lives.

In our upcoming book on the Flipped Classroom, Aaron Sams and I talk about how we had to give up the control of the learning to our students.  This was hard for us, but when students are in charge of their own learning, they actually learn.  We even went as far as telling our readers (we shall see if this makes it into the book once the editors get at it) that control freaks need not apply.  What we meant is that the Flipped Classroom by its very nature is chaotic and those teachers who want total control of their classes won’t be very successful.  We argue however, students WILL, and DO learn better when they are given the control.

Thanks again Gary for your sage words.  You said in four words what I believe about education.

Why I am no longer a classroom teacher.

For twenty-five years I have been called a classroom teacher.  I have been proud of that title.  When people ask me what I do I tell them I am a teacher, a classroom teacher.  Today I quit.  I will no longer be a classroom teacher.  Don’t get me wrong, I will still be in my “room” every day, but I will no longer be a classroom teacher.

This past weekend I had the privilege of virtually sitting in on a conference being held in Philadelphia (Educon:  http://educon23.org/).  What struck me most was a change in vocabulary.  Henceforth:  I will not refer to my room as a classroom, but rather, as learning space. 

The word “classroom” has a lot of baggage and, at least in my mind, emphasizes the teacher at the center of the classroom.  The word classroom conjures up images of a teacher in the front the classroom with chalk in hand disseminating knowledge to the masses.  In a classroom, the teacher talks and the students listen.  In a classroom the teacher “teaches” and hopes the students learn.

 

No longer!  Instead of the teacher being the center of the classroom, the students should be the center:  Or more specifically, learning should.  Thus, I am now officially going to start calling my “classroom” a learning space.  

I propose we educators begin to change the way we talk about our “rooms.”  When we start calling them learning spaces it will force us to change the way we think about what happens in our rooms.  When we communicate this name change to our students they will realize the point of school is to learn, not to be taught.  And as they realize the power of learning for the sake of learning, our schools will become learning spaces.

Video Games & the Flipped-Mastery Classroom

This past week I had a student do something amazing. To explain this I need to tell you of a philosophical change Aaron and I went through this summer when we spoke at a conference in British Columbia this past summer. At the conference (Touch-n-Go http://touchngo.sd79.bc.ca/confupdate.html we were introduced to Universal Design in Learning (UDL). UDL has three major tenants:• Provide multiple and flexible methods of presentation to give students with diverse learning styles various ways of acquiring information and knowledge.
• Provide multiple and flexible means of expression to provide diverse students with alternatives for demonstrating what they have learned, and
• Provide multiple and flexible means of engagement to tap into diverse learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn.
In our Flipped-Mastery model we have required students to prove mastery of objectives by passing a test with a minimum score of 75%. Bullet #2 above speaks to giving students choices in how to demonstrate learning. So this year Aaron and I decided to allow students choice in how to prove mastery. Most students still take our exams, but a few have taken us up on proving their understanding in other ways.
This past week I got a text from Nic asking me if he could make a video game to prove his mastery. I told him yes and now you can see him explaining his assessment to Aaron. It was quite a “wow” moment. I now have some students asking if they can take his test (the video) game, instead of my computer generated exam. See the video below to see Nic explaining his video game. 

Book Excerpt: Video Q/A: A Magical Time

Aaron Sams and I are writing a book about the flipped classroom. We are going to share a few of our ideas here and see what folks think. It is still in the draft mode, but here is a passage where we talk about how we check if students have watched the videos. Though we didn't know it when we started it has quickly become one of our most rewarding teacher moments. Please share your feedback.


When we check whether or not they have watched a video, one requirement is they ask us interesting questions. This especially works in our freshmen course of Earth and Space Science. For credit, we tell each student they must ask us an interesting question from the video. The question must be related to the video and must be a question for which they do not know the answer. These interactions with the students are some of the richest times we experience in our classrooms. Students either ask questions individually, or in small groups. Every student must ask at least one question per video. Often during these question and answer times, students ask us questions we don’t know the answer to and thus we work on finding the answer. Also the questions students ask often tell us what we have not taught clearly, or in some cases their questions tell us they are misunderstaning a key point. This then give us time to clarify and clean up their misunderstandings. These interactions are truly one of the magical moments we experinece every day with our students.

Every student must ask at least one question about each video. This is especially valualble for students who do not generally interact with their teachers. In the sit and get model, often just a few students will be the ones asking questions. Those students are more outgoing and confident. The more quiet, introspective students often have the same questions, but rarely voice those in the traditional model. In the flipped-mastery model ALL students MUST ask these questions. We have received more and better questions in our courses than we ever did in a traditional model and the discussions have been richer and frankly more rewarding as a teacher. We have found students are really very curious, and in this non-threatning format, all students can demonstrate their curiosity and learn.

Another thing we have noticed druing these question and answer times is how our quiet students come out of their shells a bit. Sadly, some of our students rarely have adults listen to them. Their parents are too busy, their teachers are talking to them, and thus the only people who will listen to them are their peers. These conversational times has opened up our chance to get to know our students on a more personal level which has paid dividends in helping troubled teens through difficult times.

Not All Instructional Vodcasts are Created Equal


I got an interesting question from Deb Wolf, mastery coordinator in the Sioux Falls School District today and it is something that Aaron and I have ruminated on for quite some time. It turns out that there are varying qualities of instructional video podcasts. Since lots of teachers are making these, she asked for a rubric by which we could assess the quality of an instructional video podcast. Aaron and I are in the process of finding a publisher for a book about flipping the classroom and as we made our outline, we decided to devote a chapter to this very topic. So here are what we think are keys to making a quality vodcast.

1. Keep it short. We are teaching the youtube generation and they want things in bite-sized pieces. If you are teaching the quadric formula, just do the quadratic formula. Don’t try and add anything else.

2. Animate your voice. When you are doing these videos you are most likely using some sort of presentation software (powerpoint, prezi, keynote, smart notebook, etc). The only thing you have besides your slides is your pen and your voice. Change the inflection of your voice. This keeps kids engaged. We don’t want to kill kids with videos. Make them exciting.

3. Better yet: Do the vodcast with another teacher. There is something powerful about having two people having a discussion instead of one teacher talking at you. Our students have told us they prefer it when Aaron and I have a conversation. They learn more too. Usually one of us takes on the role of the student learning the material and asks questions while the other is the expert.

4. Add humor: Aaron and I usually have some sort of a running joke in some of our vodcasts. We usually do this for the first two minutes of each vodcast. Students either love these or not. Since they know they will be the first two minutes, those who like our weird sense of humor tune in and those who don’t just fast forward. This leads me to the next rule

5. Don’t waste kid’s time: I have watched vodcasts where teachers talk about their favorite football team for five minutes. Since students are watching this on their own time, this discussion wastes their time. Keep to your topic.

6. Add annotations: Think of your screen as a whiteboard with cool pictures. Use annotation equipment to add pen markups. We use a Wacom bamboo tablet, but there are so many other ways to annotate the video. Other options are interactive white boards (Smartboards, Promethian Boards, etc), wireless tablets, or tablet PC’s.

7. Add video clips: Aaron and I insert videos of us and or kids doing cool experiments in class. This takes more time, but it allows students to see the science in action. We bring a video camera with us wherever we go and try and think of a way to make a good video. When we were in Washington DC at a recent conference we shot some video in front of the Hope Diamond. We used that video to explain the chemistry of diamonds. When I was in Peru this summer my son took some video of me explaining the geology of the Andes Mountains. You can also insert other clips from places such as youtube. And in a similar vein…

8. Picture in Picture: Since we started using Camtasia Studio it has a nice picture in picture feature. We have a webcam in the bottom of our presentation. We wondered if this was distracting and so we asked our students. They told us that they were better able to relate to our us as people when they saw the videos.

9. Add Callouts and Zooms: In Camtasia Studio we a fair amount of post-editing. In that editing process we can add callouts that are usually text boxes that highlight key concepts. Again we asked our students if these were distracting. They told us no: it helped them highlight key concepts. Also in the editing process we can add zooms. This zooms to the important part of our screen. For example when we do a mathematical problem we zoom into the screen of our onscreen calculator. This shows students how to use their graphing calculator.

10. Keep it copyright friendly: Since many of these will be posted online make sure that you follow all appropriate copyright laws.

We put together a sampling of some of our podcasts. Maybe this will give you an idea of what we think goes into the making of a good instructional video podcast.


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