Recently I've learnt about a new approach of organizing the classroom, by a new way of targeting the students' attention toward their work rather than the teacher himself. Here I am discussing the new opinion as both, student and as a teacher.
For Students
For the students, the flipped classroom would be interesting; it changes the environment of the class and they have very funny activities. The most thing comes to the mind is that the whole atmosphere changed in a way that is more open and flexible, they can talk and open dialogs with each other and with the teacher freely. In other hand, they focus more in the subject and gain more information comparing with the traditional style. All these points would enhance all the students’ self esteem and motivation for learning and all what the teacher and his students are seeking.
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| Students using Internet in doing classwork. |
In the other hand, the teacher would bring for the students new kind of tasks and assignments which covers high levels of thinking, so they can contribute creatively and more being able to show themselves. Also I let them to use some of the tangible things, and examine different types of materials, all that is helping them understanding the lesson.
Furthermore, the good point -using this method- is doing the homework. The homework is ready for them and in the expected place. It all can be found in the specific folder I put for them online and everything is related to it is clear very much. They just need to log in and navigate to the specific location and then download the assignment and do it and then submit the solution.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen some conditions the student were not happy. Some of them were complaining that the way the class in going make them out of the picture and not understanding thee subject. I think they’re used to see the thing they want in front of them and ready, maybe that is because of their learning style and characteristic. Also, some of them have a very rare problem regarding the ability to communicate or use computers at their homes, they are very few but it remains a problem.
For Teacher
For me as a teacher, there would be several aspects of the effect of the student centred learning. In the flipped classrooms, I can see the new things I’ve never seen before in the traditional method I used to use.
First of all, the students can contribute with any ideas in any lesson, of course because they are formed as groups and they have leader usually. Each lesson is combined of both, the material I set up, and also the contribution from the students which indeed will demand each other to respect the other’s idea.
And to achieve that, I must implants the self-esteem in the students so they can attain their own independent thinking and contribute with it’s outcomes. The flipped classroom also makes me able to initiate open question, and let them contribute in dig for the answers; thus students usually like the challenge between each other -especially the boys-. It also provides opportunities for group exploration and discussions, particularly when I use the problem based learning technique.
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| A teacher assists her students in following instructions. |
At the classroom, I usually let the guys examine and touch the computer parts by themselves. That would make them memorize their shape and attributes better and faster than just demonstrate them by myself.
When using this technique, many things come to mind that makes you think analytically in all the processes of achieving the flipped classroom criteria and applying them, that would make you to point into several problems anyone may face.
One of them -and seen for most of us- is the nature and readiness of the students in learning and their motivation. Many students have no motivation to use technology so that can make a problem for the flipped classroom and its flow. In addition, some of the students have problems related to the availability of the Internet and electronic resources in their home, and non the less, their skills in using those technologies, which requires me to pay more attention to those group of students and to add more extra effort in preparing substitutional solutions for them. Also, preparing students who are new to the flipped classroom culture, needs some more time in orienting them.
