In Chapter 12 of 25 Years of Ed Tech by Martin Weller, the author writes about the educational use of Video in 2005, more specifically, YouTube, and how it was the second step in the democratization of broadcasting, behind the creation of the original Web itself. He writes “It transpired that people really wanted to share video.” (Weller 2020, p.85, Para.2) and we have seen just how powerful this is currently today, with many successful adaptations of video sharing sites all across the Web.
In vocational education, video has always had a strong up-front role in the transfer of knowledge in the classroom; giving them visual reference to machines that are either too large or dangerous to expose them to on campus. As is common today, many people, students, employees and bosses, will go to YouTube with hopes of finding that “Perfect” explainer video that will teach all the steps required in completing a DIY (do it yourself) project. We all do this in different forms whether it’s cooking at home, doing a fluid check on a vehicle in the garage, or to understand the efficient use of the tools we’ve been given in our careers, such as an institute provided LMS.
Weller’s Chapter 12 also brings in the concept of the “Flipped learning environment”. “The idea is to use the face-to-face classroom setting, for more interactive, group-based work and discussions, while individual time at home is spent on learning concepts.” (Weller 2020, p.88, para. 2). The student engages with the provided learning materials, to whatever depth is possible on their own the day before, and then constructively engages with those concepts in a facilitated class discussion the next day, allowing guided progression to the next level of the topic being learnt. This allows the student to progress from what they themselves know on their own, through Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development (ZPD), unpacking and solidifying concepts with their instructor.
In my current skilled trades educational environment, I have moved in the direction of the “flipped classroom” with the classes I teach. The Flipped-Classroom is NOT common in the Trades Wing where I work, but has yielded AMAZING results for my students, as well as for myself. I’ve shared my methods and trials with others, but it is never received well. Weller touched on some of the reasons faculty may be resistant to the flipped classroom with mentions from Rees (2014) stating, all that was achieved while flipping the class was, we have placed all the learning, entirely on the students. I somewhat disagree with Ree’s statement regarding the onus being completely on the student; proper student centered learning doesn’t place ALL the responsibility on the student, although students do NEED a sense of responsibility with regard to their own education for it to truly be effective. I agree with Weller‘s description of the flipped classroom, that I gave in the prior paragraph, but it hinges on — In which way do we make the student “Centered”? — and, with what type of flipped class learning materials? Not that we just provide the student with all the base content and expect them to figure it out on their own.
The materials designed for one Pedagogical environment, cannot just be sent home as the flipped content, because it is not intended to be used as such, in the students’ independent environment. The materials that are needed in the flip must be purposeful for that method and not too many faculty are able and willing to do this, due to digital literacy (DL) issues and the extra time requirements of developing a facilitation plan and building the appropriate resources that the students will learn the basic concepts with.
I see two key points in this regard from Chapter 12, that were very enlightening for me. First, Weller hints that DL skills are needed to create better resource material for the students in this flipped class method. The Second issue is getting faculty to accept changes in their classroom practices and a different type of class preparation.
There is a large DL gap in my institute and it is campus wide. Change is hard, no one wants to change unless they see huge value in it for themselves, or the change is somehow forced upon them. I have had amazing success in the classes I have Flipped, which O’Flaherty and Phillips (2015) mention requires considerable time from the instructor. I completely agree with as it took a lot of time initially for me to build the content and create the facilitation plan. However, It’s a fantastic time saver in the long run; my resources were made in a manner as to allow them to also be used in other classes, in many different ways.
I created many short explainer videos on key foundational concepts, Active audio narrated slideshows that follow the general flow of the required reading, and hyperlinks to my private YouTube channel for more detailed concepts. However, in today’s day and age on YouTube and many other video sharing platforms, many of these student resources that could be used in the flipped method, are already made and can be downloaded or hyperlinked for the students out of class time. With so much content now available, there isn’t a complete need to make your own videos, which is definitely a time saver for those with less DL skills. Another great option for collecting content is to make a project that would allow students to create videos of their own, as an assignment. The use of student created video as a project generates more engagement, increased student involvement and satisfaction (Greene & Crespi, 2012). These videos are done by students at a students level of understanding, and when used as such, can be an easy resource that an instructor doesn’t have to create themself, for facilitating the conversation around later.
The flipped classroom is some of the smallest changes that has had one of the biggest positive outcomes I’ve experience, Although there is a time requirement that is different than tradition lessons and it requires some extra organization, but once the content is built, I find the class is more fun to deliver and the student outcomes have gone up.
References
Greene, H., & Crespi, C. (2012). The value of student created video in the college classroom — an exploratory study in marketing and accounting. International journal of Arts and Sciences, 5(1),273-283.
O’Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: a scoping review. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 85-95. HTTP;//dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.002
Rees, J. (2014). The Flipped classroom is decadent and depraved [Blog post]. More or Less Bunk. Retrieved from https://moreorlessbunk.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/the-flipped-classroom-is-decadent-and-depraved/?
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. https://www.aupress.ca/books/120290-25-years-of-ed-tech/
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