For Assignment 3 of my PGcHE I need to design a ‘Flipped Classroom’ and put into practice some of the theory and learning that I’ve covered in the last two blog posts.
As I am not in full-time teaching I am going to use some mentoring/webinar sessions I have coming up on the Falmouth MA photography. Usually, these sessions are pretty freeform discussions wherein each student talks about the work they’ve produced so far, or not if they’ve reached a creative block.
I was fortunate enough to host some similar sessions earlier this year and in one of them, the conversation digressed onto the challenges photographers coming to the MA often have in describing the reasoning behind their work rather than simply describing what they were making. In the session I leapt on Simon Sinek’s book ‘Start With Why’ as a method for the students to think about why they are making their work and to weave that into their descriptions of it in order to foster a greater understanding of it and to release the potential for more collaboration. Since that session, I have been thinking about formalising the application of Sinek’s theory to photographic practice so this Flipped Classroom assignment seems the perfect opportunity.
At a surface level, the design is relatively simple. I’ll create a video that introduces the concept, show Sinek’s own explanation of his book from a TED lecture he gave a decade or so ago, and then include a little more explanation of how I think his concept can apply to the learning outcomes of the MA. This latter detail is important because it doesn’t really matter how interesting I may feel this concept is if it doesn’t support the learning outcomes then the exercise is a bit of a waste of time for me and the students. Fortunately, the concept really helps support LO7 of the course that focussed on ‘Professionalism’, I think I even had it in mind when I did the MA myself.
This, I will acknowledge, is not an advanced use of the flipped classroom. It replicates the model used by Maths teacher Katie Gimbar in my post from last week. The design simply consists of a two-part piece of learning: an asynchronous video lecture is followed up by a face-to-face activity.
In my case that activity is going to be a broader discussion amongst the students about their thoughts and findings following the watching of the video.
It is possible that by not diving into big practical sessions involving whiteboards, breakout rooms, and practical exercises I may be accused of not making the best use of the learning opportunity.
Adjunct Professor at Saint Vincent College, Aaron Sams, would describe my design as Flipped Classroom 101.
It’s an entry point into this flipped classroom world where it’s a place to start, but certainly not a place to stop. If you stop there you still have lectures and worksheets, you’ve just changed the time and place where they are done.
(Sams, 2015)
And he’s right. But by his own admission, it took him six years as a practising lecturer from moving from this 101 world to a place where he could comfortably use more advanced methods that encompassed enquiry, project-based learning and incorporate even universal design for education into his teaching.
I’m six months into this and am yet to give a lecture to students so I’m happy to walk before I can run and get comfortable with the 101 way of working for now.
Reference list
Sams, A. (2015). Aaron Sams – Flipped Classroom: The Next Step – YouTube. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/RSKjMsgXc_Q.