Flipped Learning: A Response To Five 
        Common Criticisms
        by alan november and brian mull of november learning  |  novemberlearning.com
         Over the past two years, the Flipped Learning                 •  The instructor sorts through these questions 
        method has created quite a stir. Some argue that                 prior to class, organizes them, and develops class 
        this teaching method will completely transform                   material and scenarios that address the various 
        education, while others say it is simply an                      areas of confusion. The instructor does not 
        opportunity for boring lectures to be viewed in new              prepare to teach material that the class already 
        locations.                                                       understands.
         While the debate goes on, the concept of Flipped              •  In class, the instructor uses a Socratic method 
        Learning is not entirely new. Dr. Eric Mazur of                  of teaching, where questions and problems are 
        Harvard University has been researching this type                posed and students work together to answer the 
        of learning since the early ’90s, and other educators            questions or solve the problems. The role of the 
        have been applying pieces of the Flipped Learning                instructor is to listen to conversations and engage 
        method for even longer.                                          with individuals and groups as needed.
         It is our opinion that one of the reasons this debate         With the above framework in mind, we tapped 
        exists is because there is no true definition of what         Twitter to learn what educators say are the 
        Flipped Learning is. The method is often simplified           downsides to implementing the Flipped Learning 
        to videos being watched at home and homework                  method, and we have provided our opinions that 
        being done at school. If this is the definition, then we      address the five major criticisms.
        should all be skeptical. Instead, we should look closer 
        at Dr. Mazur’s work. The components he includes in            ImplementIng the FlIpped learnIng 
        his implementation make for a thoughtful, rigorous            method makes me, as the teacher, 
        experience. Dr. Mazur has a video describing his              much less Important.
        integrated Flipped Learning and Peer Instruction 
        methods, but the major points are:                             This could not be further from the truth! In a 
                                                                      Flipped Learning environment, the teachers are 
         •  Students prepare for class by watching video,             more important than ever. If they have provided 
           listening to podcasts, reading articles, or                students with an array of rich resources and have 
           contemplating questions that access their prior            set up opportunities for students to think deeply and 
           knowledge.                                                 question what they have learned at home before 
         •  After accessing this content, students are asked to       coming to class, these teachers are going to see that 
           reflect upon what they have learned and organize           there are a wide array of new questions that arise 
           questions and areas of confusion.                          that might never have come up during a standard 
                                                                      class period. In these cases, teachers are really going 
         •  Students then log in to a Facebook-like social tool,      to need to know their stuff, and they are going to 
           where they post their questions.                           need to be able to individualize on the fly—quite 
                                                                      possibly five, 10, or even 20 times in a class period. 
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        Also, they are also going to need to figure out what          segments, and there should be opportunities for 
        the right questions are to ask when students come             students to interact with the information in these 
        to class. These questions are going to have students          videos in a variety of ways. Some teachers are 
        address their misconceptions about and apply their            experimenting with unique ways of doing this. 
        knowledge concerning what they have learned on                For example, by including links within YouTube 
        their own. During a conversation with Dr. Mazur, he           videos, Jac De Haan demonstrates how a teacher 
        shared that this is the most difficult, but also the most     can basically quiz students and provide them with 
        crucial, part.                                                immediate feedback and explanation within the 
         In addition to providing an avenue for students to           same video. Ramsey Musallam also has a method he 
        access their learning material at home, technology            uses that combines video clips with Google Forms 
        will play a crucial role for the teacher in the coming        to gather feedback from his students. Both of these 
        years. Smart systems are currently being designed             methods can be used as part of a cycle of inquiry.
        that are going to help teachers learn more about               Also, give students a voice in this process. Provide 
        their classes than ever before. For example, Dr.              them with several videos made by different teachers 
        Mazur’s Learning Catalytics software allows students          who present with different styles. Ask students to 
        to engage with application problems during class.             evaluate what they like and what they do not like. 
        Students respond to these problems using their                Have students produce video that teaches some of the 
        individual laptops, smart phones, and tablets.                content being taught in class. Look at what they do 
        The system then keeps track of all responses and              that excites or turns off their classmates. Over time, 
        intelligently points students to other classmates with        you will learn what has the biggest impact, and your 
        whom they can debate their responses. The system              students will appreciate having the opportunity to 
        records all of the responses over the entire span             have their voices heard.
        of the course, allowing a teacher to visualize the             Make sure you provide more than just video. You are 
        learning and the struggles of all students.                   going to have students who want to watch video, but 
        kIds do not want to sIt at home                               you are also going to have students who would rather 
        watchIng borIng vIdeo lectures on                             look at a concept map or read a bit of text. Mix it up 
        the web. at least In the classroom,                           and keep your students guessing. You do not have to 
        they get some kInd oF InteractIon                             have all of this material from the start; you can build 
        wIth me and wIth theIr peers. thIs                            your library over time.
        Is just a lot oF excItement over bad                           We all know how students like to interact with one 
        pedagogy.                                                     another as well. Challenge students to create Skype 
                                                                      study groups that meet on occasion to discuss their 
         We completely agree that simply watching a boring            thinking on topics about which they are learning. 
        lecture video will not get kids excited about this            Have them reflect on how these discussions are 
        process. However, is the fact that there are bad              changing their thinking.
        examples of lecture videos a problem with the 
        model—or with the implementation of the model?                 Finally, keep your eye out for the amazing resources 
                                                                      that we are going to gain access to over time. For 
         Certainly, there are opportunities to improve these          example, there is initial work being organized by 
        resources in ways that ramp up interaction and                Chris Anderson who runs the famous TED conference 
        pedagogy. To begin, do not replace an hour-long               and website to create educational resources tapping 
        classroom lecture with an hour-long video. Audio              some of the best minds in the world.
        and video should be used in short, five- to 10-minute 
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        most oF my kIds do not even have                             before each class period. Teachers should be 
        Internet access at home. there’s                             posting thought-provoking questions that guide 
        no way they can watch all oF thIs                            students as they explore the at-home material. The 
        vIdeo.                                                       work at home should not be without some sort 
                                                                     of focus. Additionally, in class, there should be a 
         While this statement is true in many places, there          tremendous amount of interactivity among students 
        are a variety of options in how these resources can be       as the teacher circulates around the room. If the 
        shared with students.                                        teacher sees there is a student not taking part in the 
         First, schools should provide opportunities outside         conversation, this can be easily addressed.
        of the standard school day for when the school                To continue, we would guess that a large majority of 
        library is open, allowing students to use school             students who do not do their work at home are not 
        computers. In addition, there should be a loaner             doing it because they are either bored and feel like 
        program in place where devices can be checked out            the work is there simply to keep them busy, or they 
        for an evening’s use. This loaner program might              are struggling and do not understand the work. So 
        include smaller, less expensive devices such as iPod         to address accountability, teachers also must think 
        Touches and various types of tablets. And while on           through these issues.
        the topic of smaller devices, while many students             If students are bored, they need to be presented 
        do not have computers with internet connections              with resources to explore at home that go deeper 
        at home, we do find that instead, many have other            into the topics the class is learning. They need to be 
        digital devices that connect to the internet using cell      given more advanced issues that require them to 
        towers.                                                      make connections with others outside of the school 
         Taking these ideas a bit further, audio and video           building and around the world. The teacher, who 
        material can be burned to DVDs so they can be                we already said will be more important than ever, 
        accessed on students’ home DVD players. The price            is going to need to individualize work for these 
        of these players have come down so much that they            students. The teacher also should provide more 
        are in almost any home. Furthermore, schools might           opportunities for these students to create additional 
        work with local libraries and community centers to           resources for the rest of the class to use that might 
        make access to this material very easy for students.         further assist those who are struggling. The key to 
        We can agree that it will be quite important for             motivating students who are bored is to honor the 
        teachers and school leaders to understand their              knowledge they have, challenge them to dig deeper, 
        communities and think creatively about ways to               and not hold back their potential. If you take a look 
        create equitable environments for learning.                  at Khan Academy, you will see that students can 
                                                                     chart their own path through curriculum and receive 
        where Is the accountabIlIty? how                             instant feedback from problems they tackle on the 
        do I even know IF kIds are watchIng                          site. This real-time, self-directed journey through 
        the vIdeos?                                                  curriculum certainly can help some students with 
                                                                     boredom and frustration.
         There have always been concerns about students 
        not completing the work they need to complete at              Students who are struggling require a different 
        home. Flipped Learning will not be the magic potion          approach, and as Greg Green, principal of Clintondale 
        that fixes this issue. However, if we look again at          High School, told us, “[The Flipped Learning 
        Dr. Mazur’s method, he does have accountability              method] eliminates the learning obstacles that all 
        built into the process. He requires every student            students face when they are practicing without 
        to submit reflections, questions, and concerns               an expert.” Struggling students need to be offered 
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        safe places where they can ask questions and share         recent podcast, he told us that he does not care where 
        their confusion anonymously and without ridicule           the videos come from. Whether from his school, from 
        from peers. This type of environment can be set up         another state, or even somewhere on the other side 
        within different social response tools, like Edmodo,       of the globe, his goal is to have the best teachers he 
        Schoology, or Nimbus (powered by Schoolwires).             can find teaching his students every single day.
        They also need more time and individual attention           The other key point to remember is that an entire 
        to learn material. With the resources created for          school should not jump into teaching this way with 
        the Flipped Learning method, students can watch or         two feet. Begin by finding a core group of teachers 
        listen over and over again while pausing the content,      who might be interested in experimenting with this 
        working a bit, and then playing more. Then, as             method. Charge them with trying a Flipped Learning 
        students do their “homework” at school, teachers can       lesson once or twice a week. As a leader, meet 
        immediately address problems as they are walking           with these teachers regularly so that you can learn 
        around and listening to conversations. Teachers            about the successes and issues that arise. Over time, 
        know the students who are struggling, and they can         these teachers will be starting a library of content 
        give these students the attention they need. Through       that they will be able to use as a base for years to 
        this process, as students see success, their confidence    come. With success, more teachers might become 
        and work ethic usually skyrockets.                         interested. They should be encouraged and given the 
        as a teacher, I don’t have the tIme                        professional development they need at that time to 
        or the expertIse to produce all oF                         get started. They also should be partnered with the 
        the vIdeos requIred to teach lIke                          pioneering teachers, who can serve as mentors.
        thIs.                                                       Creating tutorial videos is certainly not for every 
                                                                   teacher, but there are other components that can 
         Schools are going to need to be very smart about          involve every teacher. Remember that the really 
        how they address this concern. In our opinion,             important component of this process is to develop 
        not all teachers should be making these videos for         high-level, engaging questions that serve to deepen 
        their classes. School leaders need to find those who       thinking and address misconceptions. These other 
        have the highest abilities in combining the subject        teachers can help in the development of such 
        knowledge they have with their ability to present          questions. They can then use these questions in 
        this knowledge in the most creative, engaging ways—        their classes, whether they are “flipping” or not. 
        even if these teachers are not in their own schools.       Also, they can be taught how to scour the web to 
         Two chemistry teachers who are early pioneers in          find high-quality resources that have already been 
        using the Flipped Learning method, Aaron Sams and          produced and can become resources for all teachers. 
        Jonathan Bergmann, have already figured this out.          Through this team approach, all teachers in the 
        They quickly learned that they each have different         community can be involved in ways with which they 
        strengths that motivate individual students in             are comfortable. (By the way, students also can be 
        unique ways, so they teach using a team approach.          tapped to locate high-quality resources from around 
        Even though one teaches AP chemistry and the               the world.)
        other teaches regular chemistry, they alternate who 
        produces the content for each class. They understand 
        that their students appreciate the different teaching 
        styles. At Clintondale, Greg Green agrees as well. In a 
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