Flipclass 2.0: It's not about you or your videos

In my previous #flipclass post, Four ways to make your flipclass awesome, I shared four ideas that I had at the end of a term of my first class flipping experience.  These were not ideas I had done and tested, but more, thoughts that I had about what I should have done and committed to do in the next term.  In keeping with my Cut the Cool Card philosophy, I was pretty open about the need for much more work done on my videos and better communication with parents.  In fact, I made four claims about how to make the #flippedlearning experience awesome:

1) Make concise engaging videos
2) Start the year with the students creating the videos
3) Create an online culture of questions and learning
4) Make a flipped class parent video

What follows is my work on each of these points since that post:

Make concise engaging videos

I have begun to really hone in on the concept I would like the students to get from the video.  The video that follows is less than 3 minutes long.  I explain the concept I'm teaching, share some visuals and a question, explain the answer, and get out. 

An example of my Flipclass videos to date: Referents in Measurement 

I am hoping that I can continue keeping the videos short and relevant.

Start the year with the students creating the videos

This next point is really the kicker of this blog.  I carved time out of a busy provincially examable course to have students make their own videos this term.  It was well worth it.

One of the many student videos; this one is on trigonometry

 

First, seeing these students wrestle with finding screencasting apps and editing video was great.  I watched as students solved issues around recording, editing, and presenting. I loved seeing the variety of apps the students used.  I asked them what resources they used to make their videos and this is what they told me:

 



But second, as students participate in the video-making process, they become co-creators of the online learning space.  They take more ownership of the class and I am hoping get more involved in watching and commenting on all the videos...including the ones I have made for them.  This to me is Flipclass 2.0.

Create an online culture of questions and learning

The idea around creating a quality online culture is still something that needs some work.  At this point, I use Edmodo to deliver the videos.  I have students watch them and then then make a comment back to me.  I have always hoped that the comments would create conversation among the students.  Unfortunately, the dialogue has only been between the student and myself.  I would love to hear any suggestions as to how other educators foster this.

Make a flipped class parent video

Often my blogs become commitments.  If I share it here, it makes it tough for me not to at least make an attempt.  So I followed my own recommendations and made a parent video.  I thought to have it fulfill a couple of needs, not only explaining what the Flipped Classroom is but also what it looks like at home.  Here it is below:

Parent video on Flipped Learning



I put a QR code on the course outline that I handed out Day 1 to be signed by all the parents.  The code led to this video.  Although I didn't get much feedback from parents about it right away, I knew that it "got out there" when I was talking to a parent.  "We'll see how this flipped class goes" was her comment.  To me, regardless of the parent response at this stage, I at least have had a chance to give my side of the story, to set the tone.

So that is where I am at today: my version of Flipclass 2.0.  And I'm excited to see what Flipclass 3.0 is as I keep at it!!!

Four ways to make your flipclass awesome

Six months ago I made a goal to flip my Math 10 class.  I had never taught Math 10 nor any other high school academic course, nor had I flipped a class before so once again, my reach exceeded my grasp.  I learned a ton this first go-round.  I guess the title on this post could be "Don't do what I did and your flipclass will be awesome" but as always, and like all of us, I am on a journey.  Here are some of my ideas at this point on how to make your flipclass awesome.

1) Make concise engaging videos

My first videos were well set up for students who had carved out an hour or two of their time, sat down with a coffee (hot chocolate okay) and their workbook in hand, and poured through my super long drawn out videos finding all the nuggets contained within.  Here is one of the first videos I made:

In the previous video, the teaching doesn't happen until 1:30 seconds.  And its not really teaching, it's more like a glorified answer key.  What is the learning intention?! Not totally sure.  And apart from a slightly goofballish intro, the engagement factor is sitting at impotent proportions.  Here is one of my latest videos.

Improvements made:
- The learning intention is front and centre: finding the greatest common factor and lowest common multiple
- Terms are defined and so is the concept
- The lesson is quickly taught and emphasizes ease and simplicity

Share your videos with other teachers and get feedback.  Ask your students what they like about them and what you could be doing better.  Your video skill will improve over time so don't hesitate to redo videos.  Always keep this question in mind: would I sit through this?

2) Start the year with the students creating the videos

This semester I made all the videos: 46 in all.  I would say that that took between 100 and 200 hours in all to record and edit them.  That's a lot of work.  It's not like I have a lot of time on my hands.  And I am sure some of them needed to be bumped up in volume as they were made at 4:30am with an almost whisper so I didn't wake up anyone else in the house.  It doesn't have to be that way.  This semester will be different.  I've already created a criteria sheet for our Teaching Video Project.  Right at the start students are going to be making their own teaching videos and sharing them with each other.  My hope for this is greater engagement, more interest in my videos, and more interaction around the videos.

3) Create an online culture of questions and learning

The flipclass is not just about the videos.  It is about improving the learning outside school walls.  That can take some time.  If teachers feel that they are the sage on the stage and the keeper of all knowledge then they have got a whole lot of work ahead of them.  But a community freed up and encouraged to become questioners and answerers (with the teacher keeping the discussion moving forward) can bring out the collaboration of the students.  That's why I like Edmodo--a social learning management system.  It promotes Facebook-like posts and responses.  My plan is to ask more questions on our forum to engage the students more around the videos or simply around the learning.  Here is an area in which I hope to report back on how it went.

4) Make a flipped class parent video

Not everyone quickly embraces the flipped classroom.  Halfway through my course I thought I might be in danger of some kind of lynching.  There was misinformation: I had parents hear that we spent all our class time watching videos.  There was misunderstanding: many parents had no idea why I would give their children videos to watch for homework. And there was missed opportunities: how great it would have been to have the parents working alongside their children with the Math teaching videos as a priority.

This term I hope to have a parent video sharing that:

I flipped the class to spend less class time up front explaining and more time one on one with their children

I flipped the class because I was tired of students getting home and copying another's homework or the answers from the back of the book because they didn't understand what to do and the homework was too hard.

I flipped the class to allow students to watch, pause, rewind, fast forward, and watch again some of these difficult Math concepts. . .at their own pace.

And I flipped the class so that students that were sick, at sports games and competitions, and mid-school vacations could have access to all the explanations they would need to learn the material.

Basically, I would love the parents of my students to know that my flipping wasn't flippant.  That there was thought, care, and carefulness that went into this.  A parent video on the flipped class could help.

All of the above are things that I had wish I had done last term.  But I'm not going to be hard on myself for not doing them.  And neither should you.  As @mwren13 reminded me just the other day: we all have trouble with "implementation of all of the great ideas".  It doesn't mean we should stop trying.