Home Flipping the Classroom (Reverse Instruction) Is Reverse Instruction Education Technology’s Perfect Storm?

Is Reverse Instruction Education Technology’s Perfect Storm?

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Flipping the classroom is a technology-enabled technique that can make a significant difference in student learning and academic success, and is well suited for gradual widespread adoption.

Having been immersed in the world of education and instructional technologies for a good number of years now, I often think about which technologies can truly make a difference. Which technologies, or technology enabled techniques, are most likely to have a significant impact on student learning and really help teachers succeed? This question has taken on even more meaning in light of the increased controversy in recent years about ed tech spending in our schools (more on that below).

reverse instruction quote imageFor those still new to the concept, “reverse instruction” is the idea of having students consume learning content (i.e. ‘the lecture') outside of the classroom, usually as homework, thereby freeing up valuable face-to-face classroom time to reinforce materials and work on assigned work (work that may have been homework in the traditional classroom). This approach is also referred to as “flipping the classroom”.

Positioning the teacher to be available in the classroom to help with assigned work can provide for a more personalized learning experience. There are many other benefits to this model, some of which are listed below (click here to access a number of articles from teachers describing their experiences working with a flipped classroom model).

The Flipped Classroom is still in the early stages of adoption, but high profile advocates like Sal Khan are helping this instructional technology concept gain momentum. Khan's work with the Khan Academy has been a major catalyst in bringing this concept to the attention of the media and to the general population (learn more about the Khan Academy here).

Reasons why reverse instruction is a powerful instructional technology concept, worthy of adoption by schools and teachers everywhere.
Here's a list of reasons why the flipped classroom is a great idea that needs to be embraced and encouraged by teachers, administrators, parents, and students in middle grades and higher.

  • It is simple and inexpensive to get started with (learn how here).
  • Many instructors are already doing this to some extent (when they provide reading or video homework, for example).
  • Instructors can ease into this at their own pace, and choose their approach. Tech-savvy teachers can easily get started creating their own content with free Internet tools, and those who are less tech-friendly can leverage the extensive body of learning content that is already available.
  • Students can review ‘flipped' course materials repeatedly outside of the classroom, at their own convenience, often on the device of their choosing (smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc).
  • Students who miss class because of other responsibilities or illness do not have to be ‘penalized' by missing course content.
  • There are tens of thousands of educational videos that can be used as flipped classroom content available for free right now (see this post to learn about seven such resources). 
  • There are also countless other education content resources available on the Internet such as the growing body of Open Education Resources and the ever-expanding body of articles other written content on the web.
  • Using a ‘flipped textbook' can provide a far more efficient and effective learning experience than the traditional textbook (check out the work of Kieran Mathieson and ‘Coredogs' to learn more).
  • It provides an excellent opportunity to select and leverage top-notch lecturers and other high quality learning materials.
  • Reverse Instruction provides a great situation in which to take advantage of a wide variety of powerful instructional technologies, including screencasting, lecture capture, podcasting, presentation tools, learning and course management systems, open educational resources, and more.
  • There is a growing body of learning analytics tools being incorporated into reverse instruction tools. Flipped classroom content delivery systems with learning analytics built in can be a perfect marriage of two instructional technology concepts that can lay a powerful foundation for exploring and expanding on the potential of personalized learning.

Are there other reasons you would like to see added to this list? I know I haven't exhausted the reasons why reverse instruction makes too much sense to ignore, so if you have something to add, please comment below and share your insights.

An opportunity not to repeat the mistakes of the past
There are a wide variety of technologies that can play a role in improving learning outcomes, and many of these are being adopted to some extent by teachers and schools across the world. Unfortunately, there are also technology implementations that have given the overall concept of education technology a bit of a bad name, often due to inadequate planning and vague goals. Using flipped classroom techniques could help to reverse that trend (pun intended!).

For example, some school districts have placed interactive white boards in all of their classrooms but failed to work with faculty in a way that would truly facilitate widespread adoption. Often, few teachers embrace these tools, resulting in a large expense with a pretty ineffective return. This frustrates many teachers and parents, and adds fuel to the fire for the anti-ed-tech crowd. Some “1 for 1” laptop and tablet distribution programs have traveled a similar path (not to say they are all bad programs – they can be very beneficial with proper planing and execution).

Conversely, it has been my experience that most teachers, administrators, parents, and students agree that technology has a place in learning and that there are many ways that technology can have a positive impact on instructional and learning processes (at appropriate grade levels – probably best introduced gradually starting around 3rd grade or so, IMHO, but that's a whole different topic!).

A gradual adoption of reverse instruction techniques offers an opportunity to leverage a wide variety of instructional technologies in a way that doesn't have to break the bank and can deliver many enhancements to the teaching and learning process. Successful incorporation of flipped classroom methods in our middle schools, high schools, and colleges could improve on the public's perspective of how technology can play a powerful role in teaching, and facilitate the transformation of education that so many are calling for. Indeed, reverse instruction could very well be the ‘superman' instructional technology idea that we've been waiting for.

That's my opinion. What's yours?

Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
Reverse Instruction Tools And Techniques – Screencasting
7 Stories From Educators About Teaching In The Flipped Classroom
Flipping the Classroom (Reverse Instruction) Post Category

34 COMMENTS

  1. […] Reverse instruction, also known as the “flipped classroom” is a teaching technique that reverses the traditional setup of students receiving information from the teacher in class and then using this information to complete homework assignments. Instead, reverse instruction advocates promote an approach where the students’ homework consists of finding and engaging with the information, which they then use to complete assignments in class with the help of the teacher. Kelly Walsh, the founder of emergingedtech.com has been one of the promoters of this approach and has argued that reverse instructions constitutes one of the best ways to employ online teaching technology. For more information on reverse instruction, see the link below.https://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/04/is-reverse-instruction-education-technologys-perfect-storm/ […]

  2. […] Reverse instruction is not an entirely new idea to me. I’ve heard about it before, and I, unknowingly to me at the time, have implemented some aspects of reverse instruction into my daily teaching practice. I would argue that reverse instruction is a perfect fit, especially for math and science, and even more so, in the upper high school classes. […]

  3. Interesting post, but no, it is not a “perfect storm.” I am in my second year of flipped math and I find it better than the traditional way of setting up a learning experience. It is “better” because, although I have not seen much change in the ability of kids to progress at a rate that it would seem the curriculum dictates, they do seem to learn it more fully and have more confidence in their own ability to figure things out. These are good and important things.

    However, I think the flipped class and reverse instruction will eventually end up being only one component of a more effective, meaningful, and interesting method of learning that de-emphasizes lecture to an even greater extent and is based on multidisciplinary, self-paced, project-based learning. Reverse instruction is but a transitional and incremental step toward truly self-directed and self-motivated mastery learning.

  4. I feel that there is one unspoken emotional advanttage to flipped classrooms that is not often discussed. This is an understandable emotion of busy students. My students are willing to work hard. Yet, they really want to know what to focus on. I feel like my students have less stress when reading if they do their reading after they hear the lecture (either in the classroom or at home via a flipped classroom). This relief from extra stress helps them both see the big picture and refocus on the details that they know are important to the classroom objectives.
    Ken Morrison

  5. @Math Tutor — you could poll your students and find out how many own mobile devices. Our teachers are pretty lucky, because every student has their own smart phone. The students using watch the lecture on their mobile devices on the bus to and from school.

    I think English teachers have been unintentionally flipping our classrooms for years. We do writing in class and some (most) of the reading as well. It just doesn’t require technology. Old school flipping? Thanks for sharing your thoughts on reverse teaching!

  6. I’m largely a proponent of the flipped classroom, simply for the sake of, as put in this article “not repeating history.” I would like to know if any other readers have any ideas on how to do this in schools with student’s who don’t necessarily own computers. (I do believe all students have access, but when it comes to doing homework, using a computer becomes more of a chore, so I’ve this excuse many times).
    Cheers!

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