In 2012, I wrote about whether the traditional lecture was going to survive. Since then I have been exploring the role of the lecture and what to do in the classroom environment. Partly, this journey has been prompted by the increased talk at work around flipped classroom, but also it seemed to make sense for the students.
I am not going to repeat the work that defines what is flipped classroom (see recent review) but rather consider why there exists a perception that flipped learning must be facilitated by technology, particularly audio-visual material signposted by the instructor.
I can understand where the idea comes from – that the normal group session is swapped into the individual study time (definition of Flipped Learning Network). As some instructors believe that their role is to transfer their expertise, their paradigm is about finding an approach that allows this. So, using audio-visual technology and packaging up that knowledge is an approach. I use this approach of pre-recording material, so I am not denigrating this approach. I am sure that the emergence of MOOCs (with video lectures) and similar content on sites like YouTube has a great deal of influence on this perception. This seizing of technology as the solution reminds me of the earlier experiences when Virtual Learning Environments were introduced without due consideration of the role that technology was playing in progressing or enhancing the education experience (see work of Diana Laurillard).
Considering that a key part of flipped involves pre-work (before class) and that this preparation is about being ready for richer discussions in class, does the instructor need to provide this material? Does the instructor need to pre-record this or point to appropriate audio-visual resources (or even written on-line resources)?
Recent trials that my colleagues and I have had looked at include posing an open question for presentation by a group from one week to the next or giving students an open, real problem and asking them to explore what the data tells them (getting them to learn how to interpret and analyse data and find patterns). None of this involved technology to provide “lectures”, rather engaged the students with a meaningful and interesting tasks.
So, technology is not required. In fact, it may be the provision of such material is an extension of the instructor-centred design: instructor controlling the direction of learning. Does this run the risk of homogeneity of output and lack of personalisation?
brightflux 