Innovative
12
Flipping Learning ...
For most of us, the idea of a classroom brings to mind a familiar image with a teacher at the front of the room and a class full of students eagerly (or sometimes not so eagerly) waiting to learn. From one generation to the next, the classroom concept hasn’t changed very dramatically.
Teachers provide live instruction coupled with limited hands-on practice in the classroom. Additional practical exercises are assigned as homework that the students dutifully complete outside of class on their own without assistance or anyone to consult when they struggle. The model has been applied universally from elementary classrooms to senior-level leadership courses, and, despite dramatic advances in technology, the model persists. In the professional training and development world, most courses, even those delivered virtually, follow a similar live-lecture and practice approach.
For government and corporate organizations, the new reality is that training dollars are limited, travel budgets are disappearing, and there aren’t enough hours in the day to send employees away for days on end. But at the same time, the rapidly changing work landscape and the need to prepare workers for new challenges as well as personal and professional growth, makes training and development a crucial component of any long-term human capital strategy.
So what if we turned the classroom upside down?
In a “flipped classroom,” in-person class time is spent on practical application and hands-on exercises, not lecture. Rather than an instructor at the front of the class, there is a facilitator who mentors and provides more personalized support while students work individually and on teams. It’s not a new concept, but it is an idea that is gaining momentum thanks to advances in technology that make it easier to produce and distribute materials for use outside of class. The traditional lecture is replaced by audio, video and multimedia assignments that are completed before class. Students are given access to these materials before the scheduled in-person class so they have an opportunity to view or listen on their own schedule prior to coming to class. The investment in tools or platforms to support this model is minimal. Pre-class materials may be as simple as a recorded lecture or a replay of a webinar. In many cases, these materials can be posted on existing servers (such as an agency’s SharePoint site) and LMS systems. Technologies like portable music players, smartphones and tablets make using these materials even more convenient. Once in class, rather than spending time on lectures, class time is spent applying the knowledge through practical and