A sneak peak of SOFLA - first random thoughts

 Last year (2020) I had everything ready to flip one of my pronunciation courses. Material had been prepared, ideas were organized, the institutional platform designed and almost ready ... when the quarantine kept us all locked in. What could I do? I was suddenly forced to flip ONLINE! 

I did my best mainly through trial and error, because I did not know there was an approach called SOFLA: Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach, full of tried and tested ideas, tools and strategies to make teaching and LEARNING significant, motivating and succesful! 

As I am now delving into this approach, I can say that its eight basic steps which form a cycle of learning provide a clear framework to organize lessons and it is useful for both teachers and students, who would know what they are doing, why they are doing it and what comes next (not a minor detail in today's context so full of uncertainties).

The cyle of learning in SOFLA (Marshal and Kotska 2020)

In 2020 we teachers had to teach online to students who had not enrolled in an online course. I believe that made a world of difference. Students were not ready - psychologically or technologically - to suddenly be faced with a completely different environment which required a change of attitude on their part, which required them to become more active and in charge of their learning. In my case, I assumed the famous 'digital native' would know how to manage technology, but I was wrong. They did not know how to learn with technology. They barely knew how to send an email attaching a file, So, we taught technology, we taught how to use apps and sites so that then we could move on to teach them the content we were supposed to be teaching. (And the fact that many teachers had to learn all of this first adds a further hindrance which deserves a post of its own). 

There is a lot to do for pre work - interactive video, collaborative reading, etc - and there are many activities to adapt to online synchronous meetings. The change takes time but I personally believe it is worth its while. Still, in my own context (La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina) the poor internet connectivity - or its expense! - and the lack of devices (both for students and teachers) are key obstacles that do not depend on us (the educational community) but which need to be solved if we are to avoid deepening the divide between those who access education and those who don't. Or in any case, we might need to develop a variety based on SOFLA but without the compulsory synchronic component... we'll see. 

Reference:

Marshal, H. and Kotska, I. (2020) Fostering Teaching Presence through the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language. (24 - 2).

A map, not a GPS!

The third pillar of flipped learning: Intentional Content. 

Once again, we usually depend on an institution that somehow tells us what to teach and what content must be included. But within the content that is established, teachers have the freedom to adapt different perspectives and to present or deal with it in a number of ways. 

When designing a course, a unit, a lesson or an activity, I like to think of it as a map. My goal is for students to reach a certain place but by themselves. I do not want them to get lost, I do not want them to feel frustrated, but I do not want them to sit at the back seat of my car and only enjoy the ride, either (let alone fall asleep all the way!). I want them to drive their own vehicles, to manage their way AND enjoy the ride. 

Again, and quite related to the previous post on learning culture, students will face a selection from the topic they deal with, kind of clippings, always being aware these are finite but the resources to be found on the topic are actually infinite. And that they could go deeper into the subject, if they would like to. 

It is also true that some students might need more help than others, and that can be catered for as well. Extra and optional activities and/or resources should be provided as well as the explicit freedom to go and search for themselves! (I believe this must be explicit most of the time, irrespective of ages and levels!) 

Another aspect to bear in mind is the variety of resources: visual, kinetic, auditory, the lot. It is important to help all sort of students and we know that some need to see, others to listen... you name it. 

Depending on the students' age, the length of the course, the time students have, and many other variables I believe the content offered can be more or less 'open' for them to discover. But what is certain is that whatever we offer to one group may not exactly fit another group (unluckily 😕) and what we plan and hope that is going to be great and useful, may end up being a mess for some students! I found the term FAILING FORWARD an excellent way to express this . Although Mr Miller associated it with the teachers' role as designers of learning experiences, I guess it should be applied to both teachers and students. Teachers should be restless and open to failure, as much as students need to be. 

So, I give my students the map, and tell them where they need to get. I give them clues as to how to get there (for some, these clues will be enough, others might need more and find them by themselves, others might need a completely different help!) Some may take a shortcut, some may take winding paths because they enjoy the landscape, others will get lost and go back on track eventually. But I do not give anyone a GPS. I am not a GPS for them, either. If you think of it, a GPS would be to blame if you get lost or you find yourself in a dangerous neighbourhood... but flipped learning requires active and independent students, so they'll have to be in charge. They should be their own GPS.