So, this week we are discussing one of the pillars of flipped learning: a flexible learning environment.
This is a very interesting pillar indeed, but at times it sounds a bit romantic to me.💓
We, as educators can be as flexible regarding expectations of students' learning and their assessment as the institution where we work allow us to be! That is to say, unless we are offering a private course, one which does not depend on any institution at all, teachers have dates to respect, forms to fill, academic years to close, the lot. How flexible can we really be then? We may allow students to hand in some homework 'late' or to resit a test, but I cannot think of a possibility to become more flexible.
In my working environment (tertiary education and university levels), we try to evaluate the process of learning, which means that students are given a number of possibilities throughout the year to show they are doing their work, and no student actually fails the course before the end of the academic year. Can we get any more flexible?
Another point to take into account is the spaces and times we offer our students so that they interact. I find that it is very hard for them to be critical of their partners' work. I use Padlet a lot and encourage students to see their partners' work, listen to their tracks, make comments on what they like or don't like about what they see and hear, because they can be helping a partner! But then I see that they don't usually do it unless their comments are taken into account when grading comes. Can we really force our students to interact? Should the interaction be compulsory then? And if it is, is it useful?
And finally, about the post in https://blog.ohheybrian.com/2012/04/moving-the-flipped-class/, in which Brian says that what he does is to let students drive their own learning rather than relying on the teacher to crack the whip behind them, I would love to hear how he does it. I offer students a number of ways to learn: interactive images, SHORT videos, SHORT texts to read, forms to complete, etc; I usually have a survey in the middle of the academic year to see which of the resources they like best (considering each group is different!) and still, there are students who do not get engaged, do not want to tell me what they would like to have in the classes, most of the time because they do not like the subject at all... Can we do anything else in these cases?
Mmm, this post clearly sets more questions than answers... 😱Well, let's stick to the idea that it is better to have unanswered questions than unquestioned answers!
I think you're right, cause this might can help us educators to improve and develop new type of methodologys but some of are already trying to be the best version of ourself in the classroom but this quarantine it's making a little bit more difficult teach cause none all the students are getting the economical facilities as others, so what we can do at this new romantic type of learning
ReplyDeleteRight on. If, when we are in front of the classroom we have students that, just are there, to fill the space, and don't like to interact, now that we are virtual, is even harder to get to them. Let's keep our hopes up that we can get all our students to become a bit more independent learners, and that we can be their guides.
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