Week 7: Discussion for Learners

Please see comment below

Students will learn to become confident and will want to participate. Once the information is read or watched, their participation level should increase when they get back into a group setting. Students will blossom, and their problem solving techniques will expand and increase. My classmates have already included many other characteristics, so I won’t repeat them.

I mean see "comment"...?

It seems to me that if students are already motivated and self-disciplined, they are going to succeed in any class. And so few students are those things. I appreciate the experience of the student in the video who is able to watch his video homework on the bus on the way home from school. Convenience and flexibility are key for encouraging students to be motivated and self-disciplined -- meeting them half way. I agree with Daniel that marks are ultimately a poor motivator. And I sympathize with the woman who is considering hard drugs. If hard work doesn't pay off, perhaps she should work with a good tutor or a specialist to help her improve her own understanding of what she needs to learn and to develop the needed skills. But it sounds like the flipped classroom isn't helping her.

I appologize, I think I posted this originally in the wrong section. There is already a large number of posts that highlight excellent characteistics, so I will keep this brief. I believe that students also need to be highly organized, focussed and have a large sense of trust in themselves as learners and in their teachers (trust that they will provide the appropriate material that will allow them to succeed).

@Michael G. If the classroom is only the place where educational content is delivered (i.e. lecture format) then, yes, this is a passive activity. If the classroom however, incorporates active learning (group activities, case studies, building new creative content together) then this is a positive environment for higher cognitive learning to occur. Problem is, the instructor only has so much time in the class so if the majority of time is spent communicating new concepts rather then allowing the learners to try them on their own, the learner can do that themselves at home or in a computer lab elsewhere. They most likely don't need help do that. Where they need guidance is in the active stage. I recall, like many parents, helping my kids with long and complex math problems at 10:00 at night wondering why the teacher did not work with the student in class with this rather than have them do it all alone at home with no guidance (I wasn't much help). Sounds like your classrooms are great examples of rich learning environments! I have audited a number of higher education classes in which there was zero student engagement, just an hour or two of straight lecture - no questions, no activity, no inter-student engagement = no learning. But as we can see, it is hard to address these issues as they apply to all levels of students. What works in higher education will likely have multiple levels of complexity in primary grades (i.e parental buy-in is not an issue when the learner is an adult). Thank you to all for bringing into the conversation all these considerations!

Both traditional classrooms and flipped classrooms have benefits, depending on factors like the topic being studied, the class as a whole, the preferences of the student, etc. Some students prefer working alone and thrive when completing their projects in the library, or at home. Some classes, like English, are probably more suitable for traditional classrooms. Other high school classes, like biology and journalism, are probably much more suitable for flipped classrooms. I think teachers should take a critical looked at flipped classrooms before considering implementing them, and students should also consider whether their own learning style and preferences for completing school work are compatible with flipped classrooms. I think that this is necessary because the way that people identify and discuss the benefits of flipped classrooms is sometimes unclear. For example, the 2015 NMC Horizons report notes that “Flipped classrooms support students becoming creators of content rather than passive consumers and helps to deepen their understanding of concepts.” I think this statement is deeply misleading because it’s easy to see that traditional classrooms don’t necessarily relegate students to consumer status. In traditional classrooms, students complete complex, detailed and often brilliant projects and essays both individually and in groups. That this work is completed at home rather than in the classroom doesn’t somehow make students “passive consumers.” Another statement from the same 2015 NMC Horizons report notes “In the classroom class time is devoted to higher cognitive active project-based learning for students to work together to solve local or global challenges to get a deeper understanding of the subject.” I think this statement also falsely maligns traditional classrooms by suggesting that the work associated with these classrooms is somehow “shallow” or “low,” as opposed to the “higher” and “deeper” work associated with flipped classrooms. Maligning traditional classrooms in this way, and setting up a false dichotomy that flipped classrooms are inherently better, higher, deeper and more creative than traditional classrooms, unfortunately undermines the argument for the many benefits that flipped classrooms really do have.

Ok I'm reading this a lot in this thread ... students need to be self-driven, to buy into the subject, motivated, self-starters, ownership of their own learning. These are the same terms being tossed around the new BC curriculum where students are going to take the steering wheel to their own learning. My question to everyone is our traditional method of hanging a mark over their head enough to gain the type of buy-in we are looking for? What happens when there is no more reward? No more marks to obtain? Ie: they are already an A student, or the course is over? I think the new curriculum coming to BC is at least pointed in the right direction. Its making learning a lot more flexible and paving the way for individualized learning. I hope that given more choice in their learning, students can realize a deeper buy-in to their education than simply being awarded a letter grade.

In a blended learning environment, first and foremost students need to have access to the technological tools to access the lessons online after school hours. Once Students have access, they need to be committed and invested in their own learning. Creating interesting and engaging lessons would benefit the educator as students would be more motivated to engage with the content. It would be imperative to discuss with students how blended learning actually works and to teach students the necessary collaborative skills to help them succeed in this type of learning environment.

As Laurie and Victoria highlight, much learning is dependent on a community of learners. The flipped educational design model helps to foster and support this environment. In addition to many of the characteristics listed, it is critical that students take a true ownership of their learning both in and outside of the classroom. Students cannot simply 'coast' and be able to achieve the quality of work that they need in order to succeed. A major problem with the students learning in a traditional format is that for bright students (or students where a certain concept comes easily to them) it is becomes a matter of how quickly could I complete this and for those who struggle with concepts, it is their role to work to develop a community of learners outside of the classroom to try to help them learn the material.