Late to the Flipping Party

As an expert in implementing technology in education, I’ve known for quite some time that using lecture videos positively shifts the way teachers organize their lessons – in a direction that reflects the way students like to learn. Which is why it strikes me as odd that a lecturer – whose job it is to engage students – has only just discovered the use of lecture videos. I’m not pointing the finger at Harrison in particular. In fact, I applaud him for going out on a limb and trying it!

As a former primary school teacher, I know that the use of technology is not taught at ‘teacher school’ – at least not extensively – and the same is true for university lecturers. I believe that the desire to incorporate technology into your primary process in the classroom has to be in your DNA. Maybe this is the reason that most teachers and lecturers don’t use lecture videos routinely.

Of course, the need to carefully choose the right pedagogical approach never changes; a video isn’t always appropriate, especially for subjects that are better taught face–to-face.

However, as University of Washington principal biology lecturer Scott Freeman states, “We’ve got to stop killing student performance and interest in science by lecturing and instead help them think like scientists,” (1) – which is exactly my point. Using all of your time giving lectures is a waste of your students’ time as well as your own. Freeman’s statement is not baseless. He is lead author of a paper that compares lecturing with active learning by looking at 225 studies of undergraduate education across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (2).

For me, it’s clear that we must provide active learning to our students. And I think that you will agree that an instructional video or pre-recorded lecture isn’t the complete solution. What it gives you is more time with your students – and that’s the key.

It’s true that not all teachers have the skills and vision of Steven Spielberg, so the desire to create a “perfect” video can be a big first hurdle. But as Jonathan Bergman – one of the first teachers to call the use of video “flipping the classroom” – pointed out: less-than-perfect videos actually work better than masterpieces in many cases (3). Indeed, according to Donald Clark, poor quality video is rarely a problem when it comes to learning and retention; bad audio, on the other hand can be crippling (4). In other words, you just need decent equipment.

Besides quality audio, there are some other “rules” to a good video:

1. It cannot be too long – not longer than six minutes according to research done by Philip Guo (5).
2. Video with accompanying text is a no-no. And never put the script up at the same time as the video; it overloads working memory and damages learning. Richard Mayer suggests that both a visual and a narrative description lead to measurably lower retention (6).
3. Aim for YouTube not an Oscar. Students prefer a more informal, personal and – above all – enthusiastic performance from teachers. Hesitations, a relaxed style, and even corrected errors are perfectly acceptable.

You don’t need to be a complete whiz kid. You just need to master one tool to record and edit your videos well. No doubt, this will take time – but so did becoming a teacher and learning how to create good tests…

The greatest challenge is to rethink your class time. How can you promote active learning for your students? In many ways, that should always be the primary objective of a teacher. I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that creating a broad personal learning network (for example, following the blogs of colleagues, teachers, and though leaders) and keeping track of new insights on learning and technology can help. Perhaps most importantly, you need to discover what motivates and excites your students. It could be a rough ride, but an interesting journey. Isn’t teaching always like a rollercoaster anyway?

There is no single route to the best flipped classroom; it has to fit you as a teacher. One thing is clear: you cannot continue as you have in years past. So, come on – follow Harrison’s good example!