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Running head: FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

Flip one lesson Design project proposal


Adriana Silvestre, Christopher Hurst, Daniel Charron, Galina Culpechina, and Susan Beeley
ETEC 510 Design of Technology-Supported Learning Environments
University of British Columbia Masters of Educational Technology

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

Key Frameworks
The focus of our design project will be the flipped learning model. We will endeavour to
create a resource that will serve the self-guided professional in their early attempts at a flipped
lesson. What exactly qualifies as a flipped lesson? A summary of the model, as outlined by
Ecucause Learning Initiative (2012) suggest that a flipped classroom involves a reversal of the
in-class and homework components of a traditional lesson. Video lecture and other online
sources are viewed by the students at home prior to lesson and the class time is spent working
with that material in exercises, projects, discussions, or even visits from guest speakers. This
encourages learning in lessons to be more collaborative, cooperative and active, and allows the
teacher to channel the correct amount of support or challenge to each student in the class while
facilitating the thinking and the work of the groups of students on the whole.
A few words of caution are required, however, flipped lessons must be carefully planned
if they are to succeed. This will often involve the teacher having to learn new skills and organise
new material. Further, by flipping the classroom, the driving force in the classroom shifts as
well. Students must take more responsibility for their learning, something that many of them do
not immediately embrace (Educause, 2012).
In an article for Education Week, Ash (2012) reports on the evaluations of several
educators who have attempted the flipped class. The first major issue raised was that the flipped
classroom is really just a high-tech version of an antiquated instructional method: the lecture.
Further, what happens when you get students who remain disengaged, and dont watch the
video? Bergmann and Sams, flipping pioneers from 2006, suggest mastery based flipped
lessons (Ash, 2012). Students are given an outline for the unit including all resources, whether

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

online or hard-copy, and work through at their own pace. To deter those who might not get the
work done deadlines can be set for completing each task.
Before any teacher would tackle a new approach to teaching, however, the benefit to such
an approach needs to be established. Herreid and Schiller (2013) consider some case studies on
the use of the flipped classroom in STEM subjects and reported that the students found these
lessons more enjoyable and inspiring, and less intimidating. Teachers also reported increased
student performance both in class and on final exams when compared to traditional classes.
We are hoping that this project will help teachers to utilize the flipped classroom
regardless of the subject or age level that they teach by showing examples of how a flipped
classroom might be used and providing resources that will help teachers get started. By doing
this we would hope that teachers would be willing to attempt the flipped approach for at least
one lesson, even those who are generally reluctant technology users.
A major consideration when designing an online learning space, whether a teacher trying
a flipped lesson for the first time or MET students completing a design project, is selecting
appropriate educational media. The framework that we will use is the SECTIONS analysis
proposed by Bates and Poole (2003).
Students: It is important to consider differences in ability as well as access to technology when
considering the appropriateness of selected sources of media.
Ease of use and Reliability: Time spent learning to use unfamiliar technology or trouble
shooting the technology is time away from learning which defeats the purpose of a flipped
lesson. Technology that the teacher is already familiar with and that has good reviews from

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

other professionals in terms of reliability is a good place to start. Further, the technology must
be relatively easy for the students to work with so as not to put them off.
Cost: Figure out the cost per user. If their is a large expenditure required to purchase the
technology, make sure the money spent is both available and justified. Consider cheaper options
that might work just as well.
Teaching and Learning: Consider whether or not the technology is best for the curriculum that is
being covered. What might be appropriate for one subject may not work for others.. Further,
different teaching styles may be better supported by one type of technology over another. The
key thing to keep in mind is that the learning objectives are what is most important. Finally,
technology that lends itself to assessment is helpful, particularly when it assesses progress in the
way that the teacher intended.
Interactivity: There are programs that will allow for student-student, teacher-student,
parent-teacher interaction. Ensure that the one chosen includes all the combinations that are
most useful. While some programs might promote great interactivity with the material covered,
if the interaction is not focuses on the learning objectives, it is best to keep looking.
Organisational Issues: Some schools and even school district have policies surrounding
students email addresses and access to various sites. Be sure that the technology you are using
is something that is in line with these policies.
Novelty: This criteria links well with Ease of Use and Reliability above. The more novel a
technology is, the less likely it has a proven track record. Though the students may be excited at
the prospect of something new, if the teacher is unfamiliar with how it works it may be a mistake
to chose to use it with students.

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

Speed: Finally, the ability to add to amend a component within technology quickly is useful.
Further, if Internet available is not up to the specifications required by the technology it will run
slowly and cause frustration for the users.
Intentions and Positions
Goals
Our website will be designed to serve the self-guided professional development interests
of educators or educational technology professionals, who are interested in a flipped classroom.
As part of our design, we have asked colleagues who have not used this approach about
the challenges for them to try it. Most of the teachers have answered that the main challenge for
them is the lack of technological expertise, as well as the lack of knowledge of how this
approach works or benefits students. Based on this information from our target audience, we
have decided to create our learning environment with a focus on how-to start flipped learning,
best practices, background information about flipped learning, its benefits to student learning,
potential challenges, technological resources, and how to structure the lesson.
In order to best serve our audience through the design of our learning environment, one
of the surveys in the site will focus on asking potential users about what challenges they find in
implementing the flipped learning model and what would they like to learn more about.
This website will be designed primarily for self-guided learners and will include
collaborative exploration, engaging activities and discussion of our topic and the website. We
will expect our audience to provide helpful comments, thoughtful feedback and ideas on how our
website could be improved.

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

The ultimate goal would be to give educators the resources that would help them to
radically rethink how they use their class time and how to make the class a better place to work
through problems, advance concepts, and engage students in collaborative learning and, most
importantly, rethink how to best maximize the scarcest learning resourcetime.
Scholarship in Education and the Value of Flipped Classroom.
Flipped classroom teachers almost universally agree that online instruction at home frees
class time for learning. Its not the instructional videos on their own, but how they are integrated
into an overall approach makes the difference (Tucker, 2012). Integrating a flipped classroom
method utilizes technology to remove passive, one-way lecturing as the only means of teaching.
Thus, the instructor and students can interact within the newly gained instructional time
(Houston and Lin, 2012). The increase of teacher-student interaction during class time is what
characterizes its success (White, 2012). The classroom time is used to solve problems and apply
to other contexts (the application of higher order thinking skills). In addition, flipping the
classroom provides differentiated instruction based on students needs easier because everyone
does not necessarily need to do the same task in class (Liles, 2012).
Jon Bergmann and Aaron Simms, science teachers at Woodland Park High School in Woodland
Park, Colorado, began flipping their classrooms in 2007; many regard them as the pioneers of the
flipped classroom at the high school level. The key question, Bergmann says, is what is the
best use of your face-to-face class time? I would argue, at least in my case, that it was not me
standing in front of my students yakking. That was not the correct answer; the correct answer
was hands-on activities, inquiry- and project-based learning, and all those things that we have
known that research has borne out to be effective and meaningful and important (Horn, M., B.,

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

et al, 2014). Bergmann credits flipped classroom with fostering better relationships, greater
student engagement, and higher levels of motivation.
Salman Khan, whose videos have been used by teachers to flip the classroom, in his TED
Talk mentions that, "our goal is to use technology to humanize education on a global scale." This
is what's happening in education. According to Khan, a lot of the effort in humanizing the
classroom is focused on student-to-teacher ratios. In a traditional model, most of the teacher's
time is spent doing lectures and grading. Now, 100 percent of their time can be spent on
simulations, games, robot-building and valuable human time with the teacher. By using
technology, teachers are not just flipping the classroom, they're humanizing the classroom.
(Khan S., 2011)
Many of the underlying principles and techniques often used in a flipped class, including
active learning, self-directed inquiry, student-centered instruction, and constructivist learning
theory, have been thoroughly researched and used successfully in a variety of educational
formats for years (Bergmann & Sams, 2012).
Flipped Classroom on a Global Scale
The flipped classroom model has spread to many other teachers, professors, and
professional development educators nationwide and worldwide since 2007. The number of
teachers experimenting with it has grown exponentially. The flipped classroom forces educators
to rethink the learning environment and how best to use precious class time with learners.
Despite the new technology, 70% of teachers have not yet flipped their classroom.

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

Roughly 33% of teachers have indicated that they are not sure the content they usually deliver in
class can be effectively delivered in short online courses (Ferriman, 2013). Nonetheless, the
future is bright. But it will likely take time before we see a flipped classroom on a large scale.
We hope our website will add to valuable resources for educational professionals
interested in flipped classroom. It will provide grounded research that will help educators make a
decision whether reversing the content delivery is beneficial for their students as well as motivate
them to try this approach using our "How to set up a flipped classroom" guide and the "Flip your
classroom" kit.
Counter-Argument
Though there are many arguments supporting the flipped classroom, potential criticisms
can be found in the lack of access to online media at home and the increased screen time for
students.
The first criticism is that a flipped classroom approach requires students to watch or
connect to online media as homework. This requirement is impossible for students that do not
have access to the online media at home. The lessons and skills requiring learning through the
viewing of homework media are missed by the few students that have no access. This digital
divide therefore can potentially pose an unequal learning environment when the learner is
disadvantaged if they do not have access to technology at home. However, experienced flipped
classroom teachers have found viable options for these students that educators can exercise, such
as creating DVDs of the homework or providing students with computer access to a school lab in
free time during or after school.

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL

The second criticism to the flipped classroom is concerned with the increase in media
viewing for students. Watching videos as part of homework also means students are sitting in
front of digital devices for greater lengths of time. Studies have shown that during the course of a
day, students 8-18 are spending enormous amounts of time using media, television being the
dominant medium, has student viewing averaging about 4 hours per day (Scheibe, 2007).
Limiting the use of media is recommended to parents as too much screen time, has been linked to
obesity. Though these are valid points, it must be acknowledged that the flipped classroom
teaching method can provide students with necessary skills which are gained through this visual
medium. Teachers facing this challenge can be encouraged to work with parents to find a
balanced for students on their media usage at home.
Key Concepts and Contexts
Separating the Types of Learning
It is important to remember that the definition of a flipped classroom is an educational
technique that consists of two parts: interactive group learning activities inside the classroom,
and direct computer-based individual instruction outside the classroom (Bishop, and Verleger, ,
2013). The flipped classroom has been a popular educational learning strategy that employs
easy-to-use, readily accessible technology in order to free class time from lecture (Roehl, et al,
2013). The concepts of freeing up classroom time allows for a teacher to utilize the valuable
classroom time for active learning, collaboration, and teacher-student mentoring. A flipped
classroom approach expands the curriculum, allowing for a greater amount of learning occurring.
The requirement of using a flipped classroom is of a greater need now because of the millennials
and digital natives who are populating schools. The millennials have different learning needs that

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prior generation and process information much differently than previous generations of students.
This fact validates the urgency to adopt alternative methods of instruction (Roehl, et al, 2013)
and teachers need to change their teaching methods to address the needs of the students.
In creating a design project for educating instructors and teachers on how to develop and
employ a flipped classroom, first there needs to be a separation of learning activities. Certain
types of learning activities can be detached from the classroom and taught through a
computer-based technology. The design project will instruct participants on how to properly
separate the two types learning: Student-Centered Learning and Teacher-Centered Learning.
Both of these types of learning, Student-Centered Learning taught in the classroom and
Teacher-Centered Learning, taught via computer based technology (Bishop, and Verleger, 2013).
The image below depicts the separation of learning in a flipped classroom.

(Bishop, and Verleger, 2013)


The design project will focus on presenting Student-Centered Learning and
Teacher-Centered Learning. The separation of both Student-Centered Learning and
Teacher-Centered Learning is an essential aspect of a flipped classroom. Both concepts will be
described and activities will be provided for each of the concepts.

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Student-Centered Learning (In-class learning) is a teaching and instruction method that


changes the focus of a classroom from the traditional lecture based approach by replacing
lectures with active learning, integrating self-paced learning programs and/or cooperative group
situations, ultimately holding the student responsible for his own advances in education
(Nanney, 2004). The students in a Student-Centered approach have control over their learning
and are active participants in their learning. In this system, students have the ability to be social
in their learning by developing a cooperative learning environments and communities of
practice. Another benefit to Student-Centered Learning is the increased development in the
students problem solving skills, resulting in more independent learners.
The design project will provide information and instruct participants about various
Student-Centered Learning techniques that include: Project-Based Learning, Active Learning,
Collaborative Learning, Cooperative Learning, Game-Based Learning, and Peer Instruction.
Teacher-Centred Learning (Out of class learning) is a teaching approach that bases the learning
around the teacher, usually conducted through the traditional lecture method. This method
focuses on the teacher as the expert passing on information to the students and the students are
acting as passive learners.
In the flipped classroom there is a push to take the traditional lecture and post the content
online. Technology has a major role in the theory portion of the learning. When creating a
flipped classroom, there is a requirement to ensure that the technology being employed suits the
needs of the learning. For example, when converting lectures, podcasts and vidcasts can be used
to capture the theory lectures. The podcasts and vidcasts can be published online for the students

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to listen and/or watch. The design project will discuss podcasts and vidcasts and how they are
used in education.
Interactivities
The Flipped One Lesson learning environment would provide its users with two types
of different interactions. The first type of interaction is between student-content and technology,
while the second is student-content-student. Since the goal of our learning environment is for
teachers new to flipped learning to learn about and try the technological resources available for
this approach, the set of interactivities for student-content will involve the interaction of students
with different technological resources, such as: TED-ED Flip a lesson, or eduCanon. TED-ED
provides video lessons in many different topics created by educators around the world. The
feature from TED-ED Flip a lesson, or eduCanon allows educators to customize the lessons for
their specific group of students by tweaking or completely re-doing any of the video lessons they
have or from any video from YouTube. Teachers can customize the lesson by adding questions,
comments and quizzes to the video lesson. Educators can track individual student progress
(McManus, 2012). These two different technological resources add to the flipped classroom by
providing educators with the opportunity to create their lessons online, but at the same time
transform passive content (videos) into an active experience for students, where teachers can
track the progress of the students and therefore customize the in-classroom problem-solving
experience (EduCanon).
Other similar technological resources that we will introduce are Vialogues where teachers
can create meaningful annotated conversations around a video lesson, and blubbr where teachers
can create video trivia games. These platforms provide the beginner teacher to the flipped

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classroom a less intimidating approach to start flipping a classroom, since creating their own
videos is not necessarily required. For teachers who would like to start creating their own videos
we will introduce Explain Everything a multi-platform application that provides an interactive
screen casting whiteboard. Our learning environment will introduce these five platforms to our
users through the use of a how-to video for each of them and encourage them to try and flip one
lesson using the resources demonstrated on the site.
Another student-content interactivity that our site will provide is the Are you ready to
flip? test. This online tool will provide a series of multiple-choice questions to the users based
on the knowledge provided in our site. At the end of the test, users will get a score-card with
their level of preparedness, as well as next steps in the process of flipping a lesson.
The second type of interactivity that our site will provide is student-content-student. Our
site will have a section for users to upload or provide a link to the lesson they flipped using the
supporting technologies introduced on the site or using any other they have found, and to provide
a reflection on their experience. Other students can provide feedback, and open the
communication and interactivity between students for professional growth in this topic.
Another section that the site will provide is the resources catalogue. There is an extensive
amount of resources available for flipped classroom, but we will be focusing on only five of
them as an introduction for teachers to start trying them. In this section we will list many other
resources available and use tags to catalogue them, for example, resources to record a lesson, to
annotated a lesson, etc. This section will also be open to our users to add resources to the
catalogue.

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Verifications
The Flip One Lesson website purpose is to provide educators with the knowledge and
resources to be successful in flipping their own classroom. In order to substantiate the design of
our online learning tool for educators, a number of feedback systems are provided. The website
includes an email feedback link, testimonial section, survey, and an Are you ready? test.
The website includes a contact link at the bottom of each page. This email link connects
the user to a shared google group email, which sends the comment or question to all group site
authors. This email system provides an easy way for visitors to contact the authors, and receive a
response in a timely manner.
In the public testimonial posting section, visiting educators are encouraged to share their
experiences of the flipped classroom approach. Authors and visitors can engage in meaningful
discussion about strategies and experiences related to the flipped classroom. Reflecting on
experiences and interacting with visitors allows the authors to assess if the website is fulfilling its
anticipated need.
Once visitors have reviewed the whole site they are encouraged to complete the website
survey. This short survey offers clear quantitative data regarding the visitors learning experience
navigating and applying ideas from the website. Questions in the survey are related to
helpfulness of the website, and explanations and resources provided. Data is compiled instantly
and sent directly to the website authors for immediate feedback.
The final verification system is the Are you ready? test. The purpose of this online guide
is to assess if the user is prepared to flip a lesson. To assess their readiness, users complete an
interactive multiple choice test which when complete, gives them an assessment of their

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readiness for flipping a classroom. This test is designed to be supportive to users, and results are
shared with the visitor, but also data is collected by the authors as feedback.

FLIP ONE LESSON DESIGN PROJECT PROPOSAL


References
Ash, K. (2012). Educators evaluate flipped classrooms. Education Week. Retrieved from
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Bates, A. & Poole, G. (2003). Effective teaching with technology in higher education. San
Francisco, CA: John Wiley& Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/
sectionsanalysisforteachers/sections-analysis
Bergmann, J., and Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class
every day (1st ed.). International Society for Technology in Education.
Bishop, J., & Verleger, M. (2013). The flipped classroom: a survey of the research. American
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EduCanon - Create & share videos with embedded digital content and questions. (n.d.).
Retrieved June 14, 2015, from http://blog.educanon.com/posts/about
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Ferriman, J. (2013, July 11). Flipped-Classroom: Future of education? INFOGRAPHIC.
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Flipped Learning Network (FLN). (2014). Definition of flipped learning. Retrieved from
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Herreid, C., & Schiller, N. (2013). Case studies and the flipped classroom. Journal of College
Science Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files
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Horn, M., B., Staker, H., Christensen, C., M. Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve
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Khan, S. (2011). Let's use video to reinvent education. TED2011. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education/transcript
?language=en#t-686257
Kachka, P. Understanding the flipped classroom: Part 2. Faculty Focus. Retrieved from
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McManus, E. (2012, April 25). Flip this lesson! A new way to teach with video from TED-Ed.
Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/flip-it-a-new-way-to-teach-with-video-from-ted-ed/
Nanney, B. (2004). Student-centered learning. Retrieved from http://ollyusofalhaj.ipgkti.edu.my/
sumber/resosbestari/PENDEKATAN/scl/7%20SCL-Nanney.pdf
Roehl, A., Reddy, S., & Shannon, G. (2013). The flipped classroom: an opportunity to engage
millennial students through active learning strategies. Journal of Family & Consumer
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Scheibe, C. (2007). Food advertising, obesity and. In Encyclopedia of children, adolescents, and
the media. (pp. 350-352). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi:
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Tucker, B. (2012). The flipped classroom. Online instruction at home frees class time for
learning. Retrieved from: http://wardwcom.webstarts.com/uploads/the_flipped_classroom_
article.pdf
White, D. (2011). Literature justification for blended/reverse instruction. Unpublished raw data,
Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia.

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