Shinshu JALT would like to thank our very own Trane and Cheryl, both of the University of Nagano, for their October 5th presentation about the flipped classroom.
Cheryl began with a description of some of the challenges she has faced when conducting discussions in communicative classes in Japan: students confuse discussion with debate and/or with presentation, and students are slow to express themselves. If teachers want to prepare students to communicate for the purpose of exchanging and deepening ideas, teachers must give students both a discussion model and also preparation time to understand the topic and formulate opinions. Flipped classroom design can help provide what a single instructor with limited classroom time cannot offer.
Trane provided some helpful background information about how the flipped classroom developed, under various names, in the context of the US as educators in the humanities and STEM fields embraced active learning and the use of technology in the classroom. He recommended Julie Schell’s “Flipped Learning by Design” (2016) as a resource for understanding how flipped learning and the process of information retrieval that goes with it can improve the ability to learn by priming and mining paths to deep learning. Cheryl then introduced specific research from the Asian context. Despite the image of passive students, some research showed that students liked increased opportunities for interaction in the classroom, and teachers appreciated how the approach supported student growth. However, it was noted that some students failed to complete the pre-class assignments upon which the lessons depended.
Finally, the flipped classroom design was summarized using a translation of material from Tomoko Mori who had presented at the University of Nagano earlier this year. The focuses of the
① before-class;
② in-class;
③ after-class design
can be grasped from the following key words:
① internalize/individual/I think I understand;
② verbalize/group/check, struggle; ③ internalize/ individual/I got it! These key points became clearer in the concrete examples from actual lessons Cheryl and Trane have conducted. They showed that difficult discussion topics like online advertising, AI and job loss, and rural revitalization could be tackled with the help of flipped classroom design.
Shinshu JALT would once again like to thank Cheryl and Trane. Their explanation of the pedagogical approach and their sharing of their own lessons from the University of Nagano have put all of us in a better position to continue the discussion and explore the potential of the flipped classroom in our own teaching. And continue the discussion we did, as we left the building in search of ice cream on that gorgeous October afternoon.
Recommended Resources
Matsushita, K. (Ed.). (2018). Deep active learning: Toward greater depth in university education. Singapore: Springer.
Schell, J. (2016). Flipped learning by design: How to use cognitive science research to design flipped classrooms that help people learn best. Leadership, 22(2), 10-16.
University of Texas at Austin, Faculty Innovation Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/how-to-flip
