Schoology creates flipped classrooms

Schoology creates flipped classrooms

Imagine a school environment where students teach themselves. Teachers sit at their desks, doing who knows what, while the classroom they’re suppose to be teaching, is stressing over the content they are unable to grasp without a teacher. Now stop imagining. This is the current situation for some of our very own students.

Along with the use of Schoology and its resources, teachers have discovered a way to educate their students without having to speak with them directly. They call this the flipped classroom.

Flip assignments are made up of power points, documents, media, prerecorded lectures/lessons and quizzes that a student completes on their own time, “flipping” through the assignments. A flipped classroom is when a teacher sends home their students with notes to take and book work to complete. The knowledge gained at home is then applied in class with assignments and labs that aren’t capable of being done at home.

Students are able to use the extra class time gained to ask teachers questions and complete other assignments for that class. This is backwards from the traditional class time being used for lectures and teaching, hence the name “flipped classroom.”

Due to the fact that flip assignments make it easier for students to fall behind, how much they succeed in the class is really up to the individual. Broadcast teacher Louis DiLenoardo speaks up on his thoughts towards student application when it comes to flip assignments. “I believe this is all based on the student and how much effort they want to put into their learning. My assignments are usually video based and last seven minutes and have a quiz to go with them. Students then come to class and work on a project based on the videos.”

Along with new technology comes new work habits and practices. For this reason, today’s students have a greater need to learn how to apply technology to their lives than past graduates had. DiLeonardo said, “With the 1:1 initiative and the use of Schoology as our course management software, blended learning is going to be implemented in more classrooms at Seaman High School because this is how students are learning in today’s society and in order to be a successful learner, students have to be able to process information and adapt it to a problem or situation so they can solve it.  For example, you can Google anything, watch a video, learn how to do it, and then apply it to your own unique project you are completing.”

While this reversed style of teaching can be very questionable at first, once getting use to it, it can be very beneficial for both students and teachers. However, students will only genuinely understand the flip assignments/classrooms if the teachers know how to use them properly.

If used in the right respect, students can enjoy being able to learn somewhat at their own pace, and also appreciate having the resources to look back on whenever they feel the need.

Overuse of this teaching exercise, however, can lead to students becoming overwhelmed and cause them to fall behind, and even begin doing poorly in the class.

Junior Grayson Seevers chimed in on her opinion of this version of teaching, saying, “I have mixed feelings towards flip assignments. I like that you are given the opportunity to teach yourself and comprehend things without outside input. The thing I don’t like is if you do it incorrectly you’re left confused and with a bad grade.”

Also speaking up about his feelings towards flip assignments, sophomore Taegan Loy said, “I don’t really like them that much because it’s harder for me to teach myself since I don’t already know the concept. When the teacher explains it to me they could explain it better and then tell me exactly how to do it, whereas a powerpoint or something might not explain it well enough.”