Nineteen Ways for Students to Prepare for Flipped Classrooms

In a flipped classroom, students typically interact with a short micro-video (flipped video) before class and then class time is transformed into an active place of engagement and learning. Some teachers think that students take to flipped learning quickly. However, since many students have been trained in how to learn passively, they need to have explicit instructions on how to learn differently in a flipped classroom. Below is a series of suggestions teachers may find helpful to hand out to students to prepare them for a flipped classroom.

How to Learn Best in a Flipped Classroom

Students, welcome to my class. I am excited to be your teacher this year, and I look forward to learning with you and leading you in your learning. This is a flipped classroom and how you receive instruction from me may look different than the way you have from classes in the past. Your homework will typically involve you interacting with a short video before class. That will then free up class time for me to help you more, and give us more class time for collaborative assignments and hands-on experiences. Since this class is different, I have listed out some suggestions which will ensure that you are completely successful.

When and How You Watch a Flipped Video

• I am sitting in a quiet, distraction-free setting.
• I have silenced my phone.
• I have closed all other tabs and windows on my device.
• I am not connected to social media while watching the flipped video.
• I have my class notebook and a writing device to take notes.
• I use a set of headphones to watch the videos.

Note-taking Tips

• I take careful notes from the video.
• I draw appropriate diagrams and charts in my notes.
• I frequently pause the video to take notes.
• I rewind the video when I don’t understand things.
• When my teacher tells me to pause the video and solve a problem or write something down, I do it.
• If there are questions to answer in the video, I respond to the best of my ability.
• I write down questions in my notes from the flipped video when I don’t understand something.
• I bring my questions to class and ask my teacher for help and clarification.

How to Best Participate In-Class

• I ask my teacher questions I wrote down in my notes.
• I fully participate in class activities.
• I collaborate with my peers.
• I offer to help my peers with things I understand.
• I receive support from my peers when they understand more than me

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash