In a
previous post, I wrote about Lesson Capture being used as a way of recording lessons for pupils to view afterwards. This was as a way of providing pupils with additional learning opportunities, the chance to catch up on anything in a lesson they may have missed and a chance for absent pupils to avoid missing out all together on a lesson. This approach would also be useful for pupils as they approach revision and exam periods as the recorded lessons can be viewed as an aid to revision.
In this post, I want to look at another use of lesson capture, one which might have a more profound effect upon class teaching.
When we approach a new subject or topic, we know that we have to introduce it to the pupils. Quite often this will involve giving over a session, in part or as a whole, to the introduction. The introduction is often the easiest part, though of course some pupils always take longer than others to understand it. It is often, though, the more advanced or in depth study of the subject which requires more time and more teacher support.
Wouldn’t it be great if the pupils could go away and study the introductory part on their own and then allow more lesson time to be devoted to supporting deeper study? I feel that lesson capture can be a tremendous help in allowing this. If an introductory session could be captured and the pupils (including the pupils in subsequent years) be directed to watch the recording as, say, homework, then the pupils will come to the lesson with prior knowledge of the subject/topic and, thereby, allow greater lesson time and teacher support to be given to more in depth study.
To some teachers, this may be a new idea but there are others who have already successfully tried it as part of an approach known as ‘flipping the classroom’. Doing an internet search for that phrase will turn up a wealth of resources but the following links could be a good place to start if you want to understand more about the concept of the flipped classroom.
http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/teachers-doing-the-flip-to-help-students-become-learners-531.php
http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-transforming-learning-536.php
http://www.learningconversations.co.uk/main/index.php/2011/03/19/flipping-the-classroom?blog=5
