A Half-Flipped Classroom

Friel, Holly

Westermann, Edward B. (2014). A Half-Flipped Classroom. Educational Research Quarterly. 38.2, 43-57.

Summary:

The main focus of this article is to report on an upper division university history course where students accessed primary sources online and shared their thoughts before class through short essays and discussion posts, and during class they were guided through a “student-centered collaborative exercise based on the primary sources.” The approach discussed in this paper is different from a typical “flipped” classroom where the on-line component is usually a professor’s lecture (that person’s interpretation of the material) because students develop their own perspectives of the primary sources rather than having the professor tell them what to think about it.

Review:

If you’re not familiar with the concepts of a “flipped classroom” and “blended learning,” this article, while not its central point, provides good definitions of these two terms.  For example, “flipping” is defined as “an instructional technique [that] focuses on the creation of a student-centered learning environment that leverages technology and emphasizes application and collaboration.” The author references Bloom’s Taxonomy, and how “flipping” is supposed to push students to work at a higher cognitive level.  The author also explains that “blended or hybrid learning” is a combination of in-class meetings and an online component.  In addition, the article describes very interesting uses of primary sources, questioning, and short essay topics.