The 4th of July has come and gone, and with it the first half of our summer. Sigh. It seems as though the weeks after we celebrate Independence Day fly by even quicker than those earlier in the summer. Before we know it, back to school we shall go!
This year, I find myself almost EXCITED to begin the school year. Don’t get me wrong, I look forward to going back to school each year … though staying home with my kids is SO nice 🙂 I can’t wait to begin my flipped classroom journey and share my ups and downs with you!
Throughout the many conference and workshop sessions I’ve attended on the flipped classroom, and literature I’ve read, one question seems to be dividing the flipped community: the question of whether or not the teacher should actually be visible in the flipped videos.
Presenters at some conferences I’ve attended maintain that the teacher MUST be visible in the flipped videos. This legitimizes the videos as an actual teaching tool. “Seeing” the teacher…their personality, hand motions, facial expressions, etc allows the students to still connect with the teacher, and feel as though they are still completing a school assignment.
At another conference I attended, the presenter subscribed to a different school of thought concerning this issue: he felt that teacher visibility in the video was not only unnecessary, but was also a distraction from the learning activity.
What do I think? Teachers SHOULD be visible in the flipped video if it is at all possible. When students see their teachers in the video…
- they may be more focused on the content because…their teacher is there!
- they may feel more comfortable because they are not listening to a stranger or a random voice, they are learning information from their teacher.
- they are able to “make eye contact” with their teacher, which is very helpful for some students.
Do I think you must set up a camera in your classroom and video yourself lecturing in front of your whiteboard? Not necessarily.
There are tons of screencasting apps available that allow teachers to upload a presentation, load a website, or bring up a plain, white screen that will allow them to create lecture videos and share those videos with their students.
I briefly experimented with flipped video creation at the end of the last school year, and below is some feedback I received from my students:
- the teacher must be in the video…if not, the video is “weird” because the students can’t see my facial expressions and personality
- videos should be no longer than about 15 minutes…at the very most
- students loved being able to turn on the video and listen to the lecture at home, work, or in the car
- students loved being able to PAUSE and REWIND me, as I sometimes get too excited about the content and start talking quickly 🙂
What do you think? Does the teacher HAVE to be in the flipped videos? Take a second to fill out this form…I can’t wait to hear your opinions!
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”forms/d/1bP8B8e_5RhtFEcw6gky-uCRYmBCPcpwk9aKbyv-ovJY/viewform” query=”embedded=true” width=”500″ height=”500″ /]Check back soon for some examples of my flipped videos!
Below are some posts/pages you may find interesting:
Screencasting with Screencastify
Explain Everything
Resources for Flipping the Classroom
Thanks for reading 🙂
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