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September 24, 2019

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Home » Feature » Education

Flipped classrooms motivate students

By Seung Yeon Ryu and So Woon Nam | 00:05 UTC+8 September 24, 2019 | Print Edition

We may never know which method of teaching is the best, but it is clear that we no longer prefer one-way lectures in the classroom.

At present, a new system is being applied to several classes. This system, a flipped classroom, is merely starting our lesson by asking, “So, who would like to share their thoughts about the podcast?” and ending our lesson by announcing, “Remember to comment on your classmates’ Flipgrid.” During the class, we get to debate, make inquiries, make connections to other sessions, and assist each other’s weaknesses — while the content of the subject has already been learned the night before.

It’s like a dream come true. We always talk about how, in the future, lessons will be taught at home through a learning helmet — a machine that embeds knowledge directly into your brain. Well, thanks to the flipped class, we can learn at home while not even having to wear those funny-looking helmets!

However, flipped classrooms are not always welcomed. Teachers try to curtail the use of technology, we have a “no-phone” rule at school. Their usual concerns are that students are already spending too many hours texting and scrolling through their social media. Why should they give us an excuse to increase our screen time?

It is time for these conventional beliefs to be questioned. Technology is not gloom and doom in dystopian robot-controlled societies.

It does not kill emotions. It inspires us as students. Just like flipped classrooms, technology can motivate students with a virtual cornucopia of possibility.

Education


 

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