Blurts

I am working on a video describing my take on the flipped classroom. In preparation I am reading several sources (no research seems to exist according to Google Scholar) including the Sams and Bergmann book sponsored by ISTE. These are the Colorado chemistry teachers many associate with the concept of flipping.

In the book, the authors describe the transition from what they call the flipped classroom to the flipped-mastery classroom. They indicate that mastery has been around for a long time. They knew the concept but rather than review the research and existing work they describe their approach as “diving in.”

If you substitute video for reading materials, the present mastery-flipped classroom is nearly exactly what Fred Keller described as the Personalized System of Instruction in 1968. Same logic – the media is more individualized than face to face presentations because students work when they have time and review when necessary. Same idea of mastery before progress. Same focus on individualized attention rather than a group based approach to deal with learning problems.

I liked the idea then and I still do. NOW – what would be interesting and probably very important would be to analyze why the original approach went out of style.

I know some of the reasons because I read much of the literature of that time period. Rather then tell you we should use this as an opportunity for problem based learning. Let this by your homework assignment.