The Value of Lecturing in a Flipped Classroom | Jon Bergmann | 4 Min Read

November 3, 2022

“I haven’t lectured in my class since 2007.” I said this many times over the years, and now I am back to lecturing — sorta! It all started with a conversation with Dr. Helane Marshall this summer as she shared with me her SOFLA model of online instruction (Synchronized Online Flipped Learning Approach). Her cycle of learning includes eight steps and the one that has got me back to “lecturing” is step 6: Preview and Discovery. In that step, she takes about five minutes during her online classes to give students a preview of the evening’s flipped lesson. I know that some educators don’t like the term “lecture” as it has a connotation of a power relationship between the teacher and the student. Probably a better term is “direct instruction.” But regardless of what it is called, this “preview” time has three purposes: 

  1. To sell students on actually doing the prework. Clearly, one of the drawbacks of the flipped model is that it relies on students doing the pre-work (flipped lesson). And if we give students a short preview of the lesson, Dr. Marshall found that more students will complete the assignment. The “preview” segment of the class should be used to sell the student on the importance of what they will view (video) or read (text).  So far (two weeks into the semester), I am finding that when I do the preview activity, I get more compliance. 
  1. To decrease the cognitive load on students so that they will have at least some basic background knowledge when they interact with the flipped lesson. Probably this second point is more important because students often have difficulty accessing some content alone. If I can give them a few cognitive hooks so that when they interact with the flipped lesson, they will increase their comprehension. 
  1. To increase social interaction during the flipped lesson. I also use the lecture time to prompt how students might interact with each other in the flipped lesson. Perusall is a social learning tool that allows students to interact with each other about a particular piece of content. Using this tool, students can comment on each other’s comments in the reading or the video. This increases both compliance and comprehension of the flipped lesson.

My Process

As of right now, here is the process…

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Jon Bergmann

Jon Bergmann is one of the pioneers of the Flipped Class Movement. Jon is leading the worldwide adoption of flipped learning by working with governments, schools, corporations, and education non-profits. Jon is coordinating or guiding flipped learning initiatives around the globe including China, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the Middle East, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, South America, and the United States. Jon is the author of 10 books including the bestselling book: Flip Your Classroom which has been translated into 10 languages. He has been an educator since 1986. He has served as a middle and high school science teacher, the lead technology facilitator for a school district in the Chicago suburbs, as well as a consultant/public speaker. He currently is teaching science and leading staff development at Houston Christian High School.