K-12 education methodology has been changing over the past ten years from the traditional classroom model to the ‘flipped classroom.”
"In a flipped educational setting, teachers are seen more as a “guide on the side” – students learn material on their own outside of class, often through videos or other media, and work on problems, activities, or projects in class with their peers. This gives students the chance to work through material at their own pace, and allows teachers to individually address student needs and foster collaboration and peer-to-peer learning in the classroom.” - Hetali Lodaya,
The impetus behind this change is that today’s students have difficulty applying their digitally generated shorter attention spans to what Jason Silberman calls the “tedium” of the traditional classroom.
According to Silberman, that tedium is even worse in corporate settings. He asserts that in those settings, there is an additional concern:
"…whether classroom training is the most effective way of connecting training to performance, and for employees to easily be able to apply what they have learned once these classroom sessions have ended."
The corporate flipped classroom model makes the training sessions more engaging and less tedious:
“The social aspect encourages teamwork, diversification and a social mindset which a business needs in order to grow and succeed. Along with these, it also builds experience through realistic exercises, building more on the “learn by doing and experience” concept which has proven far more proficient.”
Perhaps what the flipped classroom model best provides is the opportunity to learn how to collaborate. The trainees need to be taught how to work together in groups so that everyone is involved rather than assuming either dominant or passive roles.
4 Ways to Foster Collaboration and Encourage Engagement
1. Pre-class Collaboration
There should be opportunities for interaction with other trainees related to the individualized readings or viewing of pre-class videos, for example, a twitter chat room or class wiki.
2. Brainstorming
Rather than a few trainees responding to critical questions posed by the trainer, everyone in the class should be able to voice his or her idea. The trainer should write all ideas on a whiteboard, and the class should then agree which are the most important.
3. Role assignment
Each employee on the team needs to have an equivalent and meaningful role, moving beyond conventional dominant/supporting roles of leader, timekeeper, and scribe.
4. Process simulations
The classes should include the spectrum of employees whose work affects one another. Process simulations will allow employees to see how their performance affects that of their colleagues.
Teaching trainees in a flipped classroom setting how to collaborate will enhance their ability to participate in teams back on the job. Good collaborators will make good team members.
