How I Flip My Classroom

From my experience of flipping my classroom there are so many different ways to do it.  I know teachers that use their iPads or screencast their desktop but I really think it is completely teacher preference.  What are you comfortable doing and using?  For me, I found that the most important thing is to get my videos in a format that is accessible on a mobile device and have the students accountable for the assignment.  Here is how I have been flipping my classroom this year.


Step 1:  Creating the Note sheet.

Based on what I have seen from my students and a few conferences I have attended, supplying guided notes to the students make it easier for them to pay attention to the videos and holds them accountable for paying attention.


Step 2:  Recording the Video with Educations

I have found Educreations on the iPad to be my "goto" video creation app.  It's free and the ease of using the app made it usable after five minutes of reading the tutorial.  There are two main problems with Educreations that can be fixed on the teachers part.  The first is that you can not import a Word document into the videos.  However you can import picture files from a Dropbox account.  So what I do is take screen shots of the note sheets (one for each page) and save those picture files to Dropbox to use with Educreations.  The second problem is that students can not view Educreation videos on their mobile devices.  I solved this problem in the next step.


Step 3:  Convert the Video to a YouTube Video

Because Educreation videos are not viewable on mobile devices I use Screencast-O-Matic to capture the videos to post on YouTube.  I know it seems like extra work to do this but I think it is important that my students can view the videos on their phone.  I use an iMac or MacBook Pro to accomplished this because one of the options in the audio settings (SoundFlower) allows for Screencast-O-Matic to grab only the audio from the videos and not the audio from the microphone on my computer.  After the video has been captured, uploading to my YouTube channel is very easy.


Step 4:  Creating the Google Form

I like the students to access my videos from a Google Form.  The benefit of using a Google Form is that you can embed the video and questions for the students to answer after watching the video.  Here is the blog post on how I created my Google Forms for my flipped classroom.


Step 5:  QR Codes for Access

The last step is to create a QR code using goo.gl to the Google Form for the video.  I then place the QR code on the guided notes for the students so they do not have to type in any URLs.  Then print however many guided notes you need.



And that's it.  I know it sounds like a lot for just one lesson but it gets easier the more you flip your class.  There are also so many different ways to create video files.  I have tried using Screencast-O-Matic and Doceri to create a video file, Knomia and other apps but I have found Educreations to be the most user friendly for myself.

I believe the key is to find what works for you and stick with it.  There is no "correct" way to flip your classroom.

My Flipped Classroom Google Form

One year after flipping my Algebra 1 class I feel I have found the best way for me to have a successful flipped classroom and I wanted to share it.  Below is a sample image of the Google Form I have the students go to each day and below it I will have more detailed info for each part.

1)  Student Email Address:  I always have the students input their student email address so I know who completes the form as well as having the ability to send them their grade on the assignment after I grade it using the add-on Flubaroo.  I found it much easier to have their school domain already filled in for them using the pre-filled option.  (How to create a pre-filled Google Form Blog Post.)

2)  ID Number:  I have the students submit their student ID numbers as a form of double verification.

3)  Period Number:  Because I teach multiple classes of Algebra 1 I need to organize the results by periods.

4)  Embed the Video:  For this school year I have made sure all of my videos are on YouTube so I can embed them into a Google Form.  It is also much more useful for students since they can view YouTube videos on their mobile devices.

5)  Link to the Video:  There are times that the embedded video does not work on their mobile devices so I include the direct link to the video.

6)  Image of the Question:  Google Forms allow you to insert images into a form.  Unfortunately you can not just copy and paste an image.  You have to have the file saved on your computer as an image file to upload to the form.  I usually just screen capture a few problems from worksheets and save those files.  Useful apps for screen captures are Snipping tool, Skitch and PicPick.  (Screenshots Made Easy Blog Post)

7) Multiple Choice Question:  A large majority of the questions I have the students answer after the video are multiple choice questions.  It makes grading and comparing the data easier.

8) Image of a Horizontal Line:  Without inserting and image of a horizontal line it is hard to see what question corresponds to what multiple choice options.  This is not really needed.


The morning after the assignment I grade it using Flubaroo, email the students their grades and use the Summary of responses within forms to guide the lesson for the day.