How can the concept of “Flipped Classroom” support the development of reflectvive practitioners in higher education?

Abstract

This paper will explore the opportunities for reflection to support the development of reflective practitioners. "Flipped Classroom"[l] is the new take on turning the lessons into discussion on theory rather than spending the time in the classroom on lecturing the theory. The lecturing is still done, but recorded and allows the student to study the theory and "vodcasts" (video recordings of lectures) at home prior to the scheduled time in the classroom. The time in the class together with the lecturer is thus used to do what previously was called "homework"; work with assignments tied to the theory. This should provide opportunities for introducing reflection as a part of the classroom exercises. The goal is to prepare the students to become reflective practitioners[2-4]. So how can reflective practice be introduced in the lecture hours? It is suggested having the students write reflective journals[5-7]. In addition to academic writing which is impersonal, and in which they can argue and justify, we would like the students to be personal about their own learning process and thus write reflective journals. These journals should be mandatory, and could be a part of either weekJy or monthly assignments. One page assignments should describe what has been learned and what relevance this is to them. Also as the semester progresses, one part of these assignments should be retrospective and the students should reflect back on previous lectures. These assignments will support the process of turning the students into reflective practitioners.