Flipped Teaching with Microsoft Teams
Overview
As part of a ‘flipped classroom’ pedagogy, Zhiqiong Chen uses Microsoft Teams during in-person seminars to increase participation. Zhiqiong expects students to arrive at seminars already equipped with some understanding of the topic and instead uses the seminar as a space to test student knowledge through a range of activities. In addition to Microsoft Teams, Zhiqiong also uses VeVoxLink opens in a new window and Talis ElevateLink opens in a new window to encourage in-class participation. This gives students more opportunities to communicate with Zhiqiong and with each other verbally and non-verbally, using their first or second language.
Zhiqiong uses the Microsoft Teams file sharing function in her in-person teaching to facilitate collaborative working. Students are paired up randomly to work on the same task within a designated Teams channel on their own devices. These productive tasks require students’ output in the target language. ‘Think-Pair-Share’ model is applied to build student confidence by allowing them to first think through the questions individually and discuss it in pairs before sharing with the rest of the group.
While students work, Zhiqiong is able to look through the documents in each pair’s channel to check their progress and provide instant feedback or individual support. Later when the groups come back together for discussion, she can pick out common mistakes or share a specific pair’s work with the rest of the seminar group. Students are also able to access their own work as well as others in the Teams space after the seminar for revision. In cases where there is not enough time to provide full feedback during the seminar, Zhiqiong is able to review the documents and post her feedback directly in the document afterwards.
Lesson plan
- At the start of teaching, Zhiqiong sets student expectations by informing the students that she will be using a flipped classroom pedagogy and as such their seminars will be activity-led.
- At the same time, Zhiqiong creates separate channels for each pair/group work on Microsoft Teams and demonstrates how to use Teams, including channels.
- Before the seminar, Zhiqiong designs and then copy/pastes the task into each channel.
- During the seminar, students are paired up to work on a task within their designated channel. While the students work, Zhiqiong reviews each pair’s work in their designated channel and provides instant feedback or individual help. Zhiqiong also looks for common mistakes or problems for later discussion.
- Students are able to access their work in the Teams space after the seminar for revision. They are also strongly encouraged to use office hours to get feedback and advice from Zhiqiong outside the teaching time.
Tutor's observations
It is quite useful for building confidence because [students] can learn from each other and sometimes they learn better from each other than from the teacher. I found Teams really useful because you can organise all the material very easily.
Student testimonies
“I like that they (files) can be edited and drawn on by the teacher in class, and that it stays on the PowerPoint for notes afterwards to go back over.”
“Being able to discuss in a group, sharing the workload. Having an opportunity for our sentences to be corrected but no particular 'blame' on one group member.”
Links to more like this
Categories: Active learning, Blended learning, Flipped classroom, Peer learning
Tools: Microsoft Teams
Departments: School of Modern Languages and Cultures