Flipped Classroom - Pros, Cons, Solutions for cons?

Recently I was reminded of the idea of the flipped classroom when I was browsing some TedTalk videos.  My urge of jumping on tangents and clicking on related links to a topic lead me to Ted Ed.

Great idea, I thought.  But I recalled some concerns I had about it when I explored it a while ago.  It's about time I put my thoughts and intangible concerns into words, and I might as well do it here!

For those who aren't familiar, flipped classroom is the movement that teacher created videos drives lessons at home, and homework is done during class.

Things I like about flipped classroom

1. students going at their own pace
2. students can replay lessons if they want
3. leaves time in classrooms for discussions and problem solving -- the really meaty stuff

I can get behind these benefits for sure.  Students vary in their ability to pick up and understand new material.  Being able to go at their own pace, and replay if necessary, is a good way to address the issue.  I am also a big fan of having more time in class to do activities (not a big fan of class time just being quiet homework time... that's just lazy), and 1 on 1 help (maybe not even from me, but from other students in the class).  But... I still have some lingering concerns.

Spelling out some concerns

1. somehow still lecture based
2. it's not about the students ideas and their thinking!
3. missing opportunity to assess students and give them feedback on their thought process
4. content and understanding depends on the quality of the video
5. immediate application of the understanding
6. student access to videos at home?
7. time taken for video creation

Of course, there is always the worry that some teachers may just take the videos as an opportunity to do nothing the classroom - but let's toss those types of teachers aside for the sake of the discussion here.  My main concern revolves around the flipped classrooms being still lecture and memorization-based.  A very prominent resource for these types of videos that are pre-made is the ones at Khan Academy.  There are a lot of valid critiques of Khan Academy out there in the blogosphere, and I don't need to reiterate all of them. But as an example, over at Rational expressions, it was pointed out that Khan videos does promote precisely what Khan claims not to want to perpetuate - memorization.  Of course, memorization vs understanding in terms of their tangled relationships with each other is a difficult one.  I will likely talk about what I think about that topic in the future.  I was browsing Khan Academy, and was surprised to find Vi Hart being associated with Khan Academy.  I've seen some of Vi Hart's videos, and I definitely wouldn't jump to associating them together with Khan videos.  Dan over at Recursive Process had the same idea:

Vi compliments Sal Khan’s videos because the are done on the fly and you can see his thinking process, but then she scoffs videos that are all about the process of math (memorizing equations and processes).
I would argue that 99% of Khan Academy math videos are focused exactly on the process of math ignoring interest, motivation, and excitement; and hence are as dry and boring as a lecture can be.

Ways to avoid concerns
Okay, so here comes the main point of this post.  I am good at standing at multiple sides of the issue, especially when I haven't selected my own stance yet.  I think my position is relatively simpler than I first imagined.  I want to incorporate the use of videos, and I want to incorporate flipped lessons.  I have been playing around with Jing, and some video editing software to be confident enough about being able to create some of these types of lessons for next year.  However, it would be completely useless if I cannot address the concerns I had for the flipped lessons.  Here are some proposed methods of mediating the concerns:

• Create the videos myself

I certainly don't think I am the best teacher in the world, and thus my videos would be the best.  I just think that if I am creating the videos, then I would be aware of all the concerns that I have (for the video, current student dynamics, exercises to go with the lesson...etc).  In addition, I would be able to control the pace.

• Avoid lecturing through the video.  Incorporate pauses for students to try problems on their own.

This is my attempt to associate student ideas and thinking into this as well.  Instead of written homework, perhaps students can use these pauses to write down some responses (or use google docs or something??), and these written artifacts will be what I look at (more likely for me to do if it's done online than written pieces of paper flying everywhere).  This also addresses the idea of being able to assess student thinking, and being able to give feedback as well.

• Leave them hanging?

This is a weird one.  I know students need closure.  But maybe this closure can be given during class?  Maybe the videos can be set in 3 part videos?  1 for hook + interest, pause for student reflection and assessment, 2nd video for content and exploration (still seems to be difficult), perhaps with lots of pauses for students to work through, and 3rd video for "the answer" or consolidation (maybe this one is going through the methods/potential methods of doing problems??  In my mind, this would be the only video that would be similar to Khan videos in the sense that it would "teach" the students).  The 3rd video would be uploaded the next day maybe? or after the lesson has been done??

• Only do this a few times in a semester?

This is to mediate the fact that I may not have a library of videos ready for the move.  Also it addresses the other concerns of being able to provide thinking opportunities in other ways.  Hopefully given more time will also mean better quality of the videos and better quality of the questions.

Some remaining concerns:

1. If students don't have access to videos at home, then this would not be a viable option in the classroom.  Even if 1 student does not have access, it would defeat the purpose.
2. What is the best way of getting students to write up their thoughts and problem solving ideas?
3. What is the best way to get feedback back to them? (maybe this can occur during consolidation the next day?)

Well that's it for now.  I am still conflicted in terms of some of the concerns I have about flipped lessons, but it won't prevent me from trying it at some point!