The flipped classroom teaching method has been implemented by teachers in a variety of classes at Oak Park High School. This method of teaching derives from traditional teaching styles as these classrooms essentially follow a lesson plan that reverses what is assigned for homework and classwork. This change in teaching-style has caused a debate about whether Edpuzzles are beneficial to the way students learn or that they are not helpful and add to the workload of students.

With assignments that are typically classwork being given as homework, some teachers assign lessons that would be taught in class at home, which requires some sort of medium. Teachers who use flipped classroom instruction have a variety of resources to accomplish this goal, a popular source being Edpuzzles.

Edpuzzles are utilized by teachers to embed questions into a pre-recorded video. Some teachers record their own lessons to use in Edpuzzles while others use videos from outside sources. From a student’s perspective, there are a number of pros and cons that come with Edpuzzle instruction.

According to teachers, Edpuzzles are a great way to preview, review or teach lessons to their students, primarily as homework instead of in-class instruction.

“I use Edpuzzles to preview different lessons through a flipped classroom method, which means, essentially, you take the lecture notes or do notes that would be traditionally done in class, at home. That then leaves more time for individual and group practice during class,” OPHS math teacher Brianne Hazlewood said.

Edpuzzles are designed to be a source of previewing information at home that is typically taught in class. Teachers input a video to use, then assign it to students in order to prepare them for the following class where they will once again be exposed to the material and gain additional practice.

The importance of Edpuzzles becomes apparent when students are able to successfully complete their work due to the multiple exposures of the material.

“The idea of me doing a flip-classroom is that you are first exposed to the material through the Edpuzzle. When you come to class, you can ask questions on what you learned in the video to clarify any misconceptions, and do some practice problems. When it comes time for the homework, that should be enforcing your understanding of those topics. It’s not the first time you’ve practiced them on your own, but the third time you’ve seen those types of problems,” Hazlewood said.

The flip-classroom teaching style depends on methods, such as Edpuzzles, to do the first step of the learning process, the preview of course material. This leaves additional time for the following stages of learning, including practice and review. These steps can be completed in class, allowing students to have the opportunity to ask questions while completing their work.

“If the teachers just go over it during class for a good fifteen minutes, we will be good,” sophomore Sophie Silvers said.

On the contrary, assignments that are a part of flipped classroom instruction, such as Edpuzzles, may add to the workload of students due to their length, making it difficult for students to stay focused for the entirety of the video.

“I find that Edpuzzles can be hard because I can’t pay attention for long periods of time and my mind starts to wander after a certain period of time,” sophomore Disha Patel said.

Additionally, some students feel that compared to the length of the Edpuzzle videos, the amount of material absorbed does not match. Edpuzzles, along with other sources used in the flipped classroom teaching method, are useful for introducing ideas, but they need to be used in addition to in-class instruction, helping to ensure students are fully understanding the course material.

“I feel as though [the Edpuzzles] do help me learn the basic ideas, but at the end of the day they are so time consuming and we do not get the full idea of the lessons we are learning,” Silvers said.

The questions in the videos may be challenging for students as some of the concepts found in the questions may be from ideas that were just taught in the video. In addition to the long duration of the videos, some teachers grade Edpuzzles purely based on the amount of questions that were answered correctly, resulting in mixed responses from students. Edpuzzles, as well as other sources utilized in flipped classroom instruction, can help students to preview material before class time, giving them exposure to class lessons, however, some students feel that edpuzzles are difficult and time consuming.

“Edpuzzles test us on knowledge we learned a few seconds before and we are graded on something that wasn’t even fully taught,” sophomore Olivia Papanicoloau said.