Flipping the Classroom-3D Instruction in the Virtual World

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Cara Owens has been teaching in Wayne Township for 16 years. For the last 11 she has enjoyed her time in the ceramics classroom at Ben Davis. In order to provide more opportunities for the students at Ben Davis, Cara teaches four levels of ceramics in each of her six periods of instruction. Due to the focus of her classes, technology beyond simple word processing and internet searches has never been a focus or need. Ceramics is a production based class and clay is not a medium that can be left unattended for long stretches of time, so when students were in class, they were focused on production.

Cara has handled many challenges in her 16 years of teaching, but nothing had prepared her for the challenge of teaching a three-dimensional class in a virtual environment. “The amount of studio time and hands on time my students would have with materials and tools only available in my class” was a big concern when it came to transitioning the ceramics curriculum to a hybrid model.

Teaching virtual was only one of the issues Ms. Owens had to overcome. The proximity restrictions of COVID also limited the ways in which she had conducted crucial demonstrations like throwing on the wheel and hand building. “I use technology as a supplement to my instruction. I use class time for ‘hands in clay’ time only. Meaning all demonstrations, history, etc. can be done at home. I record demonstrations and then the students can watch them before they come in-creating important background knowledge. I like that students can watch my demos over and over again if needed and ask questions when and where they are needed.”

Applications like Google Classroom along with her document camera and cell phone have helped to ease some of the concerns and stress that were created when Ben Davis moved to a hybrid model. 

Like all teachers, Ms. Owens hopes for a return to a traditional classroom as soon as is safely possible, but the video demonstrations and time spent learning Google Classroom are somethings that she plans to continue to implement in her classroom even after the hybrid model ends.

Written by Justin Allison, BDHS iTEC Teacher