Time management has become an increasing important topic in the flipped classroom. The concept of balancing time between projects, research, writing, collaboration, web 2.0 tool introduction, technology availability, etc. is one that needs to be addressed. My students have struggled and struggled with balancing their time between the different components of a flipped classroom. I ask my students to include research, writing, and a project into every unit we cover. Each paper must be peer edited and be in APA format. I require the student to develop their project based on their interests and skill sets. The more research that goes into a unit, the more they will get out of the unit. I tell them often, "If you do not invest in your learning, you will not get any returns." So balancing all of these components became a focus. Today, I am seeing the benefits of those efforts. I determined that the best time frame for the units to be adequately addressed and for the tasks to be accomplished is approximately two weeks. I then arranged my room into stations. Now I know that stations tends to be an elementary concept, but it fits perfectly into the flipped model. Students NEED to move, and I wanted to give them the chance to move every 30 minutes. The students spend approximately 30 minutes at each station performing a focused task. This has enabled me to force time management until it becomes a natural habit of the students. Each class, students work for 30 minutes on each component of the unit. The students rotate through the stations (research, writing, project design/project implementation), and learn how to give appropriate attention to all of the work. This has helped, but not eliminated the issue of all of a student's attention going to one aspect of the unit. I do have a station that allows me the chance to collaborate with the students on how their projects are going, offer suggestions, clear up any confusion with the content and help the students to move forward in their work. Though it is not a "perfect" system, I can say, "So far, so good", but the balancing act needs constant supervision. The flipped environment allows me to float if needed and help those who may be struggling.
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