A Target Design of a Mobile App Providing Supportive Service for Flipped Classroom

With the continuous development of E–Learning, blended Learning which integrates online Learning and facetoface Learning has gradually become a trend of Learning. Flipped classroom is an innovative teaching mode of blended learning. Flipped classroom caused the attention of many scholars and front-line teachers at home and abroad, but its most studies focused on the flipped teaching model and the application on subject, about research of flipped teaching supportive service is less. To some extent, the lack of network support services increases the difficulty to implement flipped classroom and limits its advantages. Therefore, the study about supportive service system of flipped classroom is necessary. This paper focused on the practice of flipped classroom in the educational reform. on the basis of connectivism learning theory and the analysis of the pattern of flipped classroom home and abroad, this article discussed the design study of structure, model and function module block of the mobile learning APP which supports the flipped classroom .So as to prepare for the development of mobile APP and seek for new idea and support for the effective practice of flipped classroom.


Introduction
With the continuous development of information technology and the deepening of teaching reform, flipped classroom has become a hot topic in education.It broke the traditional teaching mode, and has injected new vitality for the development of teaching reform .Compared with traditional teaching, flipped classroom is not only the change of the simple structure, but a profound innovation based on the respect to people and to cognition law.Information environment is not a must to the reform, but it offers abundant teaching resources and all-round support for interaction so as to fully mobilize different factors in teaching.With the popularity of personal computer and mobile terminal device, students generally changed from digital immigrants into digital natives.For today's students, mobile application are frequently used in daily life but still a new attempt in study.That's why it is on one hand familiar to students and fresh on the other hand.It can not only satisfy the teaching need but also give full play to students' initiatives.A mobile learning application , with perfect function and good users' experience will certainly act as a firm support for the effective practice of flipped classroom .
APP, short for application, is another name for third -party application.And most of the APPs are designed for phones with the popularity of Smartphone.Various educational APPs with novel design mushroomed in recent years .Many famous APP electronic stores such as iTunes APP store designed by the Apple company and Google Market designed for android users provide various learning APPs .However these applications are basically meet the general instructional need , thus often used for informal study.This study aimed at a target design of a mobile APP providing supportive service for flipped classroom.Thus, the advantage of this new teaching method can get full play and the teaching efficiency can be enhanced.

Definition of flipped classroom
Flipped Classroom is a new type of teaching mode.Before class, students' independent study by watching instructional video at home instead of the teacher's lectures.In the classroom, students focus on finish the exercise and communication with peers and teachers.It upside down the traditional teaching arrangement "the teacher teach in class, finish the homework after class".Two chemistry teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sam in Woodland Park High school in America firstly originated the flipped classroom theory.In 2007, they became courseware and Interpretation to teaching video by recording screen software, and uploaded to the internet for those students who cannot be in class to study [1].As the two teachers' innovative teaching practice, flipped classroom became a new teaching mode, and were focused by the teachers over the world.

Characteristic of flipped classroom
The traditional teaching process usually includes knowledge teaching and internalization in two stages.Knowledge teaching is done by teachers in the classroom, and knowledge internalization is done through practice operation, do homework after class.This form has been reversed in flipped classroom.Accordingly, links and elements of teaching have been changed.
(1) Overcome the obstacle of time and space in teaching and learning: Teaching and learning behavior are conducted in a specific time and space when traditional teaching method is adopted.It Before the class, teachers release learning materials such as related videos, correspondent task by management terminal.Students begin their learning activities ------watching video, reading other materials, doing and handing in their online exercise -----through a certain APP installed in their mobile client.And if they meet with difficulties, a special part is designed in the APP for them to discuss with others .And teachers collect the difficulties arising.
During the class, teachers give students their task through the online platform ---APP.Students can search information or cooperation with others by it.They can present their study achievement or research conclusion on it when tasks are finished.Teachers give evaluations of students' performance and study outcome and issue learning materials for further study according to the progress students have made in class.All of these are achieved by APP.
After the class, students carry on a further study and research according to the supplementary materials and share with others their own learning experience as well as reflection in the personal zone in the app.
The development of this kind of client service system is not only practical but also necessary.

The design of the system architecture
The B/S(Browser/Server) operating model is adopted in this kind of APP (as show in Fig. 3).Teachers release, respond to and deal with information through the server which comprising web server, streaming server and database server.Students learn and communicate through the APP.

The model of the learning APP
In today's digital era, knowledge is dynamic and changes all the time.The connectivism theory gives a description of the learning process in the internet era, providing theoretical support for solving learning problems in this age.According to the theory that George Siemens put forward in the article: connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age.
[3]Learning is no longer an internal individualistic activity but a process of connecting special nodes or information sources.
The modern knowledge is characterized by its ability to be connected, reorganized and recreated.
[4] Based on connectivism learning theory and focused on knowledge, the mobile learning APP consists of three sub-modules: the connection part, the reorganization part and the recreation part.Learning content, situation, community and supporting tools are sub-elements of the above three parts.Those elements help and influence each other to support the mobile learning. [5](As shown in Fig. 4) (3) The sub-module of recreation: It helps learners to establish their own knowledge system based on their prior one.This module includes two elements of learning situation and supporting tools.With the help of the convenience and flexibility of mobile device, classroom could be easier to be extended to the intuitive learning situation, which is of benefit to the meaning construction of knowledge.The supportive tools, as an extension of human body, help to achieve intelligent and diversified learning approach .The supportive tools in this patter mainly include the tools for information search, for communication and cooperation, for cognition and tools for location.

The design of the functional module in the APP
Under the guidance of connectivism, the APP includes three modules: the resources part, the connection part and the recreation part.The resources part is the basic and the target of learning behavior, the connection part is the guarantee and the road.These three parts are closely related and complementary to each other .The function module is designed according to the teaching process, and is shown in the following flowchart.Mobile learning, as a product of internet and mobile terminal, wins its popularity in contemporary students due to its convenience, personalization and entertainment features .And it must be an essential choice among the future learning methods .Based on the connectivism learning theory, this study follows the general process of flipped classroom and conducts design study in terms of structure, model and functional modules for the APP that supports the teaching pattern.It makes a demonstration on the feasibility of the development of APP.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Mobile learning APP system architecture

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Elements of APP learning structure model (1) The sub-module of connection: It makes sure that the learners keep in contact with the outside world any time and space, so as to keep the flow of knowledge available.In the flipped classroom supported by mobile APP, the connection of study in and out of class and the connection between teachers and students when they are not together are achieved by the using of wireless network and mobile equipment.The study community shares abundant information resources by wireless network , conducts learning communication , shares the fruit of study and establishes the knowledge links by such social platform as forums ,micro-blog and chat room.(2) The sub-module of reorganization: The sub-module of reorganization is also called the sub-module of resources .In this part, knowledge, separated in different nodes in network, are reorganized and rearranged according to different learning need.And finally are presented to learners in a aggregated form of webpage or video.In this teaching pattern, all the mobile learning resources are reorganized based on the teaching structure: self-study before class, further study in class and promotion after class.The main resources [6] (As shown in Fig.5)The main structure is led by course catalog, and the node of the next level is a complete learning unit including four parts of information announcement, self-study before class, internalization in class and further development after class.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5.The function module of the mobile APP 4. Conclusion Flipped classroom, as a new teaching pattern which flips the traditional teaching structure of instruction in class and internalization after class, can not be effectively implemented without the support of digital resources and environment.Mobile learning, as a product of internet and mobile terminal, wins its popularity in contemporary students due to its convenience, personalization and entertainment features .And it must be an essential choice among the future learning methods .Based on the connectivism learning theory, this study follows the general process of flipped classroom and conducts design study in terms of structure, model and functional modules for the APP that supports the teaching pattern.It makes a demonstration on the feasibility of the development of APP.