The Flipped Classroom

Flip teaching (or flipped classroom) is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher-created videos that students view outside of class time. It is also known as backwards classroom, reverse instruction, flipping the classroom, and reverse teaching.

Four years ago, in the shadow of Colorado’s Pike’s Peak, veteran Woodland Park High School chemistry teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams stumbled onto an idea. Struggling to find the time to reteach lessons for absent students, they plunked down $50, bought software that allowed them to record and annotate lessons, and posted them online. Absent students appreciated the opportunity to see what they missed. But, surprisingly, so did students who hadn’t missed class. They, too, used the online material, mostly to review and reinforce classroom lessons. And, soon, Bergmann and Sams realized they had the opportunity to radically rethink how they used class time.

It’s called “the flipped classroom.” While there is no one model, the core idea is to flip the common instructional approach: With teacher-created videos and interactive lessons, instruction that used to occur in class is now accessed at home, in advance of class. Class becomes the place to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning. Most importantly, all aspects of instruction can be rethought to best maximize the scarcest learning resource—time.

To read more, click here: http://educationnext.org/the-flipped-classroom/

Ok, I'll be honest. I get very nervous when I hear education reformists and politicians tout how "incredible" the flipped classroom model, or how it will "solve" many of the problems of education. It doesn't solve anything. It is a great first step in reframing the role of the teacher in the classroom.

It fosters the "guide on the side" mentality and role, rather than that of the "sage of the stage." It helps move a classroom culture towards student construction of knowledge rather than the teacher having to tell the knowledge to students. Even Salman Khan says that the teacher is now "liberated to communicate with [their students]."

To read more, click here: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-best-practices-andrew-miller

We know how critical the dialogue between the teacher and the student is, and how easily communication can be a breakthrough or a breakdown in the success for the students. The relationship between how the educator conducts class time and homework is a complicated algorithm, depending on precision and reasoning. I’ve had a blog on flipped learning for quite some time, but recently I asked guest bloggers to offer a range of different voices. One voice we don’t often hear from is the student perspective so I asked my daughter, who often co-presents with me, to write a blog from her perspective. Below is her unique take on flipped learning.

To read more, click here: http://flipped-learning.com/?p=1201

Physical Education teacher. Spurs fan. Interested in education, technology and coaching.

Email: danielbidwell@gmail.com
Location: London, United Kingdom
Twitter: @Danny_Bidwell