The Flipped Classroom

The flipped classroom is a class that reverses the function of homework and in-class work. It requires a system of instruction for students outside of the classroom, using a video, textbook chapter, slideshow, or some other vehicle to deliver the content of the lesson. When the students come to class, they work on completing an activity or task that would typically be assigned as homework. This allows the teacher more time to assist students individually with their specific needs while completing their tasks.

I have used this idea for one-off projects before but have never ran an entire course based on the flipped classroom model. It does seem to promote a very attractive use of classroom time. The ability to better address students’ needs as individuals and in smaller groups talked about in the Flipping Your EL Class: A Primer article is certainly a great benefit to implementing this kind of system. Similarly, the article Three Reasons to Flip Your Classroom notes that this model provides an opportunity for students to absorb the lesson at their own pace. Students could pause a video, go back, listen twice, and take their time with the material.

With such easy access to so many powerful web tools, it is really not all that difficult now for teachers to put together a lesson using a video or web presentation. I think it is approaches like the flipped classroom that really show the most advantageous uses of technology in schools.

#LangChat - Twitter as a Professional Development Resource

Logging into Twitter can be overwhelming sometimes. There’s a lot going on and any given tweet could be pushed out of view before we get the chance to give it a look. For those of use who check our Twitter feeds every once in a while, it can seem like too much of a mess to bother keeping up with. Scheduled at specific times and organized by hashtags, Twitter chats turn the microblogging platform into a more straightforward chat session about a given topic. Yesterday, I spent about an hour checking out a Twitter chat about language education, #LangChat.

LangChat has multiple sessions scheduled throughout the week, which makes a lot of sense given the global nature of the topic (world language education) and platform. I joined the session that starts at 10AM EST Saturday morning. The chat is operated in a Q&A format with moderators proposing questions and participants posting answers, sparking some discussion as replies. At the end of the chat, participants are asked to share what they took away from the session.



I think this platform and discussion format works really well. Dropping in on a weekly chat like this is a great way to find and share ideas and resources. It’s also a great way to find professionals active in your field to expand your network. The questions posted by moderators help jumpstart discussion on relevant topics, and suggestions from participants are also accepted throughout the week. What I like most about doing this via Twitter, as opposed to a discussion forum or similar, is the real-time access to other users. Shooting someone a reply to ask for clarification or to elaborate on a point made is very straightforward, and the responses are more or less immediate. Of course, this also means we have to schedule a specific time to be available to join the session in the first place. Overall, this felt like a great way to utilize the immediacy and quick-moving nature of Twitter in a way that benefitted me more than just occasionally checking a disorganized feed of everyone I’m following.

Education for the Future

After watching the videos, the two that stuck for me were The Future Starts Now – 2012 edition and Future Learning | Mini Documentary | Good.

In The Future Starts Now – 2012 edition, information and communication technology (ICT) is looked at as an educational tool. Though schools may have access to this technology, it is rarely implemented in ways that truly benefit students. The video proposes that better use of this technology could connect students on a level more familiar to them with their education, and ideally increase graduation rates. The video focuses on Norway moving to become a “knowledge based society” (that is, build an economy based on citizen’s knowledge, as opposed to oil and resource trade), but really applies to any country at the moment. The video proposes “computers can teach us to learn things in different ways.” With elements of multimedia, networked communication, and access to so much information, I feel it is fair to say computers can teach us to learn things in different ways. Another good point is made in that connecting to students with newer technology is absolutely vital. Students are using all kinds of newer technology outside the class, and having teachers integrate it more meaningfully into education seems to engage students on a level they’re comfortable with.

Future Learning | Mini Documentary | Good is another video that addresses student interaction with technology. Early in the video, a big problem we deal with all the time in education is brought up – lack of student motivation. The video claims the current model of education stifles motivation. It claims there’s too much repetition and it’s all a bit irrelevant to the students’ real lives. I think that’s something a lot of us may agree with, but it’s still unclear how to address that exactly. The most meaningful moment in this video, for me, was challenging the goals of education. Are reading, writing, and arithmetic really antiquated goals for education? It sounds a bit forward, but I tend to agree with the idea that they could be at some point in the near future. Another part that resonated with me was the critique that, though schools may be implementing cutting edge technology, the content taught with this new technology is often fundamentally dated. If the content were truly interesting, the students would be engaged by their own curiosity. Content provided outside the context in which students could use it leaves it disconnected from their reality, and the things they study in class seem irrelevant when they leave school. 

The use of technology to build an environment in which students are active participants and can connect their education experience to making real-life accomplishments is a natural and efficient way to keep students interested and motivated.