Serendipity35

This "new" idea of the "flipped classroom" may turn out to be the trend of the year, particularly in the K-12 world of education.

It's a reversed teaching model that has instruction delivered at home (mostly via interactive, teacher-created videos) and moves the HOMEwork to the classroom. The "lectures" at home can allow teachers to spend more 1:1 time with student and allow them to work with students when they are in the process of writing or doing research or working out math problems.

It makes sense to give students the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with a guide-on-the-side. It also makes the use of peers and an intentional peer collaborative learning environment (rather than a cheating network) possible.

As advocates of flipped classrooms like Jac de Haan, author of the blog Technology with Intention, point out: "the focus of flipped teaching is different from other examples in that the technology itself is simply a tool for flexible communication
that allows educators to differentiate instruction to meet individual student needs and spend more time in the classroom focused on collaboration and higher-order thinking."

Then again, the idea that students watch "lectures" is not the most appealing approach to K-12 education - although we still embrace/tolerate/allow (choose your opinion) it in higher education. (See Eric Mazur's talk Confessions of a Converted Lecturer)


Here are some infographics on the flipped classroom approach.



     Infographics by Knewton and Column Five Media

MORE   http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-best-practices-andrew-miller

When my team offers workshops for faculty on writing, a discussion on informal and formal writing assignments is always a part of the agenda.

Reading a post by Jared Stein recently, I started thinking about adding the element of lifelong learning. I agree with Stein that lifelong and continual learning is critical to success. He also feels that we are "moving from an era of 'universal schooling' to an era of 'lifelong learning' "

That means that learning not only happens continually, but it occurs anywhere, not just in classrooms or in online spaces controlled by schools. It is also important to lifelong learning that the learning is self-selected for the learner's needs, not because of the needs or limitations of the school's offerings.

That's why the Internet -without any help or interference from schools and educators - became such an important learning resource.

Classrooms are chock full of formal writing, and informal writing often doesn't carry much "weight" with teachers - and therefore not much weight with students. So, not surprisingly, formal educational  experiences like the typical course taken for credit and paid for by tax dollars or tuition are valued over informal learning experiences. That has always been true, still is true, but may not be true in the next decade or two.

When we discuss in/formal writing, we start with the easy modes. Everyone in the group agrees that the research paper is formal. Most teachers agree that student notes are informal. Someone always brings up text messages, twitter, Facebook and social media as informal. They probably also blame all that informality for the poor quality of the formal writing (and possibly for the decline of civilization).

But it's not a black and white topic.  That email to a friend asking if we are still on for a Friday movie seems clearly informal. But the cover email that has your reume attached for the job you really want at the company that only accepts electronic applications is definitely formal.

Perhaps, my students' lecture notes are informal in structure, not required and ungraded, but the lab notes for anatomy lab are very structured, required and a significant part of the course grade.

Our discussions always lead us to a series of similar conclusions, including observations like:

- formal isn't formal just because of a grade or weight (though formal tends to be graded)

- informal writing is often the best way to move towards formal writing

- informal writing is often more "real world" and is more likely to be done outside the classroom for personal reasons

- informal writing often has a structure

- the higher stakes nature of formal assignments allows less room for experimentation and risk-taking by students

- teacher comments and intervention is important in the writing process & less important (to students) when a formal graded paper is returned

How many of those conclusions are also true of lifelong learning experiences?

How might we compare the research a student does before buying a big-screen TV to the research they do on an author? Do they even consider the TV consumer research to be "research" in the same sense as the author assignment?  That's one reason why we prefer the term information literacy for assignments rather than research, which still makes students think about something that leads to a "research paper" rather than a well-reasoned conclusion.

Are lifelong learners more likely to take risks with informal learning - such as when taking a free online course from a university or any provider? I would say that is an absolute "Yes."

Since I see the future of learning as being less formalized and less likely to be provided by traditional educational institutions, thinking about these distinctions is increasingly important. That may be especially true for formal institutions of learning who have the most to lose in this paradigm shift.

Is technology actually changing the way we teach?

Well, the article titled "Technology Driving Widespread Shift in Teaching Models" indicates that change is occurring. The article was in THE Journal which is focused on K-12 education, but certainly much of this applies to us in higher ed too.

Their main point is that, according to the report referenced, "over the last two years, nearly half of faculty have moved away from a traditional lecture model and adopted a range of technology-driven teaching practices."  That report, "Learn Now, Lecture Later," was done for the tech vendor CDW-G.

They found an increase in the adoption of classroom-based technology use which resulted in a variety of changes to teaching and learning.

The vast majority of faculty and students, for example, now use notebooks and netbooks as classroom learning tools (75 percent of students and 72 percent of faculty overall), as well as digital content (69 percent of students and 73 percent of faculty).

Learning management systems were in use by a smaller majority, with 56 percent of students and 58 percent of faculty members reporting they use an LMS in the classroom.

What changed in the pedagogy? The increase of tech led to an increase in the use of non-lecture-based instructional delivery methods during class time. Those were identified as s hands-on learning, group projects, guided independent study, distance learning, and one-on-one instruction.

The majority of students participating in the study indicated they'd prefer a mix of delivery models, including:

    Distance learning (the choice of 11 percent of students);
    One-on-one tutoring (8 percent);
    Independent study (14 percent);
    Group projects (12 percent); and
    Hands-on projects (17 percent).

Additional findings included:

    69 percent of students reported they want to see more technology used in the classroom;
    26 percent of students reported they have used tablets in the classroom;
    34 percent of faculty have used tablets in the classroom;
    33 percent of students have used telepresence in their classrooms; and
    31 percent of faculty reported used telepresence.

No surprise that 76% of campus IT pros reported that teacher requests for classroom technologies have increased over the last two years.

As a follow up to yesterday's post about the flipped classroom, here are "Lessons Worth Sharing" which is TED-Ed’s idea of sharing presentations (lectures? sort of) on great ideas.

Probably some of you already use a TED talk with your students. The example mentioned in the video promo below is "Just How Small is an Atom?" By Jon Bergmann. More videos that were flipped by teachers are being posted all the time.

I have used videos online as flipped (and short) lectures. One I like to use is from a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson about "Changing Education Paradigms." Though I had education majors in my class this semester, the class was on critical thinking. Students watched, enjoyed and remembered the video throughout the semester and the discussion was lively.

One thing I liked about this particular version of his talk is that the video of Robinson actually speaking is replaced by an animated version of someone drawing (very well) on a white board to illustrate Robinson's points. I ask them to answer some questions based on their viewing at home the 12 minute video.

Robinson assumes you know this - What is a paradigm?

Why does he believe that we need to change public education today?

What is his opinion about ADHD?

How would he group students in classes?

How would he compare divergent thinking versus creativity?

Explain his example of geniuses in kindergarten.

How would Robinson compare/contrast cheating versus collaboration?

Summarize what you feel are his 3 main arguments.

How does having the visualization of his talk change the way we hear/see his talk?  Is this visual thinking?

cross-posted from pcccwriting.blogspot.com