Monday, October 7, 2013

Flipped Experiences as part of a Digital Learning Environment

“Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century.”  ~Alfred Edward Perlman (born 1902); Civil Engineer, Businessman


“Flipped”  is a buzzword in education right now.  It is certainly a buzzword in our district.  So the question is - is it worth it? The simple answer is “yes”.  But, of course, there is so much more to it than that.  This simple learning strategy happens when content that is normally presented and worked on in class is reviewed during the time traditionally used for "homework." This allows for class time to be used for application of knowledge, collaboration and interaction with the content.


What have you heard about Flipped Learning?  Does it sound like an entire methodology for teaching that you haven’t had time to explore?  Have you ever considered flipping one lesson or even a one unit?  


The best thing about flipping is that it can be a tool in your toolbelt.  You don’t have to do it every day.  And you shouldn’t flip a lesson to check a box that you have done it.  With intentional and thought-out design, a flipped strategy - used at the right time - can be one of the most powerful.  


Listen to these educators and learners describe their recent experiences with a flipped lesson.



Click here to view the video if you cannot see it above.

Notice that each educator cited different reasons for using a flipped strategy.  Can you think of other reasons that you might want to try a flipped lesson?


What is your biggest obstacle to flipping a lesson?  Share your ideas with each other and if you have any solutions to others’ obstacles, by all means share those too!

20 comments:

  1. As an administrator, we are trying different approaches to staff meetings this year. Several times we have used the Smore website that allow us to front load information and share videos before our meetings. We have also utilized screencasts so that educators are all "on the same page" with new information. The time spent together can be more meaningful and productive this way!

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    1. Chantel, I love the idea of sharing information before the meeting so that meaningful discussions and collaboration can take place during the F2F. And Smore is a wonderful resource for diseminating the new information.

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    1. I still struggle to figure out the best way to do flipped learning in 1st grade. I have been to several workshops...even an all day conference, and they are always geared towards the upper grades (high school, middle school, and upper elementary). I would love to hear from 1st grade teachers who have tried it successfully.

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    2. What about previewing the book you use to introduce a concept as a flip? Use a Youtube vid, or other online readers to get the info to the kids as a flip method, then the next day, those kids will be ready to create a thinking map with a partner (for example). Those that didn't to the flip, log on and watch the vid, then add to the already created groups and add the thinking map. I can see this flipped thing being one way to pre-assess the kids too, they do the learning/reviewing at home, pretest the next day with you, come to me for replacement activities. :)

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    3. Flipping can be challenging with the youngest learners, but has a great payoff! I've seen some flipped assignment for parents and learners. These usually list a video or interactive game for the learner and parent, along with specific instructions for the parent and how they should be involved. It probably isn't something they should do every night, or even every week, but you could let the parents know that you'll be flipping a few times this year. Let them know why you are trying it and that you'll be providing everything they will need to help their child with the experience. I know some iTeam peeps that would be willing to help design something like that! :-)

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    4. There were several discussions last year on a few campuses about re-inventing the traditional Flipped model to be more developmentally appropriate for our youngest learners. We came to the conclusion that the purpose of Flipping any lesson - at any level - is to front load knowledge essential to understanding and application of the concept/standard. With that in mind, even utilizing your librarian to highlight books a week or so in advance of a lesson can be considered flipped for those younger friends. You can also still use the video delivery, but the resources that are engaging enough for the young ones to retain and be able to bring back to class the next day needs to be carefully selected. I love Toni's comment about having the flipped be intended for parental involvement! You can't get much more intential than that! There is no model for Flipped experiences and primary grades, so really...we're kind of writing the book as we go along!

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  3. I agree with Melissa King, I teach Pre-k and the level of independence of this group is very low so I always need new and creative ways to get kids feeling confident and ready to take risks in participating in class.

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  4. As an elementary GTi Specialist implementing our new service design, I see the same amount of kids, but in different ways than before. I have found that Edmodo and flipping is VITAL to being successful with our new service design, especially with the older grade levels. I've always used Edmodo when flipping, but it was more a way for me to layers of depth and complexity to our lessons for those kids who want to remain immersed in a certain topic. This year, I'm attempting (fingers crossed) to use these tools to drive individual learning plans (loosely) and student pace. I'm posting smaller chunks of units and allowing students to show me if they're ready to move on. This is more to manage for me now, but does allow for more authentic student choice, and lesson design. I feel fortunate to not have an obstacle in flipping, because almost all of my students are hungry for something else vs. something more. They have a genuine desire to continue their learning outside my classroom walls.

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    1. I flipped a basic 'how to use a microscope" lesson this weekend--videos that the biology teachers made last year. They watched them over the weekend. It gave us more time to spend in our microscope lab. One task was to put a penny under our dissecting microscope and try to read the text on the back of the penny. Some groups found they had a LOT of extra time so they began putting dollar bills under the microscope and we discovered a lot of text that our money has on it! It was cool to see them excited about the "power" we have behind a microscope!

      By the end of class, one kid put his iphone under the scope and we saw the red, green, and blue pixels in each individual app! (This was with my Pre-AP Bio kids)

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    2. Lisa,

      I really appreciate your distinction between something else and something more. GTi learners are fortunate to have your guidance as they explore topics of individual interest to them and have the opportunity to pace their learning. We will work collectively through the management challenges. Thank you for embracing how technology can allow you to better meet the specific and individual needs of your learners!

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    3. I agree, Lisa! The ability to flip lessons and provide tools/resources to my learners through Edmodo and/or other tools has become more vital than ever with the new service design. It allows me to meet the needs of my learners even when I cannot be with them...invaluable!

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  5. At CMSN we began implementing flipped assignments last school year. I found them beneficial to my students in Pre-AP Spanish 1. Keeping the video short and "to the point" has proven successful. One of the ways I use the flipped learning is for not only newly introduced experiences, but also as a re-teach tool. On my website I have a library of "teaching videos" that I began building last year. Within this library are short teaching videos on a number of first-year concepts. My students are assigned these to watch as a flipped assignment when we are learning that particular skill, but the videos are always there so that the student can access them later in the year and/or in subsequent years of study of the Spanish language. Even after I no longer have a student, he or she knows that they can access material through my website that was particularly relevant to 1st-year skills.

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  6. I like Chantel's use of Smores to sprinkle out information. We have used a Smore on at least one occassion, but I find that it isn't one that I think of nearly enough. In another life as a testing coordinator, I would often give access to my materials to the people I was training ahead of time and ask them to come ready to ask questions. We would use this to not only guage where our audience was, but to find out if there were misconceptions. I’ve found this to be just as useful with staff meetings, so that learners (all of us) can come to a meeting prepared to do some work, and not simply “sit and get”.

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    1. I love the idea of having professionals show up at a meeting prepared, armed with knowledge and ready to ask the questions. That really gets to the "meat" of the meeting without it being right away. Plus if you have sent a video or info out ahead of time, it gives people a chance to process and figure out which questions are important to them without taking up meeting time!

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  7. Having just left our staff meeting, I can say that the way our CCE administrators are making use of the "flipped" learning has been refreshing, positive, and created more discussions. It certainly helps to see how our learners would feel the same way. I would really love to incorporate more flipped learning in my 5th grade classroom and have that as one of my goals for this year. I sometimes have a hard time getting my arms around "everything" that's out there that I want to try and do and balancing all of that. I need to learn to take a sip at a time and not drown under the faucet :)

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    1. That is truly one of the hardest things - learning how to take in one thing at a time. When we look at the big picture, sometimes we are too overwhelmed to move forward with even the simplest of steps. One really easy way to get started with a flip is using content that is already out there. One of my favorite ways to flip is to find a game online and assign the game as homework. Have all the learners visit the site, play the game, and the start class the next day with a discussion about the game.

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  8. The first year of flipping was a challenge. It's hard to make videos or find good resources to use. I went all in last year and did a lot of hard work, but it's a great challenge to find a topic that maybe is difficult to understand, and--given the appropriate age group, have them come to class with a little knowledge under their belt, and LOTS of questions. Those questions in their brain can easily drive the classroom (think formative assessment--something like a CASH out form so you can get feedback from the students).

    I'm going in to my 2nd year of flipping and I love the time I get to spend with my students. We have good conversations about biology and how things work. We spend more time doing hands on activities and improving the quality of our experimentation technique.

    If you're curious, I blogged about "what I've learned" as a flipper on my semi-professional blog here: http://mrshahndaydreams.blogspot.com/2013/10/year-2-of-flipping-what-ive-learned.html Still learning!

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  9. I've been incorporating flipped lessons for a couple years now. I teach 7th grade math, and empowering kids to learn new skills away from the classroom is an excellent way to work towards our goal of developing life long learners. We also like for our students to seek out quality tutorial videos. For example, our learners had an assignment to find two videos on how to multiply and divide integers, post links to the videos on Edmodo, evaluate them, and then explain which one they though was more helpful and why.

    The biggest obstacle I've always faced is students without internet access or a computer. We all know that sometimes our web service goes down, or our computers glitch. Some students are part of larger families, and I can imagine that sharing devices can be a struggle. We help alleviate this by making our technology available both before and after school. Going to a true 1:1 model is extremely beneficial for any campus looking to use flipped lessons, and I hope we can get there soon!

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    1. 1:1 would be awesome!

      I really love how you have the learners evaluate the two videos and compare them to one another. That is an excellent way to use those higher order thinking skills in a simple and quick way!

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