We had great discussions about distributed learning and mobile learning tonight. One of the highlights for me was discussing the concept of flipped classrooms.
Mind/Shift does a great job of defining the
flipped classroom concept. In a nutshell, it reverses the traditional idea of lecturing during the class period and having the students do assignments at home. Instead, students learn the material at home via online multimedia resources and work on the assignments in class. This provides a means for the teacher to assist students in class and help them with the application process. When my sons were young, I often felt longer class periods would be more effective because teachers would have time to teach and have time to do hands on assistance. Immediately reinforcing a concept with applicable activities will result in a higher achievement of learning outcomes.
Emerging technologies can make it possible for flipped classroom models to work. Instructional strategy could include recorded lectures as learning objects for a course curriculum. There are some great resources out there for this purpose. Check out
Khan Academy and
Academic Earth. So much to learn! Thanks for stopping by...stay tuned!