Activity 16

I was curious about the idea of a Flipped Classroom.  I had no idea what is was and had never heard the term, so I went to the Flipped Learning website to learn more. Basically, through reading part of this website and founder Jon Bergmann's blog, and looking at his YouTube channel (particularly this video), I came to understand that a Flipped Classroom is one in which all verbal information (they call it lectures) is recorded, and students usually watch it at home the night before.  Then, in class they spend time on application, be it homework they may have done in a traditionally modeled classroom (where info is delivered in class and practice is done at home), re-watching the lectures to gain greater mastery, or other higher-order thinking activities. The teacher is working with small groups or individuals, but is almost never standing in front as the "sage on the stage" as that is the purpose of the video lectures students have already watched.  As Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sterns said in their presentation, what was done in class is now done at home and what was done at home is now done in class.  It ends up evolving into something unique for each teachers, changing activities that are done, the set-up of the classroom, how students are assessed, etc.  I think many of us are trying to engage our students through these tactics; let's be honest that hands-on learning, differentiated assessment, and higher-order thinking are not new concepts to most teachers, but the notion of transferring the direct instruction to the home environment with videos could be very powerful in transforming our classrooms even more!  I think that this means that all our students would need to be wired, both at home and in school, and I'm not sure this is the reality.  Another challenge I see for my content is that I usually don't lecture for an entire period; I might give a series of mini-lectures (for lack of a better phrase) so I'm not sure how I would transfer those to a video  without the connecting activities I do in class.  I guess I usually think about students reading the textbook as the preparation and content learning and in class as application of that, but I need to spend time going over what they read for clarity.  Perhaps using video would engage the students more and help them learn more than reading and taking notes.  Lots to think about!

The other topic I found interesting were Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).  I was interested in this because my father-in-law has told me about a couple in which he enrolled for fun, and I wanted to learn more about them.  This brief overview from EDUCAUSE gave me a great understanding.  Basically, many universities are putting their courses online (through partnerships with other organizations or universities) and anyone can enroll and learn!  People can participate in as much or as little as they like, moving in and out of the microlectures, readings, online discussions, and/or face-to-face meet-ups however they want within the time the course runs.  People, like my father-in-law, might do this just out of interest, but others might do this to help perfect a skill, advance a career, or learn about a new area.  Here is a list of MOOCs.  In looking around here, I learned that MOOCS do have substantial work attached to them, and you are expected to complete whatever work you plan to do within a specific time frame, so there is some structure.  I narrowed to only Social Science MOOCs, and I found three on the first page I'd be interested in taking to enhance my own understanding of topics I teach!  This resource has the great potential to take down barriers to education, allowing anyone with internet access to participate in higher education. It greatly taps into my own desire to be a life-long learner, and I think that this could be a trend in high school as well, offering more choices to students to connect with topics they are passionate about.