Blog Post 3: Technology Implementation Strategies

This article is largely about the use of video and vodcasts in education and one application of this is the flipped classroom. A definition of flipped classroom is given at the beginning of the article and then a list of benefits for using it. Links are also given that explain the details better. The success of the Khan Academy has made the flipped classroom model a hot topic right now. Sal Khan has made videos that the students watch on their time and class is used for practice and collaborative work. One big concept is giving the learner control over the lectures. The students watch the lectures/direct teach at home where they can go at their own pace, and review as needed. They bring this knowledge into the classroom where enrichment is done. The classroom becomes more like a lab for experiments and deeper thinking. Another point made by the article is that most teachers dont have the training to know what to do with the time. Since there is really not as much structure, many teachers are not sure how to make the best use of the classroom time. Khan's models do not show this and there is not a large amount of training for this at the present. The author advocated that this should be just part of the equation and gives a detailed model of what it should look like in practice. This model incorporates the video part of the teaching into a cycle of learning. Ill give a brief explanation of the 4 parts of the cycle. Part 1 is experimental engagement. This gives an introduction and something hands on to get the students engaged. Part 2 is concept exploration. This is where the video can come in. It is learner controlled and they can be given many different means to get the material. This is also the part where they can talk about it with others electronically. Part 3 is Meaning making. This is assessment and reflection. Tests, written and video blogs are examples. Part 4 is demonstration and application. This is when they move past the reflexion and create something. I think this could be a very useful strategy. I am certainly much more familiar with the old lecture format and giving up control of that is not a comfortable thing. I hope to try to do at least some of this so that the classroom time can be used for the application. It will give the students an opportunity to not just hear from me all the time but possibly many other sources. A second technology strategy that I hope to implement in the classroom is wiki. Before the class, I really did not understand what a wiki was. I had used Wikipedia but it was just information to me. I think this would be a great way to get group projects done and easily be able to get all in the group involved. http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/the-flipped-classroom-model-a-full-picture/