Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Flipped Learning: A Response To Five Common Criticisms

If you have been reading the IS/IT Blog over the past 18 months, you have read about the flipped classroom and Eric Mazur.  The response, which is linked here, does a good job of describing a balanced approach to the flipped classroom.  The five common criticisms are all important for an instructor to understand and think about when considering flipping a classroom.

My own criticism of this article comes from this quote,
"To continue, we would guess that a large majority of students who do not do their work at home are not doing it because they are either bored and feel like the work is there simply to keep them busy, or they are struggling and do not understand the work."
I would not say the only reasons for students not doing work at home are boredom or lack of understanding.  What do you think?   Leave a comment on this post.



A few quote highlighted from the article. 

"In a Flipped Learning environment, the teachers are more important than ever."

"At least in the classroom, they get some kind of interaction with me and with their peers."


"...do not replace an hour-long classroom lecture with an hour-long video."

"Make sure you provide more than just video."

"You do not have to have all of this material from the start; you can build your library over time."

"...his goal is to have the best teachers he can find teaching his students every single day."


http://novemberlearning.com/resources/articles/flipped-learning-a-response-to-five-common-criticisms-article/

Monday, November 26, 2012

Ted Talks

If you have yet to discover TED Talks, you are missing an inspiring and thoughtful resource on ideas that are shaping our present and our future.

For the uninitiated, TED talks are short videos (presenters are given no more than 18 minutes) to share their idea.  TED was started with the idea of sharing ideas in the areas of Technology, Entertainment, and Design, but has grown to include many more topics. These topics include  business, science, math, education and global issues. 

Access the videos on education here, or go their home page,  www.ted.com.

Two of my favorites.

Margaret Wertheim:  the Beautiful math of coral



Dave Egger's Wish:  Once upon a school





-Greg Noack