Posted by:
Ed Madison
Jonathan Bergann and Aaron Sams are two science teachers from Woodland Park, South Dakota who are leading a revolution in instruction called “The Flipped Class.” Stated simply, their method involves flipping what happens in the classroom with what happens at home. Rather than lecture live, they make videos for their student to watch at home. Class time is spent working with students to better understand the material covered in the videos. Their motto is, “class is for conversation, not dissemination.”
The method engages students to be independent learners. Rather than expecting all students to work at the same pace, flipping the classroom allows teachers to spend more one-on-one time with each of their students. Bergmann says, “there’s no place to hide.” Every student is assessed on an individual basis. Each student is required to ask their instructor “an interesting question.” Not every child learns in the same way -- so alternative methods of assessment are also an option.
They make it clear that videos aren’t the “magic bullet.” Videos are an answer -- not the answer. Find more info at: http://flippedclass.com
About the Author:
Ed Madison is a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, where he is completing his Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Society. He is a 2011 ISTE Emerging Scholar Award Fellow. Madison has 30+ years of professional media expertise and served as a founding producer at CNN. His own subsequent companies have produced for CBS, ABC, Paramount, and Disney. He’s also founder of Media Arts Institute, a nonprofit organization that creates documentary profiles on media professionals for classroom use.