Lately, maybe you've heard of "flipping" the classroom - or maybe
you've already flipped yours! Basically it's a "reversal" of the
standard use of class time to "deliver" course content, with students
doing independent and, perhaps, group work outside of class sessions.
So
in a flipped class, students are learning the material independently
outside of class and class time is used for activities like q & a,
small groups comparing their interpretations of material,
problem-solving, games, etc.There's no a cookie- cutter; there are many
models for using class time this way, and as Andrew Martin points out in
the Chronicle of Higher Ed, it's not new. The comments also bring in some interesting points about context and learning styles on both sides:
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-Classroom/130857/
And here's a YouTube video from Penn State that walks through the basic logistics of Flipping the Classroom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26pxh_qMppE&context=C4ea3421ADvjVQa1PpcFNGoyORoBG1wYMoVa2PVKUB5cmNm3i_uAI= .
In leading seminars, my co-leaders and I try to use a model like this as much as possible, so that the time we have together face to face utilizes the fact that we are a diverse, multi-disciplinary group of educators who have the ability to help and maybe even push each other to think about developing effective and innovative learning activities. Phew, that was quite a sentence!
