The Best Tools and Apps for Flipped Learning Classroom July 25, 2014 Following the posting of "Managing iPad Videos in Schools" somebody emailed me asking about some suggestions for tools and apps to create instructional videos to use in a flipped learning setting. In fact, over the last couple of years I have reviewed several web tools and iPad apps that can be used in flipped classroom but the ones I am featuring below are among the best out there. 1- Educlipper Educlipper is a wonderful tool for creating video tutorials and guides to share with students. As a teacher you can create an Educlipper board for your class and share the link with them. Now that you have a shared space with your students, you can go about creating instructional videos using the iPap app of Educlipper. Pixiclip is another wonderful tool to create step by step instructional videos to use in your flipped classroom. 3- Explain Everything Knowmia Teach is a new free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers and their students. 6- Educreations
12 Puzzle and Quiz Creation Tools for Teachers There are many different sites on the internet that allow you to create your own puzzles and games to use either directly in class, or which can be linked to/embedded into your VLE. I’ve been doing some trawling ahead of a training session I am running soon, and here are a few of the best ones that I’ve found. There are others out there, but the focus specifically for my session was KS4 and 5, so these links are aimed at older students. If you have any other favourites, please add them to the comments! 1. Classtools is already one of my favourite websites, home of the Countdown Timer and Random Word Picker. 2. Content generator’s templates allow anyone to generate their own e-Learning quizzes, games and applications through our custom software – no coding required. 3. SuperTeacherTools.com is dedicated to providing technology tools for teaching that are quick and easy to download, learn, and start using in your classroom. 4. 5. 6. 7. Also worth a look: 8. 9. 10. 11. And finally….. 12.
Screencasting Feedback on Student Essays Last semester I was faced with a larger-than-usual senior composition class for English majors—which of course also meant a larger-than-usual feedback load. With a new baby at home, I was more than a little concerned about finding the time to do it all. Fully aware of the research (e.g. Ferris, 1997; Hyland & Hyland, 2006) that favors more detailed feedback on student writing (seems “awkward: reword” just doesn’t cut it), I could not in good conscience consider reducing the quality or quantity of the feedback I usually give. Moreover, my feedback would typically include holding “writing conferences” (one-on-one consultations) with students—usually during office hours. But this was a big class, and there are just so many hours in a day. I knew something had to give. Having already tested the limits of the physical word, I turned to the virtual one. Which software did I use? What was the feedback process? Students would submit their completed take-home writing assignments electronically.
Blended and Flipped Learning Archives - Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning June 15, 2015 Flipping Assessment: Making Assessment a Learning Experience By: Susan Spangler PhD If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re already aware that flipped instruction has become the latest trend in higher education classrooms. Looking for ‘Flippable’ Moments in Your Class “How do you determine what can be flipped?” With all of this discussion around flipped classrooms, more instructors are asking this question and wondering when and where flipped strategies are best integrated into the learning environment. Certainly, some topics lend themselves more easily to flipped strategies than others, but every lesson plan has the opportunity for at least one “flippable moment.” The Internet, online textbooks, online lectures, MOOCs, and other resources provide access to endless amounts of content, much of it free. So, back to the original question: How do you determine what can be flipped? Flippable Moment #1: Look for confusion. If this is a lesson you’ve taught before, then you probably know where confusion is likely to occur. Flippable Moment #2: Look for the fundamentals. Flippable Moment #3: Look at your extra credit question. Flippable Moment #4: Look for boredom. Dr. Sign up today and get articles like this one delivered right to your inbox.
The Flipped Classroom: Tips for Integrating Moments of Reflection “Students in inverted classrooms need to have more space to reflect on their learning activities so that they can make necessary connections to course content” (Strayer, 2012). If you were to observe a flipped classroom, what do you think would it look like? Maybe students are working in groups. Maybe each group is working on a different problem. Maybe the instructor is walking around the room talking with each group and checking on the students’ progress. The flipped classroom is a busy, collaborative, and social place. But what does this mean for students who don’t excel in this collaborative space? In the flipped classroom, the instructor’s challenge is to design learning experiences that engage students in higher level thinking and problem solving during the class time. But, are we missing a whole segment of our student population and minimizing the importance of reflective engagement in favor of active engagement by only defining the flip in terms of collaborative learning? Dr.
Half of Faculty Say Their Job is More Difficult Today than Five Years Ago If you find yourself working longer hours or maybe feeling a bit more stressed at the end of the day, you’re not alone. Fifty percent of college faculty who completed the annual Faculty Focus reader survey said that their job is more difficult than it was five years ago. Only nine percent said their job is less difficult, while 33 percent said it’s about the same. For those who find their job more challenging, the reasons are wide-ranging. Survey demographics The annual Faculty Focus reader survey was conducted in April 2013 with 1,247 higher education professionals completing the online survey out of the 85,789 subscribers who received the invitation to participate. Academic activities, challenges, and interests The growth of online and blended courses was evident among readers with nearly 64 percent saying they teach, manage, or support online or blended courses. Article submissions: Faculty Focus welcomes article submissions from its readers.
Flipped Courses: A Few Concerns about the Rush to Flip I have some concerns about flipping courses. Maybe I’m just hung up on the name—flipping is what we do with pancakes. It’s a quick, fluid motion and looks easy to those of us waiting at the breakfast table. In theory, I couldn’t be more supportive of the idea—it’s learner-centered from the inside out. This past weekend, a faculty member told me that his lectures are now all on podcasts that students watch on their own. I worry that our affection for the idea of flipping, now supported by a range of wonderful technology options, is causing us to overlook the careful design work involved in guiding those independent learning experiences. My second concern is related, perhaps overlapping. The third concern is a similar one related to content. There is nothing inherent that prevents flipped courses from being vital learning experiences, better in fact than what many students experience in face-to-face courses.
Course Redesign Finds Right Blend of Content Delivery and Active Learning Introductory courses are packed with content. Teachers struggle to get through it during class; students struggle to master it outside of class. Too often learning consists of memorizing material that’s used on the exam but not retained long after. Faculty know they should use more strategies that engage students, but those approaches take time and, in most courses, that’s in very short supply. Blended-learning designs can be used to help with the problem. Technology offers other options for dealing with course content. A variety of interesting classroom activities was used, including a version of the time-tested muddiest-point strategy. Outside of class, students had the option of using instructor-created crossword puzzles to help them become familiar with terminology and spelling they needed to know for the exam. Virtually all of these in- and out-of-class activities were graded. The instructor who authored the article is honest about what this course redesign involved.
Flipped Classroom Survey Highlights Benefits and Challenges Perhaps no other word has been as popular in higher education during the past few years as the term “flipped.” As a result, there is no shortage of ideas and opinions about flipped learning environments. Some faculty consider it another way to talk about student-centered learning. Others view flipped classrooms as an entirely new approach to teaching and learning. Still others see flipping as just another instructional fad that will eventually run its course. Faculty Focus recently surveyed its readers to gain a better understanding of their views on flipped learning. Key findings Results from the survey are based on the responses from the 1,089 Faculty Focus readers who completed the survey. More than two-thirds (69.5%) have tried flipping an activity, class, or course, and plan to do it again. A mostly positive experience A psychology professor from a four-year public institution reiterated that idea. However, not all experiences were positive. Challenges to flipping
Four Assessment Strategies for the Flipped Learning Environment Flipped learning environments offer unique opportunities for student learning, as well as some unique challenges. By moving direct instruction from the class group space to the individual students’ learning spaces, time and space are freed up for the class as a learning community to explore the most difficult concepts of the course. Likewise, because students are individually responsible for learning the basics of new material, they gain regular experience with employing self-regulated learning strategies they would not have in an unflipped environment. But because initial engagement with new material is done independently as a preparation for class time rather than as its focus, many things could go wrong. If students do the assigned pre-class work but don’t acquire enough fluency with the basics—or if they simply don’t do it at all—then the in-class experience could be somewhere between lethargic and disastrous. A key to achieving this kind of environment is assessment.
Flipping Assessment: Making Assessment a Learning Experience If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re already aware that flipped instruction has become the latest trend in higher education classrooms. And for good reason. As it was first articulated by Bergmann and Sams, flipped instruction personalizes education by “redirecting attention away from the teacher and putting attention on the learner and learning.” As it has evolved, the idea of flipped instruction has moved beyond alternative information delivery to strategies for engaging students in higher-level learning outcomes. Instead of one-way communication, instructors use collaborative learning strategies and push passive students to become problem solvers by synthesizing information instead of merely receiving it. More recently on this blog, Honeycutt and Garrett referred to the FLIP as “Focusing on your Learners by Involving them in the Process” of learning during class, and Honeycutt has even developed assessments appropriate for flipped instruction.