Key Questions You Should Ask Before You Flip Your Class-

This is from the blog  Flipped Learning

link-http://flipped-learning.com/?p=1268&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer1cb7a

I am preparing to do a workshop with Icelandic Educators this week and I was asked to give them a list of questions to consider as they begin to flip their classes.  As I wrote these I realized that many people could benefit from these questions.  It is no doubt an incomplete list.  If you have more questions that I should include, please comment and I will add them.  

Overall Questions

• What is the best use of your  face-to-face class time?
• What is one lesson that you teach that is perfect for flipping?
• As you start flipping, who will you work with?
• Are you willing to give up some of the control of your classroom to your students? This is a scary thing for many teachers who like control.
• If you flip, WHAT will you do in your class now that you are not lecturing?
• Do you need additional resources since you will now have more time to do in-class higher order thinking and problem solving as a result of the extra time?
• How will you rearrange your room as you consider flipping your classroom?
• To what extent will you create vs curate your videos?
• Will you completely flip your class, or just do selected lessons?
• How will you learn more about flipped learning (books, the web)?
• How much time do you have to commit to flipping your classroom?
• How will your students access your videos?  Do you have any students who will need to access the videos when NOT connected to the internet?
• If you teach multiple classes:  Which class will you flip first?
• Have you considered moving to a Flipped-Mastery model?

Technical Questions about Video Creation:

• What software will you use to make your videos?
• Do you need any hardware like a better microphone or a tablet to write with?
• Where will you post your videos? (YouTube? Somewhere else?)
• How will you link your videos from your Learning Management System?

Classroom Questions

• How will you monitor if the students watched the video?
• How will you grade their watching of the videos?
• How will you build in interactivity into your video lessons?  (A Google form?  Notes on paper? a A question? Something else?)
• What are you going to do when a student doesn't watch your video?
• How will you change your assessment as a result of flipping your class?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your administration?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your students?
• How will you communicate what you are doing with your parents?

Tech question for next school year.

No matter what stage you are in the integration of technology into your classes an important date is coming up. That date is the end of the school year. A lot of teachers can have PLN's or follow people on Twitter or blogs. But the people around you can sometimes be way more helpful. This all leads to the question. What tech are you going to use with your students next year? Who can help you?

For example:

Should I just redo my web site? Do I need to get the heck off of Sharepoint?

Do I keep a web site but use Edmodo to create communication teacher to student and student to student?

Do I use MyBigCampus.com to have students send me there homework? Use the blog feature on it to have an ongoing conversation to what is happening in class?

Do I want students to use presentation software like the new Prezi?


I can throw out quite a few more of these but you get the idea. When you start your classes next year the more seamless the better. If they are used to cloud softwares from the first day of class your "system" will be more readily accepted. You still have to be flexible but dropping a whole different way treating your curriculum on top of students in November might end up inefficient.

So take the time to find out what steps you want to take for next year and then find out what tools might make your life easier, creates better communication or just is more fun for the same objectives. Talk to people in the building about your decisions before you leave for the summer. Most web sites/tools I have used come with a varying learning curve. Most tools are easy but you still have to teach them. Understand how a student will use the tool. I personally set up a fake student account so I see what they see. It allows me to throw out presumptions I'm making.

Make the big desicions with help before June 24th and spend the summer working on the small details.

The other side of Tech

I just wanted to start an open question with myself about the down side of tech for my classes. This is spurred on by last nights homework for Civics. I posted the homework on my web site. This included a link to a pamphlet I scanned onto Sliderocket.com  (http://portal.sliderocket.com/DAYNU/749EBD27-9CAB-4257-BED8-57248203265F) about Brien McMahon. On a Google Document I also posted 4 questions to answer on McMahon. The answers were to be posted on the student's Mybigcampus.com site.

Now that is three web sites for one assignment. It sure didn't feel like my students would have all sorts of problems, but they did. Most problems were that the slide rocket presentation would not load or took waaaay too much time to load. One person could not get the Google page up and a few could not get into their Mybigcampus page.This was all in my first period. A number of students just wrote out the answers and turned that in.

What do I need to do to make this a better experience for the student? Myself? Let me see what third period does and up date this entry.

Update: My other classes did much better in accessing all the web sites. At the moment there does not seem any specific criteria or pattern as to why. 

ePortfolios using Google apps -larger than you think

I have read some of this site and am encouraged to read more about how not only to create ePortfolios , but how to use them through one network of sites. I would like to meet with others who have done portfolios, just out of curiosity. But for the moment here is the link-

https://sites.google.com/site/eportfoliosurveys/Home

The teacher that is throwing resources on the net and writing about this is Dr. Helen Barrett
Here is her site.  http://electronicportfolios.org/

An updated Bloom's Taxonomy, based on technology in the classroom.

There has been some conversation about updating Bloom's Taxonomy. Here is an example  from the  Med Kharbach's blog Educational Technology and Mobile learning.  http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/a-new-poster-on-blooms-digital-taxonomy.html

In another entry Med lists digital tools that could be used in each of the layers. It is not comprehensive and has a few too many ipad tools but it is a start- http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/01/web-based-version-of-blooms-taxonomy-30.html

Flipped Model for Social Studies-- a chart.

At the link below is a a chart that a teacher created that lays out the ground work for the logic behind a flipped class room based on the social studies. Maybe a good discussion starter at some point.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0VIwE5hKSWteVdMNGNrWGpUUy1DM0NocGE5c0lhQQ/edit

Pinterest site that compiles a number of Educational Visuals-

I came across a a pinterest site that had a number of visual "Posters" that conveyed  many different educational ideas and lists. Even a couple about managing time. Take a look. There a going to be some of the  20 to 30 of them that you will find interesting, . The shorter ones can be printed easily.


http://pinterest.com/socrative/education-visuals/