Here experience began at the elementary level in Stillwater looking at the learning experience the students were having. They began implementing a Flipped Classroom pilot, where a group of 6 teachers began creating video lecture content and having students watch that at home.
She and her colleague, Wayne Feller thought about "How do we want to spend our time together with teachers?" They developed a Flipped Professional Development model where the staff could view video of the "how to," and then spend face to face time looking at the best way to implement that in their classroom.
She shared stories from the "Learning Culture" that has been impacted by the Flipped pilot. After each video, they included a quiz that had an open-ended question for the teacher. Students started communicating more with the teacher. Students who were quiet in class started speaking up. Students also made comments like, "Why repeat yourself, I can rewind if I need to?" and "This video is too long!"
This has provided invaluable feedback to improve instruction in this model.
Students are being less passive than they are in a traditional classroom setting. It is also causing them to take responsibility for their learning. Captured well in this tweet:
They are also more self directed.
This has also had an impact on the design of learning spaces. The traditional classroom is not as conducive to a flipped model with more diverse activities for students. We have seen a similar situation in our secondary classrooms where staff have flipped their instruction. They group students into collaborative pods. Daniels also talked about the importance of the "teacher table," a space to allow teachers to pull students up to go over a topic in small groups.
What about students who don't have access at home? In a traditional flipped model, where students only access content at home, this is an issue. Burning DVD's flash drives or iPod touches with all of the content pre-loaded are some solutions, but more and more, the content is being consumed before and after school as well as during class time.
Daniels discussed "wrapping the teachers voice" around content that gets pulled in to the classroom. This is a problem she sees with teachers using Khan Academy, where teachers use the pre-packaged content. Students have commented that they benefit from seeing the teacher's face in the videos. They are currently using Camtasia for their screencasts, and she feels that TechSmith, the publisher is really starting to listen to educators voices.
Intentional content with variety and student created videos are ways that they are expanding. Multiple authors of content have been beneficial. Some kids learn better from other teachers. Students then have choice over who they listen to or watch.
With Flipped PD, they have focused on 4 strands:
- Communcation
- Creative Media
- Presentation
- Collaboration
They make 4 types of videos:
Proactive-They come from a list of things they know teachers want to be able to do. Sometimes, it's for students to show them how to use a certain tool for a project.
Reactive-Come from conversations with staff, questions that come up more than once.
Spontaneous Capture-Opportunities to capture interesting things that are going on. Recording teachers best practice experiences or ideas for the benefit of all. Sometimes it's recording or taking pictures of cool things happening in the classrooms they visit. She shared a great stop-motion video a student made about reading.
Individual Backpack-Sometimes they record video while working face to face with a teacher that can then be reviewed later. It helps capture individual instruction.
TIME
The shift in time is a major impact of Flipped instruction. Anytime, Anywhere, Any Place, at Any Pace.
The shift in time is a major impact of Flipped instruction. Anytime, Anywhere, Any Place, at Any Pace.
Access to classroom technology is important. Extra time in the classroom has made a huge impact. Curriculum that they were not able to complete, they now are.
Daniels took a question from the audience regarding the impact on test scores. So far, they have not seen a significant statistical difference, but teachers report that they are sharing more resources, using more of the curriculum, and doing more things in the classroom than traditional students. Silos are being broken down, and they are using "one wheel," instead of everyone re-inventing it.
Expanding
The pilot group all created their own content. When they expanded it, they collaborated and took on roles. Some made the video, some created the formative assessments, some created the flip-charts via Active-Inspire, some were the Moodle course administrators. By sharing their work, all benefited.
They also began sharing more resources, experience, products and best-practices. The tech integration specialists are facilitating this.
Tech Integration Coaching
If you think of something, there's a way to do it! Some staff don't know this! Coaching, Communities and Technology
She recommended the ISTE White paper on Tech Coaching.
They use a Google Doc with their learning plan for each staff member.
Daniels finished with a discussion of the Flipped Learning Network, as a resource. It's so much more than just "flipped classroom," it's about flipped learning!
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