A new method of teaching is turning the traditional classroom on its head. But what is a flipped classroom? It inverts traditional teaching methods, delivering instruction online outside of class and moving homework into the classroom. What the model of the flipped classroom does? Basically students watch the lectures at home at their own pace communicatin one another and with the teacher via online discussion. When they are back to schoolthe concept engagement starts. With the help of an instructor they discuss, address the topic, run activities. The learning process happen through activities which influence the learning environment. At the same time the flipped classroom exploits the potential of the educational technology which is a fundamental part of the process. This methodology has been created by two teachers, Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams from Woodland Park, CO. They recorded power point presentation for the students who missed class and upoad them online. The presentations started to spread and the methodology was much appreciated among other teachers that started to use it. The videos, podcasts and presentations online improved and teacchers saw that a lot of time could have been saved for actual collaborative work, activities and exercise in class.
The flipped classroom usage is increasing for mainly two key factors:
- The traditional static lessons often results in limited concept engagement and severe consequences of school dropout
- The use of video and more generally speacking ICT has paved the way to engage even more students
- There are different tools that can help you in planning the flipped classroom, here a link to an interesting article about them