A Great Chart Explaining The Flipped Classroom Concept

December 3, 2014
Flipped classroom or flipped learning is a methodology, an approach to learning in which technology is employed to reverse the traditional role of classroom time. If in the past, classroom time is spent at lecturing to students , now in a flipped model, this time is utilized to encourage individualized learning and provide one-on-one help to students, and also to improve student-teacher interaction. While the instructional or teachable content is still available in class, however this content is mainly designed in such a way to be accessed outside class which is a great way for struggling students to learn at their own pace.

  Together with the resources I have been sharing with you on Flipped learning, the resource I have for you today is especially helpful in that it provides a very simple step by step explanation of flipped learning works. This chart is created and shared by the Blended Learning wiki. The page also provides some very good video tutorials on flipped classroom. I invite you to check out those resources and share with us what you think of them. Enjoy.

Check out the original chart HERE.

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Flipping The Classroom Using Blendspace

November 26, 2014
Blendspace is an excellent free tool to create flipped lessons for your class. You can create a class on Blendspace and invite up to 35 students to join it. The maximum number of active lessons you can have for free is 100. Besides sharing lessons with the class, you can also use it to collect web sources in a single place that you can share with students with just one link.

Blendspace offers built-in quiz functionality that allows you to create quizzes to test your students' comprehension. It also allows you to monitor student progress and adapt to students needs in real-time. Below is a set of video tutorials to help you learn more about how to use Blendspace and the different ways to use it in class:

1- Flipping the classroom using Blendspace

2- Digital Storytelling on Blendspace

3- Creating collaborative research presentations

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Here is How to Set Up A Flipped Classroom

September 20, 2014
Here is one of my favourite videos on flipped classroom. In this funny and insightful video, Keith Hughes explains the idea behind the flipped classroom and provides some excellent tips for teachers who want to integrate the flipped teaching methodology in their instruction. The video is a little bit long (24 minutes) but is really worth watching.

Flipped Classroom is an inverted method of instruction where teaching and learning take place online outside of the class while homework is done in the classroom. Advocators of this approach believe that this is the ideal method of instruction in our digital age. They basically build their judgement on the following facts :

• Flipped Classroom shifts the learning responsibility and ownership from the teacher's hands into the students'.
• Students tend to perform better when they control when, where and how they learn.
• Teachers no longer dispense knowledge but rather guide and direct while students are the real active learners 
• Teachers create animated videos and interactive lessons and lectures and students access them at home in advance of class even. In this way all students can re-watch the video tutorials whenever they want.
• Classroom time can be geared towards data collection, collaboration, and application.
• Class becomes a place for students to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning.
• Flipped Classroom also "allows teachers to reflect on and develop quality and engaging learning opportunities and options for internalization, creation, and application of content rather than just fluff or time filling assignments."

Watch the video below to learn how to set up a flipped learning classroom

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Two Incredibly Useful Videos on Flipped Learning

September 6, 2014
Flipped learning is a learning trend that is gaining in momentum within the education community. Whether this is a new trend or not does not matter here what matters is the fact that web technologies and digital media is increasing the potential of flipped learning beyond measures. Flipped classroom or flipped learning is a methodology, an approach to learning in which technology is employed to reverse the traditional role of classroom time. If in the past, classroom time is spent at lecturing to students , now in a flipped model, this time is utilized to encourage individualized learning and provide one-on-one help to students.There are actually several pluses for using a flipped approach in your teaching:

Image source:User Generated Education

• Doing the 'knowledge' part at home provides students with ample time to think, absorb and reflect on their learning.
• Classroom time is devoted to more engaging and inquiry based activities
• Students become responsible for their leaning
• Classroom teaching becomes more student centred
• Flipped Classroom also "allows teachers to reflect on and develop quality and engaging learning opportunities and options for internalization, creation, and application of content rather than just fluff or time filling assignments."

Today, I am sharing with you these two wonderful videos that sum up the essence of Flipped learning. The first video is an explanation of what Flipped learning is all about and the second one provides an an example of how students are actually learning through the flipped learning model. Enjoy

1-  The Flipped Classroom Model

2- Flipped Learning

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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. After you are done you can share it on your class Educlipper board. For those of you not familiar yet with how to use Educlipper to create videos, watch this video.

2- PixiClip

Pixiclip is another wonderful tool to create step by step instructional videos to use in your flipped classroom. Like Educlipper, PixiClip provides you with a whiteboard where you can add images,text, videos, drawings, annotations and many more. PixClip also offers a nifty recording feature that allows you to record your talk while working on the whiteboard. Once your PixiClip video is ready you can then share it through popular social media outlets lie Facebook or Twitter or email its link to your students directly. If you have a classroom blog, you can grab the HTML code of your video and embed it there. Here is a step by step guide on how to create instructional videos using PixiClip.

3- Explain Everything

Explain Everything is a great interactive whiteboard that  allows you to create screencasts and video tutorials using annotation, animation, narration, importing, and exporting almost anything to and from almost anywhere. 

4- Knowmia

Knowmia Teach is a new free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers and their students. It helps you create short video lessons on any subject and publish them on Knowmia.com so students, other teachers and the public can find them. Knowmia Teach makes it easy to bring in visual aids from multiple sources, organize them in steps (like slides in a presentation) and use your own voice and fingers to bring your lesson to life. You can design each step in the lesson, record illustrations as you draw them, and create sophisticated animation sequences with a simple stroke of a finger. We also give you the ability to describe your lesson in a way that makes it simple for anyone who is interested in the subject to find your video.

 5- ShowMe

ShowMe is similar to Educreations in that it also allows you to turn your iPad into a recordable iPad. You can use  this app to record tutorials and short video lessons to share with your students. Some of the features ShowMe provides to its users include :

• Record your ShowMe tutorial right away — no manuals or complicated menus needed
• Drop in images onto the whiteboard
• Easily switch between drawing and erasing (as well as pausing and playing) to make your ShowMe flow from concept to concept
• You can make your ShowMe as long or as short as it needs to be, and record as many ShowMe’s as you want. Go nuts!
• Once you’re finished recording, upload your ShowMe to share with the community (or keep it private if you prefer) 
• Discover awesome tutorials created by other members of the ShowMe community

6- Educreations

This is my favourite of them all. Educreations allows you to create short video recordings that can include your own voice, text, drawings, sketches, and pictures. Some of the features that Educreations provide to its users include :

• Record and replay your voice, handwriting and drawings
•Draw in 10 colors of incredibly realistic digital ink
• Add text to any page
• Add photos from the iPad camera, Photo Albums, Dropbox or the Web
• Animate images by dragging them around while recording
• Create multiple whiteboard pages
• Scroll pages up or down when you need extra space
• Easily erase drawing mistakes
• Unlimited undo and redo
• Pause/resume or start over recording anytime
• Create a free account on educreations.com and choose who can view your lessons
• Share your lessons via email, Facebook and Twitter
• Embed your lessons on your blog or website

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