The document discusses different approaches to incorporating technology into classroom learning, including flipped classrooms, online classrooms, and blended learning. It expresses reservations that flipped classrooms may be difficult to implement given the range of student needs, and that online classrooms often are not completed due to lack of motivation. Blended learning is proposed as a better approach, allowing students to learn both in the classroom and at home at their own pace, supported by in-person and online instruction.
The document discusses different approaches to incorporating technology into classroom learning, including flipped classrooms, online classrooms, and blended learning. It expresses reservations that flipped classrooms may be difficult to implement given the range of student needs, and that online classrooms often are not completed due to lack of motivation. Blended learning is proposed as a better approach, allowing students to learn both in the classroom and at home at their own pace, supported by in-person and online instruction.
The document discusses different approaches to incorporating technology into classroom learning, including flipped classrooms, online classrooms, and blended learning. It expresses reservations that flipped classrooms may be difficult to implement given the range of student needs, and that online classrooms often are not completed due to lack of motivation. Blended learning is proposed as a better approach, allowing students to learn both in the classroom and at home at their own pace, supported by in-person and online instruction.
The document discusses different approaches to incorporating technology into classroom learning, including flipped classrooms, online classrooms, and blended learning. It expresses reservations that flipped classrooms may be difficult to implement given the range of student needs, and that online classrooms often are not completed due to lack of motivation. Blended learning is proposed as a better approach, allowing students to learn both in the classroom and at home at their own pace, supported by in-person and online instruction.
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After participating in the Google Hangout I became interested in how this
technology could be implemented into a "flipped" classroom. Therefore, I was
excited to find flipped classrooms as part of this week's lecture notes. Since learning about the concept of flipped classrooms I have become increasingly interested in the idea with a few reservations. I like that flipped classrooms are more student directed, places where students can get more individualized support, places where students have more access to learning and their teachers and finally places where students are engaged in their learning (http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/the-flipped-class-conversation-689.php.) However, when I picture a flipped classroom, I see a room with no more than 15 self-motivated students who love learning. In the classrooms that I have been in in PSI and PSII, with more than 25 students each, with huge gaps in knowledge and motivation, I am not sure how one teacher will hope to engage students in the work with so many "issues" to deal with. Also, how do you differentiate the videos? It is possible to differentiate a worksheet or project but trickier in the videos that students watch at home. Does the teacher have several different videos assigned to different students? Therefore, I can see this working with an International Baccalaureate (IB) classroom (https://www.youtube.com/user/jloos33) of highly motivated learners but not sure the practicality of it in our current classroom environment. Another obstacle I see is getting parents engaged in the process as it requires their children to spend a portion of the evening watching videos for the next days' work. What if parents do not support their children or what if there are a few kids who consistently do not watch their videos at home? I like the idea of the flipped classroom but I feel like it would result in way more work for students, parents and teachers. Perhaps rather than revolutionize classrooms this way, we should be revolutionizing them by allowing students to progress through school at their own pace rather than by age-level (http://www.techlearning.com/default.aspx?tabid=100&entryid=3360). Not to mention that the flipped classroom is limited in that it is still built on the traditional model of learning (http://www.techlearning.com/default.aspx? tabid=100&entryid=3360).
Online Classrooms I love the idea of online learning. I like that it allows students to progress through material at their own pace and allows for students to graduate early if they like. I have several friends whose children do online learning because they are involved in serious athletic activities. Their virtual classrooms allow them to train all day and complete their school work in the evenings. However, while the motivated students do well at online learning, I have also seen the complete opposite where parents pay for their children to take an
ADLC class and it never gets done. It takes a tremendous amount of
dedication and motivation to get an online class finished. While they are convenient, they are often not completed. Therefore, I think that while many students can find success with online learning, the majority still benefit from the social interaction of school and the face-to-face time with teachers. Here are a few interesting reads on why e-learning needs to be reconsidered: http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/topic/learning-technologies/why-elearning-doesn-twork/134473 http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/overview/weaknesses.asp
Blended Learning While digital learning might not be the future for all education, I can see how blended learning might work better. Giving students the ability to work from home or come in for help from the teacher might make more sense. I could imagine a classroom where students have lecture times during the week (which could be student led or teacher led) and then work time that could be completed at home or in the classroom. Based on students' levels of motivation and cognitive ability, some students may spend the whole week in school where others might only show up for the lecture parts. This would allow classroom community to be created and give the weaker students more one-on-one time with their teachers. This would also allow stronger students to complete their work at home and use their extra time to work or participate in extra-curricular activities. Here is an article about the benefits of using blended learning (http://blended.online.ucf.edu/about/benefits-of-blendedlearning/). I took a graduate level class that was a blended learning class using the online classroom software Blackboard. It was an excellent experience and getting to know the other students during the face-to-face time helped us better engage with each other online. Here is an article that talks about the software Blackboard (https://www.blackboard.com/k12/blended-learning.aspx). Final Thought I believe that technology is the key to revolutionizing classrooms. However, as mentioned above, the revolutionized classrooms cannot be based on the old system. Imagine how great it would be for multi-aged students to be learning at their own pace in a blended classroom. Sounds like educational heaven to me.
