This summer, educators will have the chance to delve into some of the finer points of one of the largest and most popular trends to hit classrooms in decades: flipped learning.
The 2012 Flipped Class Conference will be held June 19-20, with a pre-conference workshop on June 18, at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy in Chicago. The conference aims to demonstrate and discuss the flipped learning model, in which educators become guides to understanding the content rather than dispensers of facts, and students become active learners rather than receptacles of information.
In many instances of the flipped learning approach, students watch a lecture video as homework, then complete labs or projects or discuss the material in greater depth during class.
“When students have control over how they learn, the pace of their learning, and how their learning is assessed, the learning belongs to them,” says conference host and flipped learning pioneer Jon Bergmann. Bergmann is a chemistry, earth and space science, and AP chemistry teacher for the Woodland Park School District in Colorado.
Bergmann has spoken about flipped learning across the country. He and Aaron Sams—another innovator in flipped learning, who teaches biology, chemistry, and AP chemistry at Woodland Park High School—will be featured plenary speakers on June 20 and will focus on the future of flipped classrooms. They’ll also discuss their upcoming book, Flip Your Classroom: Reach every student in every class every day, available this July.
Read more about flipped learning:
Flipped learning: A response to five common criticisms
Other keynote speakers will include Brian Bennett, a high school biology and chemistry teacher from Indiana, who will discuss effective pacing in the class, as well as accommodations that can be made in a flipped classroom. Brian Gervase, a precalculus teacher from Downers Grove, Ill., will moderate a panel of students, administrators, and parents currently participating in flipped learning.
“I believe my session could be titled ‘Getting Everyone into the Flipped Classroom,'” said Gervase. “In order for the flipped classroom to be successful, everyone involved has to be on board. This includes the student, the parent, the administration, and the community. If everyone understands what is really going on in the classroom, it makes buy-in easy for all. Let’s hear from the teacher and hear from the students directly about how the flipped classroom has changed the way we do business.”
Speakers at the conference also will include:
- Kristin Daniels of Stillwater Area Public Schools in Minnesota, who will discuss data from a flipped learning research study and how to scale up a flipped learning pilot program;
- Ellen Dill of Bellingham, Mass., who will discuss the integration of flipped learning in foreign language classes;
- Brett Clark of Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation in Indiana, who will talk about “flipping” professional development;
- Anna Brown of Chicago, who will address the training of pre-professional teachers and flipped learning in higher education; and
- Jen Gray of Falcon High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., who will talk about assessments in the flipped classroom.
Excluding the keynotes, the sessions during the conference will be concurrent. However, the June 19 sessions will be repeated on June 20—with more than 24 hours of concurrent sessions to choose from. Participants will be able to attend 6 sessions on-site and view the others back home. Paid conference attendees will receive a password to view all three plenary sessions and 24 concurrent sessions on the Flipped Learning TV channel.
More session topics and speakers will be posted in a few weeks here, but expect to hear from flipped classroom experts in grades 5-12 in math, science, English/language arts, social studies, and foreign languages. Depending on the level of practice of attendees, first-timer flippers can get the “nuts and bolts,” with advanced classes for those who have been practicing for a while. Sessions specific to key hardware and software tools also will be offered.
Click here to register for the conference: www.regonline.com/flippedclassconference. Every paid conference attendee will receive a free copy of TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio and SnagIt software for creating lecture videos—a $209 value.
Those who are unable to attend the event in person can purchase the virtual event for $97. Register here.
Hotel accommodation can be found at the Allegro Hotel at 171 W. Randoph St.; call (800) KIMPTON and indicate you are with the Flipped Class Conference for a rate of $189 per night plus taxes, or click here for online reservations.
Watch some of the key highlights of last year’s Flipped Class Conference:
“A Portrait of a Flipped Class Teacher”: See how teachers are transforming their classrooms into centers of learning. This video is made from excerpts from the 2011 Flipped Class Conference held in Woodland Park, Colo.
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“How Teachers Need to Rethink their Classes”: This video addresses the question: What is the mental switch that teachers need to make as they contemplate flipping their classes?
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