Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Editor’s Picks 2015, No. seven: Flipped learning is changing the face of special ed

Flipped learning and one-to-one are a powerful combo for some populations

Ed. note: This year the editors selected ten stories we believe either highlighted an important issue in 2015 and/or signaled the beginning of an escalating trend or issue for 2016 (look for No. 1 on Dec. 31). No longer a new concept, early flipped learning adoptees are now starting to transform the model to suit their needs and into something that can be useful for instructing a variety of student populations, including those students with special needs.

flipped-special-edAt E.L. Haynes High School in Washington, D.C., 44 percent of students are English language learners, have special needs, or both. Yet all of the students in this urban charter school’s first graduating class have been accepted into college, said Principal Caroline Hill—and she attributed this success to a personalized, self-paced approach made possible by technology.

E.L. Haynes has a one-to-one laptop program, and students also can bring their own devices to school. Using a flipped learning approach, teachers record their lessons and post them online, so students can watch the content over and over again until they understand—and class time is used to provide more personalized support.…Read More

7 free flipped classroom creation apps you might not know

You might not know these apps for creating lessons, video, and more—perfect for the flipped classroom

flipped-appsThe flipped classroom gives students more time in class to do, not just listen,  and gives teachers new opportunities to revamp their lessons in creative, multimedia ways for at-home consumption. But for all that you need the right tools.

Here, we’ve gathered a handful of apps for content creation, from video to podcasting to slideshows, summarized on APPitic.com, an app resource site with more than 6,000 apps in more than 300 subcategories. And this time, we’ve selected apps that don’t typically crop up on flipped classroom lists, so you and your students can try something new.

[Editor’s note: eSchool News has selected these apps, which were originally curated by Apple Distinguished Educators, that may help you meet your instructional needs.]…Read More

Try these free resources for the flipped classroom

The flipped classroom is an education trend that has generated a lot of buzz, but some educators have struggled to create or find videos that are both short enough and engaging enough to hold students’ attention. Yet, three free resources can help educators do that—and more.

During a webinar hosted by edWeb.net, a professional social network for the education community, Shannon Holden—a former middle and high school teacher, principal, and now an online educator—described how the free resources found via TED-Ed, Khan Academy, and Sophia have been used by educators to flip their classroom.

“I always tell educators interested in flipped learning that you can’t flip every lesson, maybe one or two a week. But these resources can help educators maintain their flipped classroom without spending a lot of time,” Holden said.…Read More

What to consider when flipping the K-12 classroom

Flipped learning is not without its challenges–most notably, access to devices and the internet.

Flipping the classroom is one of the top trends in school reform, with more and more teachers trying the approach in an attempt to boost student engagement and achievement.

The concept is simple: Teachers create or find online short videos that explain a lesson or concept, and students watch the videos at home. Students then come to class the next day prepared to complete “homework” during class time.

Supporters say the flipped classroom model works because students aren’t struggling to finish assignments at home without the help of a teacher should problems or confusion arise. Teachers are able to spend less time lecturing and more time helping students.…Read More

Four steps to flipping the classroom

Flipping the classroom can have a dramatic impact, with the right steps.

The flipped classroom, in which students watch a video explaining a particular lesson or topic at home and then come to school prepared to complete assignments related to that lesson or discuss the topic in class, is gaining ground. But how, exactly, can educators go about flipping the classroom?

Merely taking a lesson and flipping it won’t ensure success, said Shannon Holden, a middle and high school teacher and administrator in North Dakota, Texas, and Missouri for 20 years. Holden also is an adjunct instructor at Lindenwood University and Missouri State University, as well as an online instructor at the University of North Dakota and the University of the Pacific.

During an edWeb webinar, Holden outlined four basic steps that educators can take to ensure that their flipped classroom experiments are successful and resonate with students.…Read More

Teachers: Involve parents in the flipped classroom, too

At the beginning of each semester I spend time speaking to my students about what the flipped classroom is: a significant change over the way students have previously been taught. As a result, I explain what the benefits of the flipped classroom are, what an average day will look like, and how students will be assessed, among many other things.

I work hard to paint a positive picture to get students on my side. And change can be scary! I explain that students will have less homework than they have ever had in a math class, how they will not be forced to listen to their teacher lecture for the majority of class, and how classroom time will be spent working with others and being active in their learning. I give the flipped class a hard sell – I want students to be excited about doing things they have never done before in a math classroom. And there are always a few things that shock them:

“We get to use our cell phones?”…Read More

Can school networks keep up with demands?

School leaders understand the value technology can bring to the classroom, including new resources, better assessments, and the ability to gauge student comprehension.

But school networks must be equipped to support new technologies if educators and students are to realize the full benefits of these changes—and new data suggest they aren’t keeping up.

A recent survey by Enterasys, a network security company, collected information from schools to understand how many plan to adopt new teaching and learning strategies, including online assessments and flipped classrooms. The survey also asked schools if their current network infrastructure is prepared to handle the demands of these new changes.…Read More

New developments enhance school video use

School video use has come a long way from the days when expensive video conferencing systems were required to connect students and experts in different locations.

Thanks to new advancements in video technology, students and teachers can hold live, face-to-face conversations with scientists in remote areas of the globe from whatever device they might own. Teachers can choose from a variety of free or low-cost tools to prepare video-based lessons that let them “flip” their classroom. And schools can use any number of products that make video editing and production more accessible for students.

School video use has come a long way from the days when expensive (and clunky) video conferencing systems were required to connect students and subject-matter experts in different locations.

Today, for instance, nearly 37,000 teachers from around the world are using Skype in the Classroom to link up with other classrooms through Skype, the free, Microsoft-owned service for making voice or video calls over the internet.…Read More

How to implement the ‘flipped classroom’

As teachers adopt the flipped model, they’re using the extra time in many ways, depending on their subject matter, location, and style of teaching.

(Editor’s note: Flipped learning, in which students watch instructional videos for homework and use class time to practice what they’ve learned, is catching on in many schools. This is an excerpt from a new book by two pioneers of the flipped approach, titled Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day. Copyright 2012, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and ASCD; reprinted with permission from ISTE. The book can be purchased in the ISTE Store for $19.95, or $13.97 for ISTE members.)

Despite the attention that the videos get, the greatest benefit to any flipped classroom is not the videos. It’s the in-class time that every teacher must evaluate and redesign. Because our direct instruction was moved outside of the classroom, our students were able to conduct higher-quality and more engaging activities.

As we have seen teachers adopt the flipped model, they use the extra time in myriad ways depending on their subject matter, location, and style of teaching. We asked some of our colleagues to share how they have changed their class time. Following are some examples.…Read More