Flipped Classroom is an innovative pedagogic system in which the traditional method of professors giving a lecture in the classroom and students doing homework activities about the lecture is literally flipped.

In a flipped classroom the professor gives the material to the students for them to review it outside the classroom. The class time is then used to solve any doubts about the previously studied information and also to do activities that reinforce or exemplify what students already know. The idea of flipping the classroom and homework activities might not seem very complex at first sight, however there is much more behind a flipped classroom than only reading or watching videos at home about a certain topic and then doing exercises in the classroom.

In my opinion a flipped classroom demands a much greater commitment from students and professors than the traditional method; for instance, the student takes a more active role in his learning process. The student must read, do research and try to learn by himself as much as possible with the advantages of having direct access to information and being able to go through the material at his own speed. Besides student’s extra effort, professors face the challenge of preparing the material that students are expected to review at their homes. Videos, e-books, and other online resources are being produced now by professors to help their students learn at their own speed. By using multimedia resources and online platforms, students don’t get frustrated if they don´t understand the first time a certain topic, they can watch the video lesson all the times they need without slowing others that might find easy that particular topic.

To conclude this entry I’d like to mention a book I recently read called “¡Crear o morir!: la esperanza de Latinoamérica y las cinco claves de la innovación” by the argentine journalist Andrés Oppenheimer, in which among other interesting things, the flipped classroom singularities were discussed by Salman Khan, the creator of Khan Academy.  For those who don´t know, Khan Academy is an organization designed to change education by sharing knowledge at no cost. In its web site khanacademy.org there is a whole educational platform that guides students through the multiple subjects and topics they want to learn. The website provides videos (at this moment more than 6500), interactive activities and also monitors the progress of the student. Reading the interview of Oppenheimer with Khan made me realize that the flipped classroom is not only a better way to study and use class time more effectively, but it´s also a democratizing innovation for education around the world. Think about it, with so many knowledge currently being poured on internet in the form of videos and other multimedia formats, everyone with an internet connection has access to a great quality education at no cost. In fact Salman Khan said he created Khan Academy “to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere”.

References:

• Oppenheimer, A. (2014). ¡Crear o morir!: La esperanza de Latinoamérica y las cinco claves de la innovación (1ª ed.). Barcelona: Debate.

• The Flipped Classroom Model. Retrieved August 16, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojiebVw8O0g

• What is the Flipped Classroom? (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2015, from http://www.theflippedclassroom.es/what-is-innovacion-educativa/

This WSQ is pretty easy to do, you just have to follow this simple instructions: 

-Open your computer

-Open any browser, except internet explorer

-Go to the page of the course and look for the WSQ02

-Make some popcorns

-Eat all the popcorns

-Make some more

-Stop procastinating and WATCH THE VIDEO!!!

-Go to your the blog, make a post and copy-paste this instructions

-Now you may continue with your life

WELL, let´s get serious (like the JOKER, JA!, YOU GET IT???), the video of this homework is about the flipped lessons and how they work, and all I could understood from it, was that some teachers (like KEN) are sick of just standing in front of the class and talking for 90 min, believe or not THEY HAVE FEELINGS, THEY ARE HUMANS JUST LIKE YOU!!!!, so they want to have fun with their students, so they invented this thing call “Flipped learning” where they don´t give you any stupid homework and you actually work in the class, and I agree to this type of learning.

If you didn´t understand my explination of Flipped Learning you can watch this image below that represents a flipped class.

(JA, “FLIPPED LEARNING”, JA!!!!!!!, hope you got it)

#WSQ02 #FLIPPED #BATMAN #BANANA #KEN #LEARNING