March 4, 2013

Flipped Education (It’s not what you think)

Mar. 4, 2013 at 10:35 AM | By Dan Obregon | Comment Count

We’ve all heard about the concept of a “flipped classroom.” Basically, it is a model of instruction in which a teacher provides students with resources to learn about a specific topic on their own, usually through video or other online content. Then rather than spend time in class listening to a teacher lecture about a topic, a student’s classroom time is instead spent applying what they learned on their own through problem solving, project-based learning and discussion with classmates.

Proponents of this model believe that students get to learn basic concepts at their own pace, while teachers can spend valuable classroom time reinforcing ideas and tailoring instruction to individual students based on their needs. However, as promising as the flipped classroom may be, there’s another trend that’s turning education on its head. Simply put, today’s students think differently.

Last week while at the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education, I had the pleasure of seeing Dean Conklin, Superintendent of Walnut Unified School District, and Gabe Soumakian, Superintendent of Oxnard Unified High School District present on ways to “Enable College, Career and Life Ready Students with Technology.”

The presentation focused quite a bit on best practices for implementing technology to improve instruction, including the importance of professional development and developing strategies and processes to support technology.

However, while the topic was technology, the presentation was really about redesigning education for the 21st Century. And, in order to do that, it requires a lot more than just technology. It requires a shift in how educators think about their students. But it’s not just about how we teach, it’s about what we teach.

During the presentation, Conklin and Soumakian introduced two models of education:

Lock & Block: a philosophy that results when access to learning, content and technology is tightly controlled and managed by the “System.”
Open Access: an environment that focuses on the “Learner” and ensures access to a variety of learning opportunities, content and technologies to support desired outcomes.

Can you guess which model we’re headed towards? To illustrate this point, the presenters noted that a 21st Century Learning will result in a shift of outcomes and how we view learning compared to the last century:

Flipped Education

Clearly, the market is demanding more open access to education. One in which there are more and more options, and students can take “ownership” of their learning. As a result, we must not only change how we teach, but how we engage and communicate with students to ensure their needs are being met.

Preparing today’s students for the rigors of the 21st Century workforce will require greater investment in helping them apply what they learn in school so that they can produce something tangible. It will require a greater emphasis on helping students learn on their own, as well as helping them develop the soft skills needed for success in most jobs. And, it will require giving them options so that they can decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn, and when they want to learn it. This does not mean a departure from standards, but it may mean a shift in how we prepare students to meet those standards.

Obviously technology can play a big role in facilitating this transition, but the real challenge will come in how we can adapt our human infrastructure to support this shift.

Are you ready?