Tech and my Flipped Class
Hey guys, as of last year I took the challenge of flipping my classroom. For starters, I was very fortunate to have only have 2 different plans (CP Algebra IIA, Applied Algebra IA) so that is one thing to consider.
It does take a lot of time to put into play, however I found it to be very rewarding. Foremost, was MY OWN access to technology. I would not have been so willing to do this had I not had an easy device to make videos etc. Despite our school being big on Macs, I have a surface pro 4. It is amazing. I am sure there are similar devices for Mac (Ipad perhaps) but the power of this is great.
The general process I took was to upload my “notes” in form of PDF. The Surface came with PDF editing software that allowed me to write on the PDF and record as a video. If you check out some more of my videos on DvorskyClass in youtube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr1NMac0g7c_UtG9iX_B5vQ
you can see how the videos are done. Nothing too fancy, but short/sweet and too the point.
My main idea was to take care of the basic stuff and a few examples of problems. The things like vocab and such that take up time at the beginning of class and typically lose students. They would then come into class and we would discuss their initial findings, go over questions, and practice.
One disclaimer I found.... Just because its technology and videos does not mean students will like class any more. It took a while for my classes to get accustomed to the style, but once they did it was refreshing. I think that we have become so obsessed with trying to make everything in education technology based that we have the notion of “why don’t you like this, its a video!”. It has to be implemented correctly.
I took a serious look at how I can improve the course, asking for student feedback. One was to “shorten videos” which I did end up doing. As I began I thought of just “replacing my normal lecture 20+ min to video”. I had thought it would be easy for students... 20 minutes of homework, that’s it essentially. But I found this far from the case. Again, just because its a video doesn’t mean they will sit there and be “engaged”. I did research and found that 1 min / year of student is more appropriate so I shortened them to under 15 minutes which was largely successful.
Sorry about all this talk, but I hope it helped show my views and give some examples of tech. Please also note... if you watch the videos there are mistakes :-P for one, it was a great tool to KNOW if students watched the videos as they point them out in class, and two it saved time from me obsessing over making the videos.
Alright that's all for now! Enjoy the vids