Hacking Education Part 7-Flip!

Flipping the classroom became popular years ago, but is still not a method many look to nor even tried.
I can sympathize. I tried it (kind of) in my classroom, but soon realized reliable access to the Internet and having the proper equipment to accomplish given assignments was not always the case. I know, there is research which says 80% of all families have access to the Internet. But that figure includes families who have smartphones that access the Internet via cell data plans.

Just because a phone/tablet could access the Internet doesn't mean:

• A parent will let the child use the device for schoolwork
• The family has a data plan large enough for frequent Internet use
• The device can properly display the content
• All the functionality of the content's website will be available

That said, I used my knowledge of small groups and technology to create a type of the in-class flip.

I used Delicious bookmarks to gather background and necessary information. I then displayed a link on the board for them to type into the URL bar and access the information. At first, this process was cumbersome for reasons like mistyped addresses, excess time to find the proper website in the list, and lack of teacher instructions of how to search properly.

I used that knowledge to change my lessons to include more steps to access the information using Diigo. It made each step easier for me to focus on specific skill sets and gave me data to see where I needed to support my students.

Teacher preparation is critical for student achievement. There will students who excel despite poor planning and instruction, but that is not the case for most students. Creating learning centers is difficult but once done, students will have more learning opportunities and become the owners of their learning.

Isn't that what we want?