Flipped classroom
One man. One computer. Millions of students.
Perhaps you have heard of Salman Khan, the creator of the wildly popular Khan Academy. The mission is to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. The site began as a series of online tutoring sessions for his niece using Yahoo’s Doodle Notepad; now it attracts millions of viewers a month and consistently receives rave reviews from the students who use it. It is a testament to the tremendous power of leveraging technology to provide a free education for anyone who has access to the Internet.
For me, what is most intriguing about Salman Khan’s mission is a revolutionary idea that could transform the entire landscape of education; it’s called the “flipped classroom”. Following is an excerpt from a Forbes magazine article dated Nov. 19, 2012, which describes the nature of a flipped classroom:
“The idea is that students watch lectures and work through problem sets on their own time, at their own pace. Once they prove mastery of a concept, adaptive software will suggest new ones, much like Amazon recommends books. Teachers are kept abreast of students’ progress through back-end dashboards. Class time once reserved for lectures would be devoted to mentoring and one-on-one tutoring.”
While many talk about the need for education “reform”, I believe it’s concepts like this that will ultimately “transform” education.
Below is a brief video, which by the way is animated for your viewing pleasure, which uniquely describes the nature of a flipped classroom.
After watching the video, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this concept. Please use the space below to share your thoughts.
Well, that video was very cute by the way…really enjoyed it. It sounds like a great idea…and I think the only way to find out if it works is to try it. I like that students can use it however they need depending on their ability and learning style.
The voice of the woman narrating sounds like just the lady who does the PooPourri commercial! I wonder if it’s her…she is getting to be quite famous!