FLIPPED CLASSROOM

Teaching in the  XXI Century : the Flipped Classroom


In my previous post I wrote about my experience about  flipping and the course which I took thanks to EVO SESSIONS 2016. I was introduced to something new which I feel is important for me and my activities in ELT.

Since I finished the course I carried out my research online and I am going to do a MOOC in September to learn more about this approach. Meanwhile I have browsed the web and I have found interesting videos and a lot of tutorials.

I will try to use more flipping in my new classes next  year. I will also try to learn more about the tools which can help me and facilitate my work. It will be a new way of working but  I want to see how students can get more engaged and I hope they will learn much better than now.


Here you can find some  videos which can support the new approach as education is changing and it will follow new paths.  
What is really important is  the students and their way of learning: the role of the teacher is changing but  teachers will continue their work as a guide into the world of knowledge.   


               Bring on the Learning Revolution 

                    
                      Flipped Classroom

                     The flipped classroom explained
                     to Italian teachers - Prof. Piero Gallo
              Flipped Classroom e didattica inclusiva

                     
          How to find  videos - for Italian teachers                   

                     Reframing the Role of the
             Teacher - A  Webinar by  D. Marsh 

                    
              What a  Flipped Classroom look like

Creating the flipped 'lecture' for at-home use 

               
                     Video Making- tools 

                         Resources online

Tools
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/flipped-classroom/flipped-classroom.html
https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/flipped_classroom.pdf

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-learning-lets-talk-tech-jon-bergmann
http://strut.io/

https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-apps-and-websites-for-the-flipped-classroom?utm_source=What%2527s_New_in_EdTech_2016_6_24&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly



Information about  FL
http://flippedclassroomtutorials.blogspot.it/
https://www.powtoon.com/blog/flip-classroom/
http://www.flippedclassroomworkshop.com/


Presentations
https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/ernest.reynolds/cic70300/flipped-classroom-powerpoint-show-presentation/view
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IOI5-tXZvOEVCFhoN5hlsccnRa-8_77nx3GDdB6C-tE/edit?pref=2&pli=1

A Teacher's Practical Guide to the Flipped Classroom from Juste Semetaite



My  symbaloo collection with important weblinks for FL: 

link http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/flippedclassroom75

EVO 2016 FLIPPED LEARNING

What is the flipped classroom?  This infographic can help us understand it. 



Created by Knewton

This video can help understand why we should work in a different way to get our students more engaged and we could care for different levels  of learners by providing also support or individualized learning if necessary. We know that learners can learn in a different way and that it is important to reach all our  learners.

More sources online which can explain   FLIPPED LEARNING :

http://flippedinstitute.org/how-to-flip

Tips and ideas about  flipping a teacher should know:

1^ create a video
2^ share it with your students
3^ spend class time differently



Last February I was engaged online and did some EVO sessions dealing with different issues and interesting topics: Clil, writing ebooks and  a lot of new  topics like  flipping.

I also did the EVO SESSION about  FLIPPPED LEARNING. I took up the activity late but could learn a lot and I watched most of the reflections online which the tutor suggested us.
We were guided by teachers who were working online and shared their ideas about what they had been doing  and  which tools we might use to flip our classes.

In some way  I am a person who has started flipping lessons as I would like my students to learn on their own.  I also think that we should work from home and that students should be more engaged in class.

I have  learnt that you need to know well what to do when you decide to change the approach of teaching.  My students do not have  technology at school and sometimes not even at home. This is a great  problem.

Flipped learning implies that your students have access to  videos and the internet but  you do not need to work only online.

We were guided and we developed our sample lesson/module by choosing an activity which should follow the principles of FL: here is my final product.
I tried to use many tools but the great problem was to choose what the students could see from home: most of my students have poor internet access and they use mobile devices like smartphones but in most cases they do not have a tablet or their  computer can be not the most  updated.
I used Zaption for some activities, now  ZAPTION is going to disappear and I will have to find a new way for  presenting  videos with questions: edpuzzle might be ok but  I am looking for new tools. I really like using new tools but  I am also interested in free apps as  I cannot pay for a lot of subscriptions and what's more we do not have many teachers who are working on FL.

This is the Link to the activity which I have devised and need improving

http://padlet.com/Tizianateacher/ylxvfacgfwyo

Created with Padlet

I have collected some interesting materials online which I feel might be useful and which are the key and most important ideas we might bear in mind  when we decide to flip our  classes or lessons.


Blended learning and flipping classroom: what you can blend 

• a lesson
• a discussion
• a  research
• a collaboration
• assessment      

                                         TOOLS

LMS, by italianteacher




ONLINE WHITEBOARDS, by italianteacher



SEARCH ENGINES, by italianteacher


                             USING  SCREENCAST O'MATIC  
                            FOR CREATING VIDEOS

Useful link for creating  videos with   VIZIA:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/07/vizia-create-interactive-video-quizzes.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=freetech4teachers#.V525gOiLS1t


Tools which we can use to create  video presentations online

Reference 

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/video-creation-resources.html#.V53BA-iLS1s

1. https://vizia.co/

      2. the Learnia

  3. Blendspace

                               
                                          Other tools

http://pen.io/                  A useful tool for creating a blog post in just a few seconds

                                                               CLOUDSCHOOL
https://www.cloudschool.org/          A free platform for teachers and learners

I will present  some interesting  ideas and videos in my next post. I really think that flipping can make us work in a different way.

Blogging

The Art of  Blogging

Blogging is an Art, people love writing about their life or they may choose to write about important events that are related to their interests and their work.
Blogging is now easy to start as there are a lot of  tutorials online. There are plenty of  platforms that enable people to start blogging.

I started blogging as I was asked to write my learning diary online when I did my first MOOCs with Coursera. Once I started I never gave up and continued as I had found a way for writing and reflecting about  school, education and about what I had learnt online.
When I was doing some webinars I learnt about teachers who were blogging too and I realized that I could write about my online experience. There is a growing community of teachers and  bloggers who write about  ELT, technology, education and I like to learn from them. 
I could watch some webinars about blogging in the event SPRING BLOG FESTIVAL in  2014  and 2015: you can find some interesting videos online which are related to the events.

                       LINDA JOLLIS ON STUDENTS
                       BLOGGING

                          WHY DO I BLOG?

             Sylvia Guinan on Reflective Blogging   

                    
                     
There are a lot of platforms, some are really easy to start blogging while with others you need to be an expert and know more. Here are some tutorials which have been presented online by Nellie Deutsch who shared them as she usually required people to write their reflections about the Moocs or the festivals which she ran.  

BLOGGER

TUMBLR

WORDPRESS

                     
These are popular ones and you do not need to pay while for others you need to . A more detailed comparison of the many platforms  which are available can be found in this recent article:

http://makeawebsitehub.com/choose-right-blogging-platform/

BLOGGING AND ELT

 Why is blogging important for teachers and students?
Students can write more about what  they are doing and they can write a sort of learning journal online where they share materials, activities and also pictures they have taken or chosen to illustrate their homework.
Blogs can be used to write reflections too and this is important in education as more and more we want our students to be active learners who can monitor what they have achieved or if they have made mistakes. It is important to remember that learning occurs when we make mistakes too. Language practice is enhanced while students are free to write about what they have done or they can cooperate online and write together.

If we decide to start a  class blog we can have a lot of materials and readings online which can be shared and which can be used also for expressing ideas and free discussions online. 

Blogs & wikis applied to ELT from Paula Ledesma

In ELT we can have plenty of activities which we can run thanks to the use of modern technology:

- students can develop their reading skills 
- writing skills are enhanced as  students  are usually required to write, to summarize or describe what they have learnt about
- students can present their work: it can be an article, a presentation  with a slide or video where they showcase what they have done
- blogs can showcase what classes have done and in some cases we can have a student's porfolio online

Both students and teachers can use blogs as a reflective writing.
In general  blogs and wikis can enhance communication online and this is important today.

Other tools used for writing and collaborating online

Today we can use other tools : I have learnt about padlet as a place where students can discuss and present their ideas, tackk is also used for sharing materials and people can make comments on what you have done and presented online.

Some teachers now use  Moodle or  Edmodo for class activities. These are LMS that provide you with more tools and you can do more online in a safe environment. We must bear in mind that with blogging and wikis we need to check what is posted online unless we choose to  provide the links only to registered users. 


References and further reading

about  WIKIS and WEBSITES used in ELT

https://www.tesol.org/read-and-publish/journals/other-serial-publications/compleat-links/compleat-links-volume-6-issue-3-4-(october-2009)/wikis-one-more-great-tool
http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume16/ej62/ej62m2/  

http://jefflebow.net/node/331     (ELT  Live Webcast#2  Hows, Whats, and Whys (or why nots)

of class websites and other online resources. September 2, 2014 )

MMVC16

August  2016 


          MOODLE MOOT  VIRTUAL CONFERENCE  2016
                            5th-6th-7th August   2016                                     

Thanks to Nellie  Deutsch we are offered a free Virtual Conference online :  details can be found here with more links about the event

http://nellie-deutsch.com/mmvc16/


The syllabus is engaging and it offers  great opportunities for learners - teachers like me - who are interested in technology in education and  also teaching  foreign  languages:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MNsMz8M68eGdNK4UjYoRIyHjKtDkkyZ4pRv_JUIr0w8/edit?pref=2&pli=1


What will be  presented by the speakers in the different  sections are different  topics and they will be discussed online in the webinars :

• Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Teaching and Learning Online
• Blended Learning
• Mobile Learning
• Blended Online Learning
• Badges for Learning
• Online Learning Environments
• Learning in Virtual Worlds
• Case Studies on Moodle

Here is the presentation by Nellie: she provides useful information about how to enroll and once you are enrolled you will find the links to the old conferences.




Last year I was online and I could watch some interesting webinars:

topic : innovation and open education

 topic:  MOOCs  and  education

As I really appreciated the events last year I am going to watch this year's webinars too.  It is nice to see how so many teachers are working during the summer time to make this conference a memorable experience.

Thanks a lot to Nellie and to all the speakers in the Conference!

PBL Week 4

THE END OF THE JOURNEY


 







If we search online we can find a lot of interesting documents, videos and materials that have been shared by teachers and which can help us develop  better  tasks. I have found this video about scientific  skills and  language learning which can explain how the students skills are enhanced by making  something  " useful" and by getting the learners  to work together.

The journey has almost ended.

We have achieved  great objectives and we have learnt how to work on  PBL!!


Week 4 was the final one and I only had to think about evaluation and assessment. I had alredy worked on most of the steps of my project by following the framework provided by the tutors. My third week''s task got a positive  assessment and the idea I had in mind was thought to be  ok.

During week 4 we  worked on rubrics and we  could  see  great  webinar online where a group of teachers  shared their ideas and tools. I could learn more about  SKYPE which can be used for getting the students to work and interview or get in contact with others, students from other schools or maybe interviewing an important writer. The teachers in the MOOC  shared their learning  diaries and tasks and Twitter was a great tool for getting connected with the participants in the MOOC.


Rubrics

"A rubric is typically an evaluation tool or set of guidelines used to promote the consistent application of learning expectations, learning objectives, or learning standards in the classroom, or to measure their attainment against a consistent set of criteria. In instructional settings, rubrics clearly define academic expectations for students and help to ensure consistency in the evaluation of academic work from student to student, assignment to assignment, or course to course. Rubrics are also used as scoring instruments to determine grades or the degree to which learning standards have been demonstrated or attained by students.
In courses, rubrics may be provided and explained to students before they begin an assignment to ensure that learning expectations have been clearly communicated to and understood by students, and, by extension, parents or other adults involved in supporting a student’s education. Rubrics may take many forms, but they typically include the following information:

• The educational purpose of an assignment, the rationale behind it, or how it connects to larger concepts or themes in a course.
• The specific criteria or learning objectives that students must show proficiency in to successfully complete an assignment or meet expected standards. An oral-presentation rubric, for example, will establish the criteria—e.g., speak clearly, make eye contact, or include a description of the main characters, setting, and plot—on which students will be graded.
• The specific quality standards the teacher will use when evaluating, scoring, or grading an assignment. For example, if the teacher is grading an assignment on a scale of 1 to 4, the rubric may detail what students need to do or demonstrate to earn a 1, 2, 3, or 4. Other rubrics will use descriptive language—does not meet, partially meets, meets, or exceeds the standard, for example—instead of a numerical score.

Rubrics are generally designed to be simple, explicit, and easily understood. Rubrics may help students see connections between learning (what will be taught) and assessment (what will be evaluated) by making the feedback they receive from teachers clearer, more detailed, and more useful in terms of identifying and communicating what students have learned or what they may still need to learn. "

from http://edglossary.org/rubric/


Why  is it important to learn how to assess a project ?

It is important to learn how to assess a project: this will help us develop or change some parts of our tasks. Here is the rubric which has been suggested for us when assessing  the others' tasks:

    

Learners will use rubrics for evaluating their work in terms of presentation, collaboration and also self-reflection on the experience in the project.


Interesting tools online for creating rubrics for teachers and learners when working :

http://www.rubric-maker.com/?utm_campaign=ce_rubmkr_callout&utm_source=ce&utm_medium=ce_callout

RUBISTAR

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Some rubrics  created by the teachers  which we have  shared in the course can be found here:


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ABSZAZ2WWqb2JqJJOWI_hT5L9WOFvbrTWt3tFYZYXqQ/edit?usp=sharing

Here is my presentation about this interesting MOOC:

       



THANKS A LOT TO THE TUTORS!!     IT WAS A GREAT JOURNEY!!