Flipped Learning - An Educational Movement in the 21st Century Classroom

Topic 1: What Blog did you read and what did you think?

I read, “Flipped Learning, Turning Learning on Its Head!” written by Pal Fredrik Borresen. I chose this blog because I was interested in learning more about the incorporation of technology into classrooms to meet the demands of the  21^st century learner. I was particularly interested in whether the article would address integrating technology into the elementary school classroom. I am currently pursuing a degree in elementary education and have been increasingly surprised as to how much learning has changed since I was in elementary school. Students are learning reading, writing, history, science, amongst a whole on slot of other skills through the increased use of technology.  Although I used technology in my everyday life, I feel that I still have a lot to learn in order to meet the technology needs of the upcoming generation of students.

I found the idea behind the “flipped classroom” intriguing. The idea that students learn the curriculum content through video or recorded PowerPoint slide shows at home, so that teachers can use class time to expand upon that knowledge through hands-on, cooperative learning experiences is interesting. I definitely see Borresen’s perspective of how “Flipped Learning” is helping to increase the students’ learning experiences in the classroom. As someone who is planning to teach in the elementary grades, I would be interested in learning more about how the “Flipped Classroom” would work for younger students. From my experience working with elementary aged children, it seems to me that at that stage, children need a lot of structure, support, and guidance in maneuvering the curriculum. I wonder if the “Flipped Learning” model would be effective with elementary school students for this very reason. I guess for elementary aged students, the teachers would choose one or two lesson ideas to convert into “flipped learning.” Maybe these lessons would provide reinforcement of what had already been taught and practiced in the classroom. If that is how teachers are seeing flipped learning as beneficial for elementary classrooms, then I am all for it. I just am hesitant at how effective it would be in being the primary deliverer of instruction to these young students.

As for the layout of the site, I personally found it very difficult to maneuver. Each page seems like it is cut in half. The top portion of the page includes the site menu and a scroll bar that lets you scroll through the various postings on the site. The bottom portion of the page is devoted to leaving comments and bookmarking pages. I found this layout very challenging for me. I wish the information in the article took up the whole page and then there were separate tabs that you could click on to read and post comments or bookmark a page. Maybe there is a way to minimize the bottom portion of the page so that the postings are full page. I was not able to figure it out and ended up printing several postings so that I could see them in their entirety which helped me read and understand them better.