“Flipping the classroom” conference report

I attended a one-day conference on flipping the classroom the other day and was able to “pick up” a bunch of information. This has been the first time I was able to meet and hear directly from other teachers (a Physics and Chemistry teacher, no less) who have been working on flipping their classrooms.

Two big pieces of information I discovered was: (a) Jon Waggle (one of the presenters) highly recommends Camtasia software (so, I am not the only one that likes this particular software), and (b) there are LOTS of different ways to actually record a “lecture/lesson” to get it online.

HERE IS A LIST OF NOTES/LINKS/FINDINGS from the event:

(1) Edmodo is a great way to quickly set up a “classroom” focal point online from which students can log in, post comments, as well as the teacher being able to post links to online resources and his/her own online lectures/powerpoints/word documents.

 

(2) Different ways to record your lectures:

   (a) Debut - $30
   (b) Snagit - $30
   (c) Screencast-o-matic (free, sort of)
   (d) APPs for iPad and other devices:
                - Show Me
                - Screen Chomp
                - Educreation
                - Doceri (which can also control your MAC/PC remotely)

(3) “Inking” is a way of “writing” over all Microsoft programs. You have to play around with the “file options” and get the right button placed on the “ribbon” in order to access inking, but it is a very quick and easy (no cost) method of being able to handwrite notes on Powerpoint, Word, Excel, etc.

(4) Rendering Time – Even the teachers at the conference had computers that would take quite a bit of time to render their video lectures. I need to keep that in mind when I talk with other teachers. I am fortunate to have a computer that renders relatively quickly. (Rendering is when the computer is turning your work/file into the correct video format that you can upload to the internet.)  One example given was a 20 minute video on Camtasia that took something like 20-to-25 minutes to render. On my computer a 15 minute Camtasia video takes something like 5 minutes to render. One thing important to ensure quicker rendering times is to have a computer with at least 2 gigabytes of RAM (my computer currently has 4 Gigabytes.... I might upgrade to 8 Gigabytes some day)

(5) flipping the classroom is very SCALEABLE…. In other words, the teacher can include these technologies in varying degrees depending on their resources, time, and needs. The content doesn’t HAVE to be used “away from the classroom,” for example. ..A video lesson could be created that can be used IN THE CLASSROOM by a sub-set of students while the teacher works with ANOTHER group of students on something else. They are also scaleable in that you can put varying degrees of time and resources into the creation of a single online lecture.... For example: you can just record a lecture "live" while you do it in class, then just post a link to it. This is a great, quick way to provide a lesson for students to go back for review OR for students who were absent for your class. At the other end, you can put together a more production-heavy presentation complete with a full, flipped lesson plan... The students watch the online lecture BEFORE class and then the next day their is an accompanying lesson in class.

 

(6) SAMPLE LESSONS - These were FIRST TIME LESSONS created by teachers (High School and Junior High Science Teachers) WHILE they were at the conference. NOTE: all of these presentations were created in a room with OTHER teachers working on similar projects at the same time so you will hear background noise throughout.

(a) MolarSolutions Video - by Erin McKay

(b) Mole Example - by Stephan Unterholzner (made with "educreation" app on iPad)

(c) Got Cells - by Jeff Baker (made with screencast-o-matic)

(d) Forces - by <sorry... unknown>

(e) Cow Eye Dissection - by De Wood (made with screencast-o-matic)

(f) Igneous Rock - by Sarah Schreiber (made with "educreation" app on iPad)

(g) Read Between the Lines - by Kim Stewart (a powerpoint with "inking")

(h) Factoring Equations - by Debra Newburg (made with "educreation" app on iPAd)

(I) Forms of Energy - by Lori Ruegsegger (made with "educreations" app on iPad)

 

(7) Here is the "Flipping the Classroom" powerpoint from the main presentation of the day.

(8) Here is the opening video that was shown for the conference from the creator of Khan Academy.