Matt Micciche, Head of School
Friends School of Baltimore
The world needs what our children can do.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Flipped Classroom

This article from TechCrunch.com argues that, while the much-heralded launch of online access to Harvard and MIT's lectures and supporting materials is both positive and laudable, it misses the point.  Effective education, in this author's (and my own) opinion, takes place not through the passive absorption of instructors' words, but rather through students' active engagement in applying their knowledge, thinking critically, and solving problems.  This explains his excitement about the proposal by two Stanford professors to move to the "flipped classroom" model at Stanford Medical School.  For those who've never heard of this approach, it involves using existing or teacher-created materials (often online) as homework assignments to provide students with the kind of background information that is, in traditional classrooms, transmitted by lectures.  Having this information digitally rather than orally allows students to view and review it as often as they need to.  The greatest benefit of "flipping," though, is that students can then use class time to apply the knowledge they have gained from these sources, in collaboration with classmates, and with the supervision and feedback of their instructors.

Our teachers at Friends have begun to make use of this model to enhance their students' learning experiences, and it is sure to become even more prevalent in the years to come.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/09/move-over-harvard-and-mit-stanford-has-the-real-revolution-in-education/