Day Two of ESU 6 Flipped

Full house again today - will be working on some recordings.  Brian Bennett from TechSmith - the creators of Camtasia is showing some cool stuff.

It should be pointed out that the participants get both Camtasia  and Snagit through their registration to the Academy - they should be ready to go!

Screencast O'Matic is a place to start:  http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ to capture a powerpoint or other screen shot with voice over. However there is a Java plug-in that you need, but very simple to use once I had the plug-in.  There is no editing feature so you are live - not a bad place start - oh yeah and it's free.

Another free one is ScreenR http://www.screenr.com/ - looks simpler to use.

Snagit is another screen capture tool from TechSmith; you can get a 30 day trial at http://www.techsmith.com/download/snagit/  This has more features and editing capability, and I love the way you can take a screen shot, add some captions and automatically add it to a powerpoint.

So the question is what content or processes lend themselves to video recordings?  One idea is to use the recordings for some lower level procedural skill demonstrations.  For example - if kids need to convert measurements for the lesson;  the steps could be made into a video they could watch ahead (or at any time).  Abstract concepts are most likely a bad idea for videos - Lenny elicited a good quote: "don't use video as a hurdle to the benchmark - use it as a step to the first hurdle."  Brilliant.

Now for the main event - Camtasia.  There are so many features - I think it will take some time to play with everything.  But I can see that we can use this to provide some upfront training/information to various groups.  We kicked around the idea of linking videos to our Google Tools training and potentially setting up some modules for people to complete.

The great thing about today is that we had a chance to really work with the tools and put some demo things together.  Oh and spending the day with my wife (see picture below) priceless!

Cindy working on her projects!

The ESU 6 Flipped Academy

We are fortunate to have Kristin Daniels present at our "Flipped Academy".  We have 35 participants which include teachers from all over the state - Dorchester to Bellevue, staff developers from ESU 9 as well as a Wesleyan University instructor.  We even have a grad student that is attending this as opposed to another class!!

Kristin shared the Pillars of Flipped Learning

• Flexible Environment
• Learning Culture
• Intentional Content
• Professional Educator

As I look at the flipped model - one thing that struck me is how it can align with what we are currently doing with the Marzano instructional model.  One of the issues teachers seem to encounter when they flip is pushback from having students access the information outside of class rather than directly from the teacher. "So, instead of teaching, my kid just watches a video" - might be a comment.  

I think to address this - we must design our instruction based on a sound framework.  The MRL model addresses content through the following design questions:

What will I do to help students interact with new knowledge?

What will I do to help students practice and deepen their knowledge?

What will I do to help students generate and test hypothesis?

In a flipped class, the students are interacting with new knowledge on their own rather than with the teacher - most likely with a video.  We still need to use sound principles - such as previewing content, accessing prior knowledge, and chunking information.  So my recommendation is to still utilize sound design when introducing new content;  even if it is through a video rather than a face to face experience.

This is just "flipped 101", so I have much more to learn!

The following links to a google site Kristin provided for flipped learning:

ESU 6 Google Site

The flipped learning network is at http://flippedclassroom.org

There is also a flipped twitter chat on Monday nights at 7:00 using the hashtag #flipclass

Developing a Language of Instruction

Mitch Kubicek from Dorchester is known for how he conducts walkthroughs using a Google Form. Administrators all over Nebraska have latched on to using his form - which collects data on the walkthrough and sends an e-mail to the teacher - really cool stuff.

But it's not the Google Form that makes it work - it is very simply administrators who are trusted by their staff, use a common language of instruction to provide feedback about teaching. This might sound simple, but the process takes time and commitment.

The first step is to build a language of instruction with the staff.  Observation protocols and evaluations fail when they don't include the teachers.  As a matter of fact - don't even talk about observations or evaluations - talk about good teaching.

• Here's how to get started developing a language of instruction (or sometimes called Principles of Learning):
• Get the staff together and talk about good teaching.  You can use a prompt such as "Think about the most powerful learning experience you have had as a learner.  What made it so powerful?" You also might use the Seinfeld Teaching History as a fun way to look at instruction.
• Create a list of good teaching practices - you now have a list that you can put into categories.  The Dorchester list is organized into the following categories:
• Relationships
• Routines and Rules
• High Expectations for All
• Introducing Content
• Practicing Content
• Learning Objectives
• Questioning
• Monitoring Progress
• Engaging Students
• Continue to edit the language with teacher input - you may add things or edit on you own, but keep them in the loop.

The key will be to use the language in walkthrough observations, for feedback, peer observations, and goal setting. 

You can see Mitch's Prezi on this at Collect and Use Data to Improve Instruction