Flipping in Time

Coming home from the ISTE national conference in San Diego, I found on our doorstep, a copy of Time Magazine for the week of July 9th. As I flipped through the latest I found the following article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2118298,00.html) on Sal Khan called "Reboot the School". It seems that in reading the article, the idea of the flipped classroom has reached Time Magazine. However, as I read further, I found the usual story of how Salman Khan went from Hedge fund manager to online tutor/teacher. As I read further, I discovered what the magazine describes as the flipped classroom, but refers to it as Khan's Way.

Now I am a big fan of Khan, and while I am happy to see the idea of the flipped classroom reach such a wide audience, I was disappointed to see that other names such as Bergmann and Sams were left out of the discussion; or to also see that no mention was made of the success that is occurring in schools across the country where teachers have made their own videos through their own efforts.




While Khan Academy is a great solution for students who need additional help, and it provides a solution for teachers who are starting out on their own in a flipped model, nothing replaces the familiarity of a student being able to see and hear their own teacher in a video lesson as homework, and being able to relate the information back the next day in a hands on activity.

I would encourage anyone who reads this article and is interested in flipping the classroom to do the research. There are many examples of how flipping can be successful. I would also recommend that for teachers who are just starting out, Khan is a great starting point, but nothing can replace the teacher students are familiar with. So when you get the nerve and get over seeing or hearing yourself on video, start with a few simple tools such as Camtasia, Explain Everything, or Educreations, and make your own videos to begin flipping the classroom.

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