Before We Flip Classrooms, Let's Rethink What We're Flipping To →
A refreshing and challenging take on the Flipped Classroom Model. I’d recommend a read regardless of where your thoughts fall. Here’s an excerpt:
Instructionism vs. ConstructionismIt seems to me that some recent MOOCs and start-up ideas — which at the outset appear exciting and promising — are basically indifferent to what we know about what constitutes good learning. All of a sudden, John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Maria Montessori, Seymour Papert, Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner, Allan Collins, John Seely Brown — more than 100 years of theory about cognition and learning-by-doing — are being forgotten.
Branded instructional online channels playing speaker-centered videos and tutorials on a range of themes and topics, such as TED and Khan Academy, claim to break new ground with the ability to teach you anything, including physics and programming fundamentals.
But think about it: they are using rather traditional instructional methods. Instructional TV (ITV) is half a century old. While this medium is compelling when produced well, isn’t it time to make use of new technology to move beyond streaming impersonal frontal teaching, instructional video tutorials or filmed lectures aimed at mass audiences?
