Flipped Classrooms

In class this week my group and I are responsible for leading the discussion based upon flipped classroom.  Flipped classrooms are where instead of introducing new materials during a classroom lecture, the teacher records a video explaining key terms and concepts that students watch before coming to class.  The students can watch the video as many times as needed until the grasp the concept and are ready to implement it.  With lectures being done outside of class, more classroom time can now be spent using the information on classroom activities.  The concept has been around for many years and with different modifications but has tried to keep the teacher more as a learning guide rather a lecturer.

In second language acquisition I think flipped classrooms are useful.  L2 learn at varying rates so allowing a re-playable video would help students be on the same page.  The videos would also allow students to spend valuable class time speaking and listening rather than just listening to the native speaker lecture.  My students writing available is probably at an intermediate level but some have trouble putting a proper sentence together out loud.  The students could spend the class time applying all the things they learned in the video and work to even out their speaking and listening ability.

I have really enjoyed learning more about flipped classroom and am hopeful of finding information about using this concept towards language learning.  

Blogs enhancing international student collaboration

Blogs can be a great way to enhance international student collaboration.  The first way it enhances collaboration is by taking away the boundaries set by the traditional classroom.  By having a tool that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, accessible from anywhere in the world, physical limitations are no longer an issue.  The second way blogs enhance international collaboration is by allowing students to link/follow other students blogs.  By liking or following others blogs it creates a social network that can easily be expanded beyond the constraints of their area.  The third way blogs can enhance international collaboration is by having the teacher find a collaborating classroom.  There are sites like epals.com that allows teachers to find other classrooms of a similar age and level and set up collaborative experiences.  The students can follow these students blogs and develop a cyber relationship with them through their personal blogs.

Ryan

Setting up this blog

Welcome to my first blog!  Setting up the blog has been relatively simple so far.  I already had a Google account set up and have used Google hangouts to chat with classmates in the past.  It is a program similar to Skype that allows members to direct chat or even video call.  Having the experience with the program has helped me make a smooth transition into the BlogSpot set up.  I am unfamiliar with the different possibilities that the program offers but I am looking forward to playing around with it to see what type of functions are available.

Currently in the EDTC 620 course we are discussing the positive and negative attributes to PowerPoint presentations.  I wonder which “side of the fence” you are on.  If you are not a PowerPoint user, what program do you usually use instead?