Video Creation

Having never heard of the "flipped classroom" until very recently, I was a little nervous coming into class today. I read and viewed all of the materials, but I wasn't sure what we were going to do exactly. I've never used iMovie, and as I mentioned in previous posts, I am not the most tech savvy person in the classroom.

I do see the appeal in "flipped classrooms." It is such a great way for students to learn how to teach themselves, find out what they want or need to know more about, and for the class time to be used in an interactive, engaging way. The learning becomes active, and if done correctly, students will actually learn more. However, there are a few consequences that come with the concept. There will be students who don't do the assigned readings and will therefore not be ready for class. Students will have a lot to read and understand themselves, and may not quite get it before coming to class. As Erin pointed out in class, there will be students who advance through the activities provided in class faster than others and will be left twiddling their thumbs while their peers try to finish the task at hand.

Having said that, I did really enjoy my first experience with the "flipped classroom." The materials we had to familiarize ourselves with were straight-forward and were somewhat interesting. There wasn't a lot of material, just a few videos and lists to know. There were some technical questions I had, such as "what are the guidelines to this upcoming in-class project?" but the content was comprehensible. The actual project was easy to do and I had an amazing time creating something with my peers. I enjoy working with others and doing creative projects such as videos to represent what we have learned in our classes so far. In all honesty, I did have trouble helping with editing (because of my lack of knowledge on iMovie) but I easily picked up how to do tasks on the app after watching Erin and Karissa edit our video.

This experience, although pleasant, has me wondering whether all of my future "flipped classroom" experience will be this fun and straight-forward. I can only imagine having this idea used in classes I struggle in, or where there's a lot of material to go through and I might not have the time or patience to fully understand it before coming to class. This experience has taught me that If done correctly, and if you can engage students, the "flipped classroom" can do wonders in creating an experience for students.