Flipping the Facility: Blended Learning in a Web 2.0 Classroom

I am very excited by the idea of flipping. The last 2 posts look at this in a way that takes it far from watching a video for homework.  The idea of a "Flipped Facility" is an attempt to communicate what is unique about my classroom in hopes of inspiring others and learning from my PLN how to deepen the experience and my own teaching and learning.

I think about my facility as flipped in the sense that the students have responsibility for the product and content that emerges from it.   I point out that it is a facility to show how our classroom is interconnected in a building and its related systems.  It is a web2.0 classroom because it is based on student created content.  There are faculty and programmatic structures in place-- but the learning activity is the production of content created from a student community --through design, productions, and media.  When I created my program, I envisioned a transformed learning community and encouraged the components that nurtured community and collaboration.   The facility would be a 100% student operated facility, including: a stage, the Box Office, costume shop, scene shop, videostudio, a recording studio--  Students take responsible, meaningful roles such as: Stagehands, Actors, Musicians, Technical Directors, Production Managers, Stage Managers, Designers, Directors, Dancers, Choreographers, Master Electricians, Master Carpenters, Master Sound, Master Props and Master Video, Costumer, etc. They do it all.  

Creativity and Innovation come from collaboration--NOT competition. Here is a picrture of the production cast and crew, along with the hosting crew from a visiting college production. Student Centric!

Giving students the responsibility of the various positions helps them take ownership and commit themselves.  This collaborative and cooperative team structure is one of reciprocal apprenticeships.  It creates Department Heads (Masters), Assistant Department Heads and crew in each area.  The teacher in all of us emerges in this scenario.  I am inspired by the Barefoot College  where their model is to find the teacher in everyone.  The apprenticeship and peer to peer model values the contributions of the newcomers as much as the students further

along.  As students take more ownership with their position and responsibilities they passionately dig into the subject area. The learning objective is to have the students become self directed learners following their passions.

In a design based, productivity focused learning environment, students are incredibly creative and highly productive.  They must collaborate in a high stress, constantly changing, diverse and technology saturated environment.  They create tangible, measurable and assessable events and artifacts that, over time, give full testimony to their talents, interests and growth.  It’s often messy, overtly dramatic; there is a tremendous amount of growing up going on--and not.  This is the part where the culture of the students, creates the learning environment --and you have to learn how to collaborate within it.

 

 

 

Flipping the Facility: Blended Learning in a Web 2.0 Classroom

I am very excited by the idea of flipping. The last 2 posts look at this in a way that takes it far from watching a video for homework.  The idea of a "Flipped Facility" is an attempt to communicate what is unique about my classroom in hopes of inspiring others and learning from my PLN how to deepen the experience and my own teaching and learning.

I think about my facility as flipped in the sense that the students have responsibility for the product and content that emerges from it.   I point out that it is a facility to show how our classroom is interconnected in a building and its related systems.  It is a web2.0 classroom because it is based on student created content.  There are faculty and programmatic structures in place-- but the learning activity is the production of content created from a student community --through design, productions, and media.  When I created my program, I envisioned a transformed learning community and encouraged the components that nurtured community and collaboration.   The facility would be a 100% student operated facility, including: a stage, the Box Office, costume shop, scene shop, videostudio, a recording studio--  Students take responsible, meaningful roles such as: Stagehands, Actors, Musicians, Technical Directors, Production Managers, Stage Managers, Designers, Directors, Dancers, Choreographers, Master Electricians, Master Carpenters, Master Sound, Master Props and Master Video, Costumer, etc. They do it all.  

Creativity and Innovation come from collaboration--NOT competition. Here is a picrture of the production cast and crew, along with the hosting crew from a visiting college production. Student Centric!

Giving students the responsibility of the various positions helps them take ownership and commit themselves.  This collaborative and cooperative team structure is one of reciprocal apprenticeships.  It creates Department Heads (Masters), Assistant Department Heads and crew in each area.  The teacher in all of us emerges in this scenario.  I am inspired by the Barefoot College  where their model is to find the teacher in everyone.  The apprenticeship and peer to peer model values the contributions of the newcomers as much as the students further

along.  As students take more ownership with their position and responsibilities they passionately dig into the subject area. The learning objective is to have the students become self directed learners following their passions.

In a design based, productivity focused learning environment, students are incredibly creative and highly productive.  They must collaborate in a high stress, constantly changing, diverse and technology saturated environment.  They create tangible, measurable and assessable events and artifacts that, over time, give full testimony to their talents, interests and growth.  It’s often messy, overtly dramatic; there is a tremendous amount of growing up going on--and not.  This is the part where the culture of the students, creates the learning environment --and you have to learn how to collaborate within it.

 

 

 

Flip the Teacher

This is a follow up on my last post about flipping the model in ICT4E. I was thinking about Shafika Issac's asessment about how many teachers are needed in Africa--close to 2 million? I know its not just Africa. It is ironic that we are desperate for jobs--yet cannot find enough teachers.  We've learned so much about how people learn in the last few years.  This is in sharp contrast to how we still teach.  The graphic prepared by the National Training Laboratory, reinforces the paradigm shift into a user generated educational environment.

 

-- as Jackie Gerstein puts it, User Generated Education. Its no accident I am using her term 'flipped' as her work on the flipped classroom is a must read and points us in a fantastic direction. Then if it is true that we learn the most when we teach, we should allow our students to teach.  The idea of reciprocal apprenticeships offers us a powerful tool to address both the lack of teachers and the lack of jobs. Face it, the classroom model is verticle. Why not flip it? or turn it on its side-- make it lateral. Provide stipends to students who 'get' learning and who naturally love to share it. We tend to think that only a trained and professional teacher can somehow impart knowledge.  I long ago humbled myself to the deep knowledge my students had of technology, and I have been learning--about all kinds of things, not just technology--  from them ever since.  I ask my Freshmen as soon as they understand something to work with those students who haven't quite got it yet.  I have seen the trasnformation before my eyes as their understanding, not yet fully articulated, has to make sense as they communicate and share their understanding.

So why not apply this to an ICT4E environment? If our goal is to inspire poeple to become teachers to fill the gap, allow the students to become teachers as soon as they are ready. Coupled with a micro payment strategy you are raising the economic stability of these students, raising their status, and allowing students to self identify themselves as teachers.  In a few years you will have many interested teachers. 

 

 

Flipping the the ICT4E Micro Finance Model for Empowering the BoP

I participated in a brief online session with Shafika Issacs, Founding Executive Director, Schoolnet Africa, part of the HP Catalyst Series hosted by the New Media Consortium entitled "Developing STEM Learning Through Technology in Africa."

Listening to the challenges, espcially with providing access to women and girls, it occurred to me that micro finance might offer a sloution.  The gender gap in ownership of mobiles is quite stark, so much of the gains and advantages of this technology isn't getting to the BoP. Why couldn't we apply the lessons learned from Nathan Eagle's work in crowd sourcing language translation and health in a similar way for education? pay the students to learn.  It's not to suggest they need motivation, but rather access.  Pay off the phone and air time by answering questions correctly, and then move on.

Why not? If you think about investment in the long term, creating access and empowering young people to become educated, indeed self educated of sorts, would pay handsomely down the road. If you consider the vast amounts of money invested in ICT Development why not start the funding at the bottom and let it grow? What's the financial model? For participation in the program participants are asked to give back when they are successful. Yes, you have to subsidize the phone, the air time, the management of the system, an app, but really--this puts the device in the hands of the student immediately.

We ban the use of phones in class in the west. Its a lost opportunity.  There are some interesting examples of this technique in Sri Lanka for creating digital stories by Shilpa Sayura.  I think this might work in other challenging environments.

Visioning a Social Business Plan

Here is a slide show of the major features of the Business Plan presentation for Naples2.0.

Web 2.0 Baths at Fuorigrotta Business Presentation

View more PowerPoint from Jan Herder

 

And some visioning excercises in the simulator at Reactiongrid.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The Environmental Editor is a powerful tool for changing the light of how you see things.  As a lighting designer this visualization helps me see things differently. My quasi intelligent agent, the avi-- inhabits the visualization.  Imagining anything you can on earth, or what is not on earth--there is SketchUp.

Geo location. Putting it on the earth.

Community Supported Archaeology2.0

Trying to re imagine a way to experience geography--space, and time: falling through the present into the past. I am hardly an archaeologist. But we aren't we all archaeologists of our selves? What is cultural heritage if not a re imagining and mash up of the past with the present?  Drawing strength and vision from each other.  If the presence of archaeological sites beneath your feet is like the hummus of the cultural garden, then rich indeed is the soil.  Which follows, what marvelous infinte resources can be harvested?

 

Community Supported Archaeology2.0

Trying to re imagine a way to experience geography--space, and time: falling through the present into the past. I am hardly an archaeologist. But we aren't we all archaeologists of our selves? What is cultural heritage if not a re imagining and mash up of the past with the present?  Drawing strength and vision from each other.  If the presence of archaeological sites beneath your feet is like the hummus of the culturla garden, then rich indeed is the soil.  Which follows, what marvelous infinte resources can be harvested?