Way back in 2004, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, two teachers in Colorado, came up with the idea of flipping their classrooms. It wasn’t a yoga class where students stood on their heads, but instead they decided to record their lectures, have students watch them before class, then spend class time helping students understand the content. Though this certainly wasn’t a brand new concept, as distance learning, in many shapes and forms, had been in place for over 100 years, it was a change in approach which had many advantages for teachers and students.
But what really made this a fresh idea was that ordinary teachers, using commonly available digital tools, could now create and post simple videos for anyone to watch. Now, just as Web 2.0 democratized content creation for the masses, all teachers could feel empowered to deliver their content in new ways. And this ran the risk of engaging students in a medium they were powerless to resist- video! Yes, YouTube has created a generation of video zombies, and now teachers can further enable that movement. And as cruel as it may sound, students may be entrapped into learning something while they helplessly watch yet another YouTube video.
Clever.
But wait there’s more. With the addition of nifty screen capturing tools, teachers can also create content, such as a Keynote presentation, on their computers, and then discuss that presentation while annotating it, all the while thrilling their students by having their faces embedded live in the video. It sends chills down the spine.
Picture this- hordes of students mesmerized by teacher videos, each one packed full of delicious content, and with each teacher providing expert guidance, along with having her or his smiling face gracing the screen. It is almost too good to be true. But it gets even better. Now, the students show up in the classroom, completely engaged and immersed in the day’s topic, and ready to get to work demonstrating their understanding of the day’s work. It’s a beautiful thing. The only thing left is to cue the inspiring theme music. Oh wait, you can add that to the video too!
