The Flipped Classroom conversation is becoming louder and louder. There are ever-increasing numbers of educators engaging with the concept who are coming up with their own take on 'flipping the classroom'. Flipping the classroom isn't just a single, one-size only, model. There are, seemingly, many different ways to flip a classroom....
When Khan Academy is brought into the 'flipping' conversation, things liven up.
Does Khan Academy 'flip' the classroom?
Is there anything truly innovative in Khan, given that it is based on a very traditional knowledge transmission model?
Does flipping the classroom have anything to offer us, or is it the latest educational fad... The latest in the long and discredited line of Emperor's New Clothes technology-based 'transformations' in education?
Does flipping the classroom 'Shift The Paradigm' that many of the professional education trainers and, often self-proclaimed, experts talk about?
Khan Academy
Knowmia
Udacity
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)
Backpack.tv
and the many, many more sites... including the incredible content within iTunesU... have much to offer. Not least the fact that they democratise learning. It is accessible to anyone, anytime. The absolute beauty of these online resources is in that the very fact that the content can be accessed by anyone, anywhere.
Do they flip the classroom?
In one sense, yes they do. We don't have to go into the classroom to acquire knowledge.
There is more to education, of course, than knowledge acquisition. Once we are able to read, we have access to knowledge. The classroom represents the 'what's next?' steps.... the understanding, the interpretation, the re-formulation, the creation, the re-creation... the deepened understanding and application that comes as a follow-on from the knowledge.
