Changes…. Nope, not the David Bowie song…
As I enter into the 5th week of the Management of HRD, I find that I am more ignorant about a great deal associated with learning using technology. Before reading about some of the needs and knowledge for blended learning and flipped classroom models, I failed to see the “big” picture. In particular, I understood how Khan Academy was one of the strongest advocates of the flipped classroom model. Go figure. By using the flipped classroom model, more and more educators could encourage the use of Khan Academy. This would be a win/win for all involved. In my mind, a flipped classroom meant watching a training video at home (usually) and then using collaborative methods to work from the base they learned in the video. The entire time having teachers resist the need to be the “sage on the stage” and be more of a “guide on the side”. That was the extent of my knowledge. Now, using a flipped classroom means to use a great deal more of the tools that are available like Twitter, YouTube, and DropBox, just to name a few. As time continues, more and more websites and technology will be focusing on the needs of these new learning models and educators will have to be constantly learning and aware of these needs. For example, blended learning was once considered a scenario where students took some classes in a physical classroom and others in a distance-learning format. Now, colleges and universities must work to make the online learning more interesting for the students and use tools like Skype and Collaborate to help students experience a more collaborative learning environment. Students can now make their class schedule more personal and not have to hope that a class is offered in a time when another required class is taking place. In asynchronous classes, the student can take classes with little worry of schedule conflicts. Students on campus can now have the best of both worlds and make their learning experiences truly unique. The challenge to make this experience more and more user friendly will be the ultimate test of time. Students are demanding more of virtual learning and game-based activities and schools will be continuously working to raise their own level of performance and administration of online learning. This is a truly exciting time!