Musings from the CU Suite

Mar 11, 2014

What can you flip?

Written by Anthony Demangone

I love when someone takes something that's been around for awhile, and finds a way to re-invent it. 

Flip

I recently stumbled upon the "flipped classroom" concept in teaching. In short, the "homework" in a flipped classroom involves listening to lectures.  And classroom time is spent doing worksheets or hands-on experiments. 

They flipped the model.  The model has a number of benefits. 

  • Under traditional teaching models, students sometimes "space out" during lectures.  Then when they try to apply the lecture to actual problems at home, they hit road blocks. And if Kate and Briggs think I'll be able to help them with Chemistry II... The flipped model addresses that, because students with problems have access to classmates or the teacher themselves.
  • It frees up time for teachers. Rather than have office hours filled up with students and their problems, many of those problems are sorted out in the classroom.

It gives me great hope when I see innovation in a setting such as the classroom. For generations, classes were for lectures.  Home was for "homework." Until someone said...what if...?

Now, does that mean you'll find something that you can easily "flip" at your credit union? 

No.

But it does mean this.

Never say never. 

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