Category: Blended Learning

The Economist recently published an article on applying Khan Academy to ‘flip’ the classroom. This ‘flip’ refers to covering content as homework (through online KA videos) and then spending classroom time on exercises (which traditionally would be done at home.)

Thinking about the ‘flip’ in this narrow way is problematic. Merely shifting when/where lectures and homework are done is just the first step. The biggest opportunity that the ‘flip’ offers is the increased time for teachers to engage students through social, project-based activities that reinforce the concepts covered in the videos. While one of the teachers claims ‘math is social now’ they fail to provide examples of what that really means. Once teachers are given tools and resources to integrate hands-on learning into the increased classroom time, then we will all see real results. We are heading in the right direction, but ‘flipping’ the classroom is the first step and not the full solution.