Flip Your Classroom—Conference in Gyeongju: Day 1
This is the first post of an ongoing series on the “flipped classroom” national experiment currently happening all over South Korea. After the first successful pilot program in Busan, Korean teachers of various grade levels and subjects are signing up to become a part of the initiative. Inspired by the flipped classroom pioneers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, the movement is currently in its grassroots stage, led by energetic and passionate teachers willing to improve the learning experience of their students.Â
The following post (of two!) recounts my observations from a flipped classroom conference in Gyeongju this past weekend. Please enjoy, share and post comments! 🙂
All Aboard!
Half dazed from a 4 am wake up call and a stomach full of cereal and a McDonald’s egg Mcmuffin, I took a 6:25 am train straight to the coastal city of Gyeongju.
Two hundred and thirty miles southeast of Seoul, Gyeongju was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled about two-thirds of the Korean peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries.  But on this overcast Saturday morning, it is the epicenter of Korean education reform.
Over 70 teachers from nearby Daegu City have assembled into a hotel for the entire weekend just to learn about the flipped classroom phenomenon and how it can be implemented into their own classrooms. As part of the organizing team, I was able to have a first hand look at what exactly was the rage about this new and exciting teaching technique.
Here’s the bottom line: Teachers are no longer in front of class lecturing the majority of class time. Instead, they shuttle back and forth, giving small group lectures, and working intimately with each students on various project-based activities. Lectures become take home video assignments—curated or self-created by the teacher—that can be watched online at the student’s convenience. This ultimately frees up class time for group work, discussions, and a truly engaging learning experience.
Flipped classrooms are made for the 21st century and they effectively take advantage of the technology that exists today.
Sounds simple right? If you think about it, it is actually a truly simple yet revolutionary way to teach. Gone is the old lecture-style paradigm where kids are sent home to do challenging homework, often unaided due to a lack of educational resources at home. In this new paradigm, the students go home and learn the material online and tackle the “hard stuff” in the classroom, with the help of the teacher, friends, and educational material available.
Flipping Class on its Head
Flipped classrooms are made for the 21st century and they effectively take advantage of the technology that exists today. But how?
To answer that question, let’s first imagine ourselves back in the classroom. Think about how you’ve been taught and how it felt. Your classroom was probably arranged in rows; if you were lucky, you had your own desk and sat next to your crush. In front was the dreaded blackboard and the teacher’s desk. The bell would ring, there was some bell work which then followed with the teacher giving her lecture of the day. She probably used one of these technology:
And a few minutes into the lecture, you probably looked like this:
Much Wow!
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