“Education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn on their own…” – Noam Chomsky, American Linguist, Philospher
One thing is certain, flipped classroom is not just a buzzword or a trend. It’s a pedagogy that has proved to be highly beneficial for reversing instruction, and making learning more viable. Noam Chomsky likens technology in education to a hammer, one that doesn’t care if it is being used to make something or break something. At WizIQ however, we realize the importance of using technology in the right way. Hence, we have come up with the concept of ‘Flipped Classroom with WizIQ’. Flipped Classrooms are a mode of instruction wherein the instructor can do away with lecture-type instruction and instead introduce previously recorded/ curated media content. These media files (usually videos) can be viewed by learners at home or whenever they have time. The video-viewing is the class-work that goes home. So what happens in the face- to-face classroom?
Learning
When the class time is utilised to experiment, explore and evaluate the ‘teachings’, the classroom becomes more of a playground devoid of boredom and the alleged ‘intent to in doctrine’. What then remains is learning in its purest form. WizIQ has proved to be an ideal way to achieve flipping of the classroom by bringing the homework to the class. With its vast range of teacher-friendly features, WizIQ offers everything you need to flip your classroom.
Online Learning
For online teachers too, flipping the classroom is possible. As strange as it sounds, thousands of educators across the world have experienced a growth in students’ learning curves with flipped classrooms via WizIQ. Online teachers on WizIQ have access to the Content Library, which stores all the media files, documents, presentations, etc, uploaded by the teacher, on the cloud. These can be made available to the learners, for offline viewing and reviewing. This constitutes the classwork of the flipped classroom model. The Virtual Classroom can also be used to make educational videos. These can then be recorded and used as classwork videos. Teachers can then allow the students to download or view recording of the previous classes.
Active Learning
Jason R. Levine, popularly known as Fluency MC, is an English teacher who uses Rap songs to teach English, worldwide. He records his own videos in an interactive format and puts them on the WizIQ content library for his learners to watch before class. He then meets the learners live in an online classroom, and they discuss the video(s) they just watched. He uses the Whiteboard for notes and exercises. He also uses the WizIQ Testing system to create interactive tests and assessments for his learners. Breakout Rooms is one feature that helps him divide his class into various small groups and then carry out small activities.
This activity allows for utilisation of virtual class time for interaction rather than instruction. Jason can’t be present in a face-to-face classroom all the time, yet he loves flipping his classroom using WizIQ.
Student-centred Learning
Flipped classrooms were designed not to benefit the teachers who felt too tired to stand and deliver lectures in the class. Flipped classrooms are solely learner- centred, accommodating fast as well as slow learners. That’s why it is called self- paced learning. The live classroom can then be reconstructed to imitate a laboratory or work-field, where learners discuss and then display their learning in the form of tests, projects, or whatever catches their creative streaks.
If you would like to incorporate flipped classroom with WizIQ into your teaching, or simply looking for ideas, feel free to drop a mail to Kalyan Sarkar, Director, Academic Liaisons, WizIQ.com, at kalyan@ wiziq.com or call +91-9216405405 or +91-9897072888.
