July 7, 2014 - 15:30
So who among us attended the blended learning conference held @ bmc in mid-may?
i made it to two 1/2-mornings, so didn't get the full sampling of offerings...
but was pretty puzzled by what i heard-and-saw. kim cassidy opened the conference by
saying that "no fundamental truth about learning" had emerged from the mellon-sponsored initiatives:
"really nothing you couldn’t do w/ pencil and paper"; basically, "students who do their homework do better in classes."
david ross talked about how ineffective conventional videos are, in conveying information (to my mind, much less effective than conventional lectures), and his session was followed by two guys from amherst talking about the "benefits of recording lectures"--which seemed to come down to making it easier for faculty to travel, and aiding students who miss classes...and there was another session, by a guy from james madison, who described
but the punch line, for me, was delivered by a colleague from albright, who reported on her outcomes as follows:
* missed class interaction/didn’t get to play/talk w/ them;
* missed lecturing to an audience (cf. to excruciating experience of recording myself);
* longed for old fashioned paper, pencil, in person classroom demonstrations…
what I learned: to be careful what you flip!
i left the sessions feeling as though the sort of education i understand-and-pursue, which is transactional,with knowledge created in exchange and interaction, didn't really jive w/ what i was hearing, which seemed to be all about unidirectional content delivery…it may be “individualized” (in that a student can set her own pace), but it also seemed increasingly atomized….
so i'm interested to know: what have been your own experiences in flipped classrooms?
And did you learn anything of use @ the conference?
a.