Week 4; Flippin the Classroom!

After reading these articles, the flipped classrooms seems to engage the students with a more involved learning experience, and it changes the role of teacher. This system eliminates the teacher's role as the primary informant of knowledge and skills, and instead, enables them to become another resource for information. Then the general notion of teacher-centered is transitioned to student-centered where the students are the main focus. It allows for students to take charge of their learning environment where they can create topics of discussion, freely and critically express their own ideas and experiences, they can choose to further explore material of their liking, and they can review and complete assignments at their convenience. It makes both the teachers and students more readily accessible to communicate and collaborate. Then the teacher and students become the active learners in this process as the articles all pointed out. This does not disregard teachers in general, but changes their responsibility as observers in guiding their students learning.

The role that the teacher is taking with the flipped classrooms reminds me of the teaching method I currently practice as a Montessori teacher. It is student-centered where I stand to the side and observe the children, and if I see a child is struggling and needs help, then I either guide or redirect them. The classroom is arranged where children can freely explore their environment and choose a work material of their interest. The child then becomes engaged with hands-on material, and they are actively learning with materials they enjoy. Another similarity, children are able to learn from each other hence the mixed age groups in the Montessori environment. I work with 3 to 6 year old, and the younger children learn from the older children who lead by example. I feel that role of the teacher as a guide in observing the developmental learning needs of their students can be beneficial to the students educational experience. The main conceptual differences between the flipped classroom and the Montessori class is one is in digital form and the other is a physical form. 

I feel that students in present time have more opportunity and a variety of tools that are beneficial for their learning experience making it more appealing to learn. These educational tools have not been part of my education experience until I reached the college level, especially, with this technology class. With participating in this technology in education course, a variety of technology is being introduced, and I know it is only going to get more advanced. Students in this day and age have a great advantage with technology becoming a part of the classroom. Technology has been a beneficial factor in encouraging and promoting their learning experience, and I can only imagine what is yet to come!