Let’s face it: all this talk about “flipping the classroom” is a fad. The phrase is another in a long series of catch lines that education and technology geeks always embrace as a way to promote that next great thing (see: “one-to-one” circa 2007, “anything2.0” circa 2000, and “information superhighway” circa 1995).
Don’t get me wrong. We here at Tech & Learning are cheerleaders for the concepts behind the chatter. We celebrated Salman Kahn and his Academy last year as one of the most influential entities in EdTech (look for this year’s list next month). But what gets us even more enthused are the arguments put forth on page 42 by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, which is an excerpt from their important upcoming book entitled—you guessed it— “Flip Your Classroom.” These ideas stem from Kahn concepts, but are developed within the day-to-day context of the working classroom. It’s one thing to talk about all this wonderful stuff. It’s another to actually do it. Our recent poll of readers indicated that over 60 percent of you are also already “flipping”.
Of course, what would a good conversation be without a few counterpoints? We asked our favorite education iconoclast, Lisa Nielsen, to come up with a list of caveats. She was more than happy to oblige. I expect that by the time you are reading this in print, there will be a feisty discourse in full swing online at techlearning.com. Please join in!
— Kevin Hogan
Editorial Director
khogan@nbmedia.com
