Blog #9

"The Flipped Classroom"

I've only ever taken one online course and it didn't go so well. I was a junior in high school. The class was College Algebra. If you can't tell by now, I'm very much a people person. Not a computer person. All of our lessons and tests and activities were done online... and I failed miserably. Not because I'm bad at math, but because I just can't learn from a computer. The concept of a flipped classroom would have been really beneficial for me in that stressful season of my life when I all too often found myself staring at a blinking cursor in the middle of my screen. The flipped classroom is a type of educational strategy where the bulk of the instructional content is taught online and then the "homework" part or any other kind of related activity is brought into the classroom when students are face-to-face with their teacher and peers instead of a computer screen. For me, actually doing the work is the most important part of the learning process. If you're stuck, it's no problem! There are people there to help you. 

Open Educational Resources (OER)

An open educational resource is any type of educational material that is accessible and usable to the public. Meaning, you won't get caught up in any legal trouble because OERs can be freely copied, used, adapted and shared again. If you're looking for an OER to use for an assignment as a student or for your classroom as a teacher oercommons.org is a great source! The resources are categorized into subject areas, grade levels and material types which makes these free resources quick and easy to find. It has everything from games about science to lectures about law. Go check it out for yourself. 

PowerPoint

Alright, well, the reason you're only seeing one screenshot is because my other PowerPoint is trapped in dead computer. It died before I had a chance to turn it in. RIP. I'm waiting for a new charger to come in the mail so pray for me haha. I did complete the  assignment though! I created a PowerPoint about project-based learning. The coolest part wasn't the content (obviously), it was the fact that I learned how to record a presentation. That skill should come in handy on days when I can't make it to class to present or if I get cold feet and would rather record my voice than present in front of a classroom. The picture you're seeing on the left is a screenshot of our latest assignment - the Advanced PowerPoint. I created an elementary-level "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" game. I used to watch the show ALLL the time when I was a kid. After each question, I originally wanted to insert a slide that said "Is that your final answer" like Meredith always asked, but that would mean I would have had to create a path that went from yes or no to either correct or the original question and then hyperlink various answers to another
is that your final answer page" with would direct the student to either a correct slide or an incorrect slide and then from there to either the next question or the beginning. It's okay if you're not following what I'm trying to say. The point is, it was complicated so I decided that simpler was better.