(U16) UDL and the Flipped Classroom
Presenter: Brad Mielke, NAIT
Abstract: Post-Secondary education provides a fertile ground for flipped or decentralized learning. The learners in an authentic learning environment need to learn how to learn more than being proficient at regurgitating objectives of a given course. The demands of most industries are increasingly fluid and ever changing; requiring practitioners that are innovative and able to learn on demand rather than function by rote memorization. The contemporary classroom environment has shifted to empowering learners to access accurate information on their own terms. When students are able to choose how and what they are required to learn, they arrive to class with the ability to effectively function in a team learning environment. It is in this flexible learning environment where their grasp of content is reinforced through their engagement and interactions with peers and mentors.
Audience: Faculty and Tutors and Course and Instructional Designers
Full Description: Bringing UDL to the classroom is something that I did by accident and quiet without knowledge that I was doing anything other than trying to support my students and myself in the most efficient way possible. My path began with the impetus to relieve myself from the tedium and strain of repeating lectures 2-3 times in a given week. Complementary to this being the desire to ensure that the lecture was as vital and informative the first time as it would be in subsequent offerings, later that week or in future cycles. I needed some manner in which the learners could be invited to participate beyond simply reading slides or handouts.
The ultimate goal was to have learners arrive in the classroom ready to participate in activity rather than sit and take notes. The outcomes based approach to learning requires doing, and the doing is best supported when directly observed versus the situation traditionally encountered with homework. Having authentic, deep exploration of topic matter presented in a multi-media environment, free from time constraint and peer observation allows for truly individual access to the learning materials.
There are many software tools that are available to instructors to aggregate, create, share, and maintain learning resources. Prezi is but one such tool, and when offered with supporting materials the effect for technical instruction can be quiet powerful. The addition of the cloud-based lecture tool to the traditional Learning Management System (LMS) environment has relived my classrooms of the need for time consuming and exclusive lectures. This directly supports learners with literacy struggles, whether this stems from retention/attention disorders, EAL , or attendance issues.
This presentation will briefly discuss the impetus for changing my instructional practice. From there the learning curve, time requirements, and issues involved in switching to a flipped approach will be highlighted. The basics of Prezi creation will be touched upon, with examples offered for various topics of study, and discussing image and video use. Classroom management and support of learners and learning teams will also be discussed.
Post-Secondary education provides a fertile ground for flipped or decentralized learning in my opinion. The learners in my classroom need to learn how to learn more than they need to be proficient at the objectives of a given course. The demands of most industries are increasingly fluid and ever changing; requiring practitioners that are innovative and able to learn on demand rather than function by rote memorization. The classroom environment that I have arrived at is one in support of empowering learners to access accurate information on their own terms. The learners then arrive in class equipped to function in a team learning environment where their grasp of content is reinforced in their interactions with peers and mentors.
Learning Objectives:
- Explaining the impetus and rationale for flipping a class,
- Exploration of Prezi software as a UDL tool in the larger LMS structure.
- Demonstration of basic Prezi creation and functionality.
Biography: I am an instructor with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), with the Construction Engineering Technology program for the past 12 years. The past three of which I have been transitioning to a flipped and blended classroom in support of a diversifying learner population, the demands of decreased classroom time, and personal challenges with voice endurance. The focus of my courses is on tangible skills with observable outcomes and this frames my approach to facilitating learning.
My efforts have been recognized in recent years internally at NAIT and external in the form of a nomination and award for technical instructional excellence by the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists (ASET).
Updated December 16, 2015 by Student & Academic Services
