Social Studies Teacher Jeff Bergstrom Speaks at INTECH 2012

Jeff Bergstrom was the keynote speaker on Thursday, August 16th at the Intech Conference. His presentation was outstanding; it was informative and motivating. Jeff shared his presentation below.

Several D.C. Everest social studies teachers were fortunate enough to participate in the InTech 2012 workshop in Edgar, Wisconsin.  This conference was meant to give teachers the tools to “flip” their classrooms.  According to John Bergman, author of Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student In Every Class Every Day, in the flipped classroom, “that which is traditionally done in class is now done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class.  But…there is more to a flipped classroom than this.”   

There are a variety of simple tools that can be used to create interactive videos for the flipped classroom.  One simple way to create a screencast video is Screencast-o-Matic.  Screencast-o-Matic is a free web service that allows teachers to create their own screencasts.  By simply pressing record, the program records everything that the teacher says and does on the computer.  By using this tool teachers can quickly and easily record classroom lectures, powerpoint presentations and demonstrations.  Student then have the ability to watch these screen casts outside of class.  This can be an invaluable tool for the student who needs to see and hear things numerous times before he or she “gets it.”   A second tool to help with the flipped classroom is the website Qwiki.   Qwiki allows teachers to make short (1 minute) videos quickly and easily.  The site even allows one’s voice to be put in the short video.  Although the site only allows one minute videos, one can “link” numerous videos together to actually create one longer video.  A third tool to assist in the flipped classroom is the website Vialouges .  Once a video is uploaded to vialouges, one is able to create multiple choice questions to go along with the video.  Using this site student’s are able to watch a video (either created by the teacher or one that already exists) and answer multiple choice questions as the video plays.  Finally, the Flubaroo website allows flipped videos to be more interactive by creating self-grading quizzes using google forms.   Other sites to help with the flipped classroom can be found at: Web 2.0 Tools for the Blended Classroom.

            At the InTech conference Jon Bergman was quick to point out that the flipped classroom was NOT the answer to all of the educational issues.  The flipped classroom, however, is one way to better meet the needs of all students in the classroom.  By having students watch and learn from teacher created videos outside of the classroom, actually in class time can be better utilized for higher level thinking activities like Socratic discussions, project based learning and classroom debates.