FlipCon14 Coming Together

The 7th Annual Flipped Learning Conference will be held June 23-25th (outside Pittsburgh) and the sessions and events are all starting to come together.  I along with several members of my PLN were excited to hear this week that presentations have been accepted, now it's just a matter of booking the flight!  I can't wait to meet, collaborate, and learn with so many awesome people that I've known via Twitter/GHOs/etc but never have had the opportunity to actually meet in person.

I encourage anyone interested in Flipped Learning to consider making the trip to PA, it is going to be an incredible event!  If being there in person isn't possible, there is also the Virtual Conference.  I actually participated in the virtual event for the past two years.  The sessions are streamed live with a backchannel that encourages virtual attendees to ask questions during each presentation.  The videos are then archived for about six months for you to view, which is great since you can take your time going through great resource.  

For those interested, here are the sessions that I am Leading or Co-Presenting at FlipCon14:

- Level Up With Gamification (Co-Presenter - Brian Germain) 

- EdTech to Democratize Your Flipped Class (Co-Presenter - Jason Bretzmann)

- The Places You'll Go.  From Flipping 101 to Flipping 2.0.  (Lead Presenter - Jason Bretzmann)

- Panel Discussion -  Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement (with fellow co-authors...)


I hope to see many of you in PA this June!

Gamification PD With Viewing Guide

I was recently contacted by Carl Harrington, Social Studies Dept. Head at East Wake Academy in North Carolina.  He wanted to share the Level up With Gamification video with his staff and decided that to help them "Eat the Elephant"  (Carl's awesome word choice), he created this timestamped outline of the PD session.  A big thanks go out to Carl and I hope that this outline proves helpful to anyone interested in gamification.  The outline here is accompanied by the embedded video further below.  (If you view on Youtube, timestamped links are included in "about" section.) 

*** Here is a link to the updated Google Presentation from our second session in December.

Level Up with Gamification Viewing Guide

:50     Sorting game to create groups

2:41   Tie-breaker activity to determine the winner of the sorting game

6:00   Nail game

8:30   Overview

10:00  What does it mean to Gamify?

12:00  Why Gamify? (Connection to brain-based and mastery learning)

14:30  Grading “Earning” the grade rather being “given” the grade

19:00  Creating Levels and Level Challenges

23:00  Mechanics of Creating a Gamified Class

25:40  Leveling

26:20  Badges and Achievements

29:00  XP and Leaderboards

30:15  Team Missions

31:06  Creating a Narrative 

33:30  Managing the Gamified Classroom

34:00  Mission Guides and Learning Maps

37:00  Progress Monitoring

38:00  Swiping in

40:30  Mission Progress/ Rundown

42:00  Tech Integration

42:00  LMS System

45:50  Google Apps

47:00  Empowerment

49:46  Pacing

52:00  Challenges

53:00  Achievements

56:00  Student Viewpoints

1:03:01   Level up Button  (Immediate Feedback)

1:04:40   Changes and Improvements

1:05:15   Augmented Reality

1:11:00   Question and Answer

Level Up With Gamification Video (View on YouTube)

"1 Minute Pitch" Videos for 20 Time

We've made several changes to this year's 20 Time project, thanks in large part to my awesome PLN that shares their 20 Time resources and reflections regularly, particularly Karl LS.   (If unfamiliar w/ 20 Time projects, here is a great place to start)

One big change has been a focus on the "pitch."

By November, most students had completed their 20 Time Proposals and were ready for the next step. Before diving right in, we instead spent a couple weeks developing 1 minute pitch videos. They completed this form to help organize their thoughts and develop a script.  Then, each team went into the "green screen room"  (vacant office in the back of the library) to film their videos.

In general, each video needed the following components:  Project Title, Problem/Issue, Your Product (Solution), Audience, and Closing Statement.

Although some took this process less seriously than others, I think that it still helped all students think more deeply about the purpose of their 20 Time projects while also taking more ownership of their work.  

Here are a few samples of their pitch videos from December:

Lace Lamp

Supporting Gay Rights


Relay for Life Appreciation


Bullying

Volleyball: Will You Play Today?

Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement

It was recently announced that Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams' new book "Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement" is now available for pre-order and will be officially published by ISTE this June!  Jon and Aaron's first book was incredibly influential to me and countless other educators around the globe, and I'm sure that this new book will inform and inspire even more as the Flipped Learning movement continues to grow.

I was honored to be asked by Jon and Aaron to contribute a chapter to this book along with eight incredible educators from across the nation that I appreciate and greatly admire.  My chapter is titled "Democratize Learning Through the Flipped Classroom" and is based upon both my graduate research at Columbia University and classroom experiences with my students at Putnam High School in Connecticut.  

Below is the official description of the new book provided by ISTE:

"Flipped classroom pioneers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams take their revolutionary educational philosophy to the next level in Flipped Learning. Building on the energy of the thousands of educators inspired by the influential book Flip Your Classroom, this installment is all about what happens next -- when a classroom is truly student-centered and teachers are free to engage with students on an individual level.

Flipping, combined with practical project-based learning pedagogy, changes everything. Loaded with powerful stories from teachers across curriculum and grade levels, Flipped Learning will once again turn your expectations upside-down and fuel your excitement for teaching and learning."

Source: http://www.iste.org/store/product?ID=2285 

Flipped-Mastery Article Series

I have been asked quite a bit recently about my experiences designing and implementing Flipped-Mastery, so I thought it would make sense to compile some of my articles over the past year into one post.  Below you will find six articles that describe how I both developed our Flipped-Mastery units as well as techniques for managing mastery learning in a "traditional" school setting.  

Flipped-Mastery Article Series

Designing Flipped-Mastery Part 1: An Overview

Designing Flipped-Mastery Part 2: Essential Questions & Learning Goals

Designing Flipped-Mastery Part 3: Objectives & Learning Tasks

Managing Mastery: Structure

Managing Mastery: Goal Setting, Progress Monitoring & Reflection

Managing Mastery: Swiping In


I hope this helps, and as always feel free to reach out and connect if you have any questions!