viernes, 27 de febrero de 2015

Cultura de Aprendizaje

Para alcanzar la meta del aula invertida, es muy importante que se logre hacer un cambio radical en la cultura de aprendizaje. Es decir, que cambie nuestra cultura al respecto, nuestra perspectiva, nuestra forma de ver el aprendizaje. Pero tanto profesores como alumnos deben involucrarse en este cambio para que pueda funcionar mas favorablemente. Es probable que los profesores seamos mas reacios al cambio. Sin embargo, también tenemos que considerará que los alumnos también deben cambiar: el aprendizaje está centrado en ellos, por lo tanto, es su propia responsabilidad. Es decir, que si bien el profesor es un facilitador del aprendizaje del alumno, no es el generador del cono imito ni del aprendiz que se vaya gestando. Es muy importante que se asuma esta responsabilidad para poder esperar de los alumnos que realicen el trabajo que se les pide fuera del aula, de manera que se puedan concretar las actividades que se tienen planeadas para el aula, donde el profesor podrá enfocarse en lo individual o grupal que equitativo una atención más cercana o reforzan conceptos, procesos, etc. Pro ya no como el actor principal del aula, sino en un papel secundario, dándole el papel protagónico al alumno.

lunes, 23 de febrero de 2015

Flexible Environment

At first, this title came to me a little akward since mostly we, as teachers, tend to give guidelines an deadlines for submission of papers or other kind of homework and activities the students must hand in. In part, we tend to do this because it keeps track of the daily work they must be doing in order to keep up with the course, since some students must be guided very closely, or they can be easily lost in the course.
Usually these activities help the students focus on important aspects of the material being seen in class and help them be aware that the course keeps flowing and that time is precious.
On the other hand, this also helps the teachers have a schedule for grading activities and helps one focus on areas that you find specially difficult to address for the students, as they reflect this on the activities they hand in. Therefore, the teacher is able to insist in important data or processes that the students did not get really clear in the first place.
After seeing several videos on how to make videos for flipped learning, I came to the conclusion that the students can have different paces for learning and different motivations and feel atracted to different things in the course. Therefore, it is important to give them the opportunity to chose from a variety of activities that share common goals, and to give them a flexible way of handing them in. There are students that prefer to elaborate mind maps while others prefer tables. This is just an example, but clearly opens the door to flexibility and therefore helps the student decide what kind of material works best fot him and results more useful for individual use.
Another thing, is that the flexibility in the deadlines can also favour their responsibility. Nevertheless, there are some students that need a closer coaching and must be encouraged continuously to start with the activities, in order to be able to complete the tasks. Identifying these students can take some time, and could be deleterious in these students if the teacher is not constantly "on his back".
I think that being flexible is a bin step for me since I usually have things very well scheduled and with specitic goals to be achieved with each activity. I think it is very important for me to try and open up a little the repertoire of activities and experiment with leaving deadlines more open. This will give me the opportunity to evaluate what can be flexible in my courses.
#Unit1

domingo, 8 de febrero de 2015

Introduction

I´ve been trying to get involved in Flipped Classroomfor some time already, but for some reason now the time has come. Teaching is a very gratifying experience for all teachers, helping others learn is very important in everyone´s life. Learning is also a very exciting experience. Therefore, all of you that are involved in formal teaching can very surely agree that trying to find new ways to enhance the earning experince is not only important for both students and teachers, but also exciting and encouraging for both. This is a very important way in which we can make learning not only fun, but also easier for learners to understand and comprehend all we want them to take from our class.
Nowadays classrooms are very different compared to what they were 10 years ago. Learning can take place everywhere, always, even without us knowing. This is a great advantage technology has put in out hands.
Hopefully this will be a very encouraging way to enhance learning and teaching competences both in our students and in ourselves, which will eventually reinforce our student´s learning.
I hope this is a new way of coming in contact with teachers and learners interested in finding new ways to do things better and more fun.