Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tuesday Interview - Student Entrepreneurship and the Real Flipped Classroom

Join me tonight, Tuesday, July 30th, for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com conversation with Doan Winkel and Michael Issa, co-organizers of a global student startup competition (USASBE Launch!) from the e United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. We're going to talk about student initiative and entrepreneurship, and how they might help to redefine educational practice.

Doan wrote a blog post last year that caught my eye, titled "Education – Listen Up!! You’re Using the Wrong Flip." As a self-professed drinker of the "flipped classroom juice," and a preacher of the benefits of this "revolutionary" method of teaching (his quotation marks), Doan came to find that flipping the classroom didn't produce the transformative learning he was looking for. He writes:
Yes, [flipping the classroom is] innovative – “featuring new methods” – or at least it used to be. But it’s not an effective method of education if the goal is to produce engaged learners. Teachers struggle with how to deliver content. The flip was an innovative Band-Aid for the wrong problem. The problem with poor education experiences isn’t how to deliver content, but how to engage students in their own learning.
He goes on to ask how we can "transform education and learning so students want to engage," and says that we need to flip the actual education experience:
1. Activate the education experience. Let students learn by doing, so they breathe life into their learning. They want it to be alive – let that happen! I spend time teaching my students how to learn first, and then hint at what to learn. They drive their own education from there. I allow them to apply the knowledge to real-world problems so it’s sticky. I develop semester-long projects because it requires sustained engagement and collaboration. My students enjoy their education because it is active.
2. Let students own their learning. Students are our customers. They have a vision for their education. Let them live it. They want to take responsibility for their own learning. Give up control of the content, put teasers in the students’ minds and they will run farther with it than you could ever go. My students enjoy their education because it is theirs, not mine.
3. Let students assess their learning process. This is the most difficult aspects of the flipped experience for most educators. Don’t assign grades. That’s right, NO GRADES!! They’re [bullsh*t] metrics. When students focus on grades (they will because they’re conditioned to by a broken education system) they lose interest in their learning, they forget what they learn post-assessment, and they look for rational (or lazy) shortcuts. Grades create feel-bad education. If that’s what you’re striving for, shame on you. If you’ve settled for that, shame on you. A single grade can’t possibly capture the entire educational experience of many months. Instead, implement an approach where students individually create a documented process.
Number two above is a little bit of a dead giveaway--Doan teaches at the university level. I'm hoping those in the live audience tonight who teach in K-12 will give some feedback on how many of their students "have a vision for their education," and/or what responsibility we have to help those students develop such. And we'll ask Doan and Michael for their thoughts on this as well!

Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2013
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording: A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-07-30.1431.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/trueflip.mp3 and at http://www.futureofeducation.com.

From Doan's Blog:

"My name is Doan Winkel.

"It’s a unique name (the first part anyway), which I think accurately represents the unique approach I take to entrepreneurship, education and life in general.

"I am a husband and a father, an entrepreneur and an educator.

"I practice being a husband and father in Normal, IL (ironic, I know!!)

"I practice education by teaching entrepreneurship at Illinois State University.

"I practice entrepreneurship through SproutEcon, LLC.

"My goal is to leave a positive footprint in this world by being a force of productively disruptive change that motivates younger generations to tackle their dreams and turn their ideas into realities."

Michael Issa is Co-founder and CEO of Quipu Applications, Inc., and is responsible for the overall strategy, operations, and financial management of the company. Previously, Mr. Issa served as Vice President of Product Management at Quipu, responsible for all aspects of research and design of Quipu’s flagship product, BusinessPlan. For the last fifteen years, Mr. Issa has held various positions in the data center and enterprise infrastructure industry for both software and hardware manufacturers. He holds an MS in Mathematics, Curriculum and BS in Finance and Marketing.

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