The Flipped Library Classroom
Best Practices for Flipping Your Library Instruction
Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education
Select the Activities/Skills to Cover in Pre-Recorded Lectures
Generally speaking, the bottom 3 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy can be covered in pre-recorded lectures, while upper level activities (evaluation, synthesis, and analysis) should be covered through in-class activities.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel! Borrow Existing Tutorials & Assessments!
When 'flipping,' remember to pick out a few learning objectives and find/create a tutorial to build foundational skills. Then, use face-to-face time to reinforce those skills through active learning activities. These activities should be fun, collaborative, and should not duplicate assigned videos/learning materials before class. Remember, the flipped classroom is not about duplicating what should occur before class starts, nor is it an opportunity to overload students with information!
Check out these sites with good information literacy tutorials and assessments:
- Cooperative Library Instruction Project
- Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO)
- Esther Grassian's Teaching Info Lit & Critical Thinking
- and don't forget to search YouTube & Vimeo!
DO-IT-YOURSELF VIDEO LECTURES
If you can't find what you're looking for online, you can always create your own screencasts (where you record your screen - whether you're narrating a database or curating a PowerPoint presentation). Here are some easy to use tools:
Screener
Just open this website, click, and begin recording!
* I recommend and use Screen-Cast-O-Matic. It's really easy and allows for longer tutorials. The pro version is $14 per year and includes basic editing, mixing of multiple videos, free online video storage, and longer tutorials if needed (up to 15 minutes).
How To Record a ScreenCast
Keep your videos short - no more than 4 minutes due to dwindling attention spans! You might want to start by writing down a loose script and then losing the script once you get more comfortable. Record your own videos, rather than borrowing videos from other librarians, when you want to teach a specific task, like find business plans on business databases/ebooks. Tailor the videos, as much as possible, to your students/patrons.
How to Record your computer Screen!!!! Windows 7 & Windows 8 - HD - Free & Easy- Screencast-O-Matic
The next issue is where to host videos. If you're a school media specialist, your network adminstrator may ban YouTube or other video hosting sites. Thus, you will need to upload your videos to a remote host or learning management system. Academic librarians generally don't have this problem - therefore YouTube or Vimeo are good options. Some screencasting tools, like Jing, Sceenr, and Screencast-o-Matic, are self-hosted. You simply record the video and share the link - the software itself hosts the videos from remote servers!
Making the Class Time Lively
Get inspiration for lively, in-class activities from the sites mentioned above. Active learning activities can be very simple and adapted for various student groups. Here's a good summary of active learning activities from Oakland University.
Questions? Ask Me!
I'm glad to answer any questions you might have about the flipped classroom and the technologies that make this possible. Please contact me if you need help. I'm always glad to help fellow educators in transforming the classroom!
Email: sethallen26@gmail.com
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=124102034&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Location: Chattanooga, TN, United States
Phone: 423-775-7430
Twitter: @seth_o_saurus