The first 100,000 words: Writings on Education by a Teacher

Flipped Learning, a brief grounding of the research literature I was recently challenged to show the effectiveness of flipped learning through research by a member of leadership at my school. What follows is a brief summary of the research that I had to hand that situates a reader generally within the literature and opens some avenues for further exploration. It also gives a good overview of the general direction of flipped learning research with many recommendations of where further research needs to be aimed to produce greater understanding of the methodology. Keep in mind this is simply an excerpt of my current understanding, as a full-time teacher, not currently participating in any part-time study. I am pursuing research into flipped learning, purely as a hobby rather than any structured academic study. For a broader overview of flipped learning in regards to adding to the research bas, I would recommend this blog by Robert Talbert: http://rtalbert.org/what-does-the-research-...

Creating Flipped Videos in Microsoft PowerPoint allows for greater accessibility and smoother workflow for flipped educators. An exciting development in Office 2016 is the addition of built in support for recording of PowerPoint presentations. This is a great improvement upon the previous iteration of this feature. This means that teachers are more likely to stumble upon this function and as a result find themselves producing video form content that might one day lead them towards a flipped learning methodology. It also means that for practitioners looking to train staff in technology to support a flipped learning approach, the possibility of teachers new to the pedagogy can begin working within a program that is the industry standard for content presentations in class. It also means that the process of creating instructional video is streamlined, removing some key steps from the workflow. Consider, the older, experienced PowerPoint king or queen at your teaching setting. Th...

The world’s first Free to Play Puzzle Room on Youtube? (I think), lessons for game designers 2018 – Steven Kolber – Escape / Puzzle Room development I made, what I believe is, the first free-to-play online escape / puzzle room on YouTube. There are a number of puzzle solves and explanations of peoples escape or puzzle rooms before or after the fact, as well as examples of the technology they used to create it. But as I am aware, nothing of the sort that involve active engagement with the puzzles. Here is a reflection on how and why I created this, what tools I used and what things I would recommend for others who choose to make their own as well as how I think this type of activity is useful for people creating their own real-world escape or puzzle rooms. This puzzle can be attempted here: https://youtu.be/lzzwYyO_AUQ Read on if you are interested in a brief overview of its creation and how it can be improved. If you are a game designer looking for the key takeaways ...

Green-screen for Flipped learning videos (for under $60!): A middling path *Please note this article uses affiliate links to Amazon.com for ease of use, I am not supported by or sponsored by any of the companies or products listed here and they are used for illustrative purposes only. Please complete your own research and find a product that suits your purpose. There is a great consensus among flipped educators that there are two types of video, screen-casts, with or without teacher face secreted somewhere, or a lightboard video. A lightboard video is where a teacher stands behind a piece of glass, rather than in front of a whiteboard. The benefits of each of these are clear due to their ease with which they can be produced. The element that a lightboard requires however, is a level of construction, as they are able to be purchased only in the United States, and only for the princely sum of $15,000 USD or $7,500 USD. This poses a problem, and requires a level of planning and ...

This blog site, will be the place where I place the first 10,000 words that I will complete before I get to completing my own PhD on the topics and ideas written about here. I believe that I need to develop my own writing before beginning a PhD on a topic of my choosing, likely related to Flipped Learning or Educational technology's role in Teaching. As I post these blogs, I will keep count of the amount of words published. The goal of this blog is to have a back-up for the articles and work I create, as my goal will be to have these small pieces of writing published elsewhere. As such, each blog will conclude with a summary of the amount of words produced and a link to the article and where it was published. Running Word Count: 137 words.