Flipped Strategies

What kinds of flipped strategies could you use in an online course to shift the focus from the instructor to the students; to encourage active participation from students rather than passive observation?

- I would use a welcome video using FlipGrid and introduce myself, then invite all of the students to introduce themselves.
- In a traditional studio art class, I normally introduce the theme of the week by showing a PPT of one artist’s work to inspire the students. For an online class, I would ask the students to do research themselves about an artist of their choice, and write a paragraph on a shared blog or Google+ communities to briefly introduce this artist; also, write another paragraph on the reasons of their choice and how this image relates to the specific theme. Then, they can then respond to another students’ image/response of their choice.
- I would also use a synchronous meeting to facilitate that particular week’s task or “homework” after letting them watch myself videotaping a demo. I would post a couple of related articles/texts to complement the weekly theme; a Youtube video or an instructional video on Lynda.com to show them specific techniques required. After the students are done with the task, if it was not finished in a synchronous class, they could complete it in their own times and post it on the shared discussion board.
- During the synchronous meeting, I would also ask each student to respond/critique to each other’s work, so we’d also get an immediate response, which is valuable and a good training that reflects the real art world.
- For one project, I would ask students to use a social media to create an art work that interacts with the wider public.
- I would also ask each student (candidate teachers) to develop their own blended mini-lesson plan and post their plan online: conduct one 10 minute lesson during one synchronous meeting and create a video for us to watch before hand.
- I would ask the students to write a one paragraph response to a related article they have read during each week. For some modules, they can also choose their own article and give a PPT presentation to all.
- I would provide an online office hour for them to be able to call anytime for any questions. Apart from encouraging them to email me anytime they need for questions, I would also provide my cell phone number and allow students to text/phone me if they have any urgent questions.
- I would try to coordinate with the school to open any media lab/ studio during the weekends and at nights to provide more working time for the students.
- I would encourage collaborative work between the students on certain projects (most probably finals, then ask a volunteer to lead/organize an online exhibition for the whole class. On top of showing his or her work, each student can be assigned a role to build the online exhibition. Roles include: curator, content developer, creative director, and site developer.