Flipped Learning Global Initiative Teams with Micro-Schools
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 03/04/20
An
experiential "micro-school" with two campuses in the
Seattle area has joined forces with the Flipped
Learning Global Initiative
to begin developing an "international network of independent
micro-schools" that use the flipped model. Flipped learning is
the practice of having a student watch a video outside of school to
get the basic concepts down and then coming into class to go deeper
with the learning and apply the concepts. The latest iteration,
"Flipped Learning 3.0" has refined the practices used by
flipped advocates.
LEADPrep,
described on its website as "a middle/high micro-school,"
has students in grades 6 through 12. According to Founder and
Executive Director, Maureen O'Shaughnessy, while micro-schools don't
have a "precise" description, some proponents have
described the concept as "a reinvention of the one-room
schoolhouse." Class size is 15 students or less with mixed ages.
Schools typically don't meet every day of the week. And they use a
mix of instruction -- lecture-based and hands-on and now flipped.
Under
the collaboration with FLGI, the two organizations have "envisioned"
a global network of micro-schools that use the LEADPrep and flipped
models. The schools will be based on standards developed by the
Academy
of Active Learning Arts and Sciences,
which was formed in 2018 to support best practices for the use of
flipped learning.
O'Shaughnessy referred to
the combination of micro-schools and flipped as "a magical
collaboration" akin to the mix of peanut butter and chocolate.
She'll be contributing a monthly column to FLGI's
magazine
on how to start and manage a micro-school "powered by Flipped
Learning 3.0."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.