Active Learning Blog

The flipped classroom has taken the education world by storm, but nowhere is this model more useful than in the vocational education setting. TAFE and VET institutions across Australia and New Zealand are turning to the flipped classroom to prepare their students with the skills and experience they’ll need to succeed in their vocation of choice.

Students learn by doing, particularly in vocational training for trades in fields such as Construction or Hospitality, which demand the mastery of a wide range of practical skills. Flipping the class using Echo360 video familiarizes students with crucial content and how-tos before class so they have more time to immerse themselves in real-life, hands-on learning during class.

Rachel Latimore, Senior Lecturer at Christchurch Polytechnic has experienced excellent results since she began using Echo360 to flip her classes. She notes, “I know that if I’m teaching content, probably a quarter or a third of the class might understand it. Other people need to go away and have time to process it. So, the advantage is as they arrive, I can see that they will watch that with Echo360 and they actually all have had time to process it. So, it’s much quicker to get into that deeper level of learning.” 

These days, “lecture capture” is as familiar a term as “final exam” on campuses of higher learning around the world. Millions of students, who’ve grown up in the age of technology and YouTube, can’t even begin to imagine what learning was like before the days of lecture capture and on-demand content.

The flipped classroom, where students review content prior to class and classroom time is spent discussing or acting on what was learned, is a model that's trending among instructors and students alike. Here are some reasons that flipping the classroom makes sense.

The classroom of today looks very little like the classroom of two decades ago. Technology in the classroom has changed the appearance and function of the modern classroom, and according to a recent Alliance for Excellence in Education report, these changes are for the better. New teaching technology is allowing educators to more easily and effectively reach at-risk students, and understanding the changing nature of the modern classroom will help leaders in education prepare for the future.