Inverted Naked Classroom

Last year we discussed an NPR story “Teaching Naked“ (audio).  We’re coming back around to it again as we discuss the optimal use of Tablet PCs within our classes and at home. For me the concept is sound but the all out banning of technology in the classroom throws the baby out with the bathwater.  I don’t see an alternative for a lecture hall of 100+ students but in a small classroom where teachers can directly manage and receive output realtime there again becomes a compelling case for integrating tablets or laptops into instruction. Here’s an interview plea from the source, Jose Bowen.

A complementary idea is that of the inverted classroom. The concept is that teachers are most valuable in guiding and pushing student learning, not unlike a coach for an athletics team. What happens when the essential knowledge is learned at home and classtime is used to develop, stretch and shape that information into new thinking? How can we adapt our model of teaching to take this information into account? In the inverted model, students hear lectures via the web at home and come to class to do what once was homework.

As I researched this topic I ran across a few resources that you might enjoy:

This Video, created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University, (somewhat dramatically) sums up the issue:

The original coining of the phrase ‘inverted classroom’ comes from this paper(pdf) “The Inverted Classroom” (Lage, Platt, and Treglia 2000).  There is also nice write up of the concept on this blog.