Blog Journal 9

In a flipped classroom, instead of the traditional scene where the student sits and listens to a lecture then goes home to do homework, the student watches a prerecorded video lecture for homework the day before. The concept of a flipped classroom began with lectures being recorded for absent students and expanded from there. Since the students have already listened to the lecture, when they get to the classroom, they are able to become active learners and do hands-on work. This will help them understand and learn in a way that is more modern and a lot less boring than just listening to a teacher speak for a really long time. I think that flipped classrooms are a really cool but I think there could be some downsides to them. Knowing students, they would be too lazy to listen to the lecture and would not know what to do the next day which would cause that individual to be behind. Other than that, I see no problem with having a flipped classroom. 

"Open" terms mentioned in the podcast all relate to resources that anyone can access. Open content is when anyone can access videos, articles, lectures, and other information for free online. Open content is very useful for people, like myself, who enjoy learning things on their own out of pure curiosity or interest. Open content, however, does have requirements which makes open content a little less open. They are meant to help guide users so they should not be too much of a problem. Open Office, which is now Apache Open Office, contains many features and software similar to Microsoft. It allows anyone to use databases, word processors, presentation software and more for free. This is especially helpful for teachers and even college students who use software like Microsoft Office often. 

While working on the PowerPoint assignments, I learned a lot of new skills. I learned how to create my own slide format and background. Before this course, I didn't even know what a hyperlink was. Now I am able to put hyperlinks into a presentation that will lead to another slide. I also learned how record my presentation and add speaker notes, which is something I did not think I could do on Google Slides (which was what I was using before Microsoft.) On both of the assignments, I feel like there is some creativity that is lacking but I have never been much of a creative person. However, when I become a teacher, I plan to get ideas from my colleagues and from Pinterest because I know I will be needing some kind of inspiration.