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.”
Deb Praden of North Coast TAFE uses Echo360 personal capture to flip her Health and Recreation courses. Students watch the videos she’s recorded before class so they’re ready to engage and dive deeper into the relevant content during the class session.
She shares her thoughts on flipping: “When the students attend North Coast TAFE classrooms, the teachers always are aware that the students have done their prior learning. They’ve read some of the important material that’s been presented online. They’ve reviewed the videos from Echo360. So, the teacher can concentrate on certain aspects of the learning that’s important for the student, and apply it to a practical scenario. So, in our classroom environment, our students get lots of practical tuition, since many of the theoretical concepts have already been reviewed behind the scenes by the student outside of the campus environment.”
Want to get on the fast track to flipping your own classes? See how it’s done at these TAFE institutions – watch the video:
