Flipped learning is giving students an insight into what they are going to be learning in the next session. Instead of homework being set to review a lesson, it is instead a lead in to the next lesson. The idea being that students do the reading that does not require teacher support and then class time can be used to unpick the knowledge and think about what it means and how it can be applied.

With the boom in technology there are so many ways to get students engaged in reading or watching videos when at home. Using these methods you can utilise their time away from class in a more efficient way. I use my iPad to create videos to share with students using apps such as Explain Everything, iMovie, Shadow Puppet and Video Scribe. The intention is that the start of the lesson is quicker as students should come with a wealth of questions.

Time in school is such a premium that you need to be creative with the use of time outside of directed time.

There are two great apps that I wanted to add in here that can really take your flipped classroom to the next level.

1. Tellagami

2. Touchcast

These two apps are a great engagement tool to bring the learning to life but keep the personal touch.

Tellagami allows you to have an avatar talk through your presentation with an image in the background. It takes Shadow Puppet that next step along

Touchcast is another few steps along. You can record a lesson with images in the background but you can also layar in other elements. Youtube, web links and twitter being just a few examples. The real beauty of this is that if viewed on touchcast all of the added in bits are interactive

Other apps that make this whole process easy are

1. Explain Everything

2. Shadow Puppet

These apps allow you to make instructional videos that can be viewed in advance of a session to reduce the amount of time you spend giving information. They can also be easily viewed as many times a s a student needs until they can grasp the concepts.

I like to use Edmodo to share the info with students. Edmodo is similar to Facebook as a way of linking groups together. It is however designed for education use so is a secure environment. By getting students to join a 'class' you can simply upload your videos or other info for students to use.

iTunes U

Google Drive

Showbie

Seesaw