Flipped classrooms: from concept to reality using Google Apps

Abstract

Flipped classrooms use in-class time to work onlearning materials that were previously explored by thestudents on their own (e.g. pre-recorded presentations,instructional videos, etc.). Any e-learning platform can beused to flip a classroom / course, but they suffer from anoriginal sin -- they can just as well be used to supporttraditional teacher-centred models, where the course siteworks as a repository of slides used during plenary classesdelivered in lecture halls. Besides this historical handicap,most e-learning platforms offer relatively poor collaborativeenvironments, particularly if we consider the standardsharing facilities of social platforms like Facebook, Google+(G+), etc. The portfolio of resources included in the GoogleApps for Education program, on the other hand, offers apowerful toolbox that can be used to build rich collaborativeenvironments. Ending up with teacher-centred models ismuch harder in the Google Apps world, where a pervasivecollaborative strategy can be made to spread across ateaching and learning framework built as a Google site. Thispaper presents the essential Google Apps that can be used inthis context, proposes a pedagogical model that ensurescollaborative, student-centred learning, and describes how ateaching and learning framework can be built using thetools comprised in the Google Apps for Education portfolio.The reusable template offered as a result of this work isavailable online at http://goo.gl/wllUk.