Bob Lee and Jim Recker spoke on the Strategies for the Flipped Classroom Model for Business Learning at LearnX through a live online event on Go To Meeting so that we could see it in action…(although they did mention it was ironic that they were lecturing to us via this medium….)

“Business learning has replicated classroom training “warts and all” said Bob Lee.  He showed some old photos of classrooms that espouse a passive learning model which is flawed hence is why our business learning fails. 

Bob Lee and Jim Recker from Citrix Online Present at LearnX

He said that by using this traditional model we are missing out on “learning by doing things together” and we should FLIP it.  That is, more Discover, Practice and Apply, more Discussion and Collaboration and less of “viewing lectures”.  No time is spent lecturing. We must change our role from the ‘sage on stage; to guide on the side.” The model has 4 questions:

1.  What’s being learned?
2.  Why – enable reflection and discussion via social, collaborative tools
3.  How – Demonstrate and guide using live sessions
4.  Apply – Support on the job application with social collaborative tools

However, there are barriers to adoption.  These may be:

1.  Technology
2.  The Process – as it requires a total flip of what everyone has been doing up to now.
3. Culture – the culture expects training to be off site but this is rapidly disappearing because younger generations don’t expect this.

But the technology is here today.  Be daring! Use them!

He provided some case studies on how the flipped model worked and what the benefits and enablers were.

He provided a link http://tinyurl.com/flippedroom using their Podio platform (I wrote about Podio in a previous blog post back in 2012)  if you wanted to experience what a flipped model looked like.