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Friday, October 18, 2013

Software Helps Flipped Classrooms

In a flipped classroom, students are asked to study course materials on their own and class time is devoted to one-on-one or small-group interactions with the teacher. One problem with the approach is students who don’t have at-home Internet access aren’t able to watch the assigned videos.

Software from aTube Catcher provides a solution, according to Shannon Holden, an ed-tech enthusiast and veteran teacher who created newteacherhelp.com, a web site dedicated to helping teachers make it through their first year in the classroom.

“It all happens thanks to a USB drive,” Holden told eSchool News. “The excuse of ‘our kids don’t have the Internet so we can’t flip the classroom’ is gone. If we get inventive enough, 100% of kids will be able to participate in the process.”

The aTube software provides instruction on how to download all kinds of videos from any number of sources to a USB drive. The student can then take the drive home to view the material. The software even works on many Blu-ray and DVD players, as well as most newer television sets and Xbox 360 and PlayStation consoles.

Holden created a YouTube video on the download process with advice on implementing flipped learning in the classroom and a preview of other professional development videos he’s working on.