We talk with Manuel Jesús Fernandez
19 de July de 2016

Manuel Jesus understands teaching and new technologies as a new way to learn and teach their students. Director and professor of Geography and History explains his experience with the flipped classroom, which is a Glogster and more. We started!

 

Many of your articles about the Flipped Classroom have been highly shared in the community and social networks. How would you describe the role of the teacher in the flipped classroom model?

The inverted class is a learning strategy that, among other things like greater personalization of learning or make the most of class time for active and meaningful student learning, causes a deep change in the role of students and teachers. Students acquire greater prominence in the classroom, investigating, deciding, explaining, disseminating, and creating and criticizing the teacher becomes the learning guide, guiding and advising students.

“The teacher, in short, it’s no longer the absolute protagonist in the classroom, go to solve problems and doubts wherever they appear, stop explaining all the same to go on to explain just what a student or group of students do not understand. Moreover, the teacher happens to also be a stage designer and the creative work of teachers is not limited to creating or editing more or less motivators videos, but especially to design learning activities with active methods because it must fill the time, which they passed before explaining activities that allow students to develop their autonomy.”

Could you give us an example of the flipped classroom methodology implemented in your class.

In the Google site where we’ve worked during these three years much information which can be seen here, and from all of them, I’d highlight these three:

First #temaxtuit activity, in which the students study topics in summing tuits. This activity is a also a demonstration of another feature of the flipped classroom, as is the ability to integrate the increasingly powerful and influential informal learning in formal classroom and that students can learn from it as it does outside, thus bringing the school to the reality around him.

Also it highlights conducting debates, as we did with the issue of democratic presidential term, where each group became a political trend of the time and debate on these ideas to finally develop a vote to decide between monarchy or republic.

Finally, the use of the strategy of cooperative learning puzzle or experts in which each group work so that each member will work and each member is expert in the part of the subject to be prepared is dealt. When each expert prepare your topic and they have their own DOCUMENT EXPERT, it will meet with experts from the same subject from the other groups, contrasting and comparing the information they have and create a summary document shared with each expert and professor. Then the experts return to their reference group and explain their part of the topic and the group creates a Group document to be shared with the group and with the teacher. Once explained in the group the parts of the subject by each expert, a presentation or a video it is made to explain the whole subject to the rest of the class.

 

You were recently in 2016 Aula Blog, What themes or feedback with other fellow you would highlight from the meeting?

I have long been participating in meetings as EABE (Meetings Andalusians Educational Blog) in Andalusia, Aulablogs, Novadors,meetings of teachers of social sciences or the famous “open” or open meetings and are encounters where in a relaxed manner, in the classroom or outside them, having a coffee or a snack, you can learn from experiences of teachers across the country , ideas are shared and the batteries are recharged to the next. In AulaBlog16, not surprisingly, it has been the same, they have developed creative workshops, origami, 3D printing, m-learning, stopmotion, of visualthinking or experience (sure I forget one) and, therefore it highlights the variety of choices, the variety of possibilities of changing methodologies and approach a school of the XXI century where they predominate active methodologies and emotions as backbones of educational change. But also it highlights the large number of young teachers, enthusiastic and excited by changing Educational, School and Learning. In short, and making a pun with flipped, turning it over to the education

 

What challenges do you think faces the teacher of 2017?

“He faces a complex challenge: teaching for uncertainty.”

In a society that as Zygmunt Bauman says, is a liquid society, where everything changes quickly and nothing is certain, it is very difficult to teach. Therefore, and given that we are also in a digital society, teachers must face the challenge of giving the student learning tools for life. It’s not so important the knowledge of concepts and data, digital has surpassed, but to be able to function in a changing world, be flexible, continuously learn and unlearn. In short, be competent.

Moreover, the loss of security and fixed principles makes it necessary, more than ever, an emotional education. The student does not learn, as in modern industrial society to a better future (no one knows how it will be that future) but because it excites, motivates him what you will learn. Everything else is routine and steps must pass to get to what really interests you.

Therefore, the teacher must be flexible, closer to students, be more aware of developing competencies of teaching content and play the role of mentor and guide rather than a source of knowledge.

In short, and as I have argued on many occasions, the teacher should try to develop a school that ceases to be a temple of knowledge and become an R + D + i.

 

You own an active YouTube channel with history and social content. Do you think educational resources are going to migrate more and more to visual content as opposed to textbooks?

Of course. Someone has said that the video will be the book of the century and I completely agree. As I said earlier, a digital and rapidly changing society has created a culture of learning where visual stimuli are constant.

“In this world, learning is pervasive and permanent. That is, you learn anywhere and anytime and learning basically takes place in the network. When we need to know something … let’s Google or Youtube where we find anything, for better and for worse, we seek to learn. Logically, this will eventually replace the traditional textbook format and if you have not done it for significant economic interests, none for an educational interest.”

 

Besides videos, infographics and podcasts also you do Glogster. Can you give us explanation about what is a Glogster and its application in the classroom?

Glogster is a tool that allows digital posters by adding images, videos and different frames and formats. It is very effective to develop the digital skills of students, to sort the information of a job or project and to present and disseminate these tasks. I use it on occasion along with other tools to make murals or digital posters as Padlet, Smore or Muraly. Only one drawback: they need good connectivity to perform them properly.

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