The Flipped Classroom Will Redefine the Role of Educators: Eric Mazur, Area Dean for Applied Physics, Harvard University

I enjoyed reading this article emailed by CDAE, USM.

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He implemented this system since 1991, by reversing the two steps in learning: "the transfer of information" and "the do something about the information". By doing that, he focused more on case study method or in a fancy way "flipped classroom". He essentially asked the students to read the information before class (of course a Harvard graduate!) and work on guiding the students to write notes, understand using teaching-by-questioning rather than the traditional teaching-by-telling. He further emphasized the need to change the assessment method as the students study based on on your assessment styles (test, oral, report, etc).

One thing I can infer from this reading, the class needs to be small enough for the method to be effective and our role will be more as a facilitator so that we can cultivate student-centered environment. Like he said, we need to move away from being the sage of the stage where the scribes in the benches write it down and start becoming the guide.