Every day 7.2 million students
walk into classrooms

throughout the United States.

These classrooms generally
look the same;

30 students sit in rows of desks
taking notes

in their notebooks while the
teacher stands

at a whiteboard teaching
the lesson.

Regardless of ability level,

each student receives the exact
same information at the exact
same pace.

As Ms. Jackson presents
the same material,

students respond differently;

Tommy gets it,

while Allison is bored
and Maria is lost.

At the end of the day these
same students head home.

While at home they sit at
the kitchen table doing

their homework and try to
remember what Ms. Jackson said.

Students like Tommy make it
most of the way through the homework,

while others like Allison find
it easy and fly through it.

At the same time,

students like Maria get frustrated 
and need some extra help.

Ms. Jackson recognizes that
students have different needs

and would love to work
individually with each student,

but this requires time
and resources

that her school does not have.

One solution to this problem is
the flipped classroom;

here's what it looks like.

While at home students sit in
their rooms watching videos

of the lesson that Ms. Jackson
assigned.

Tommy is still able to
work at his normal pace.

Allison is no longer bored
because now she can use

this new technology to fast-forward 
through the easy material.

And Maria is no longer
frustrated

because she can review the
material

that she didn't understand by 
pausing and rewinding.

When she really gets stuck,

she can get help from
her classmates.

New technology platforms
like Moodle and Edmodo

make it easy for her to chat
online with her classmates.

Just as the homework
is different,

the classroom is
different at well.

Instead of standing in front
of the room speaking,

Ms. Jackson walks
around the room.

She checks in with Tommy as he works
collaboratively with some students.

She pushes Allison further with
some more challenging work.

And she helps Maria
with the pieces

that she still
doesn't quite get.

In the traditional model the
teacher stands between

the students and the knowledge,

but with the flipped classroom
model the students have

direct access to the knowledge
and the teacher serves

as a coach, mentor and guide,

helping the students access this
knowledge.

The flipped classroom
leverages technology in a

way that lets both Ms.
Jackson and

the students make the most of
their time and efforts.