Flipping Over Tech Tools to Remake Learning

In the Montour School District in western Pennsylvania, we like to say we are remaking learning for all students. But what does that mean?

To Gina Ligouri, an English teacher at Montour High School, it means she uses a wide variety of technology in her classroom. She flips her introductory lessons on the literary texts by assigning students to watch instructional videos at home. Her web-based learning approach incorporates G Suite for Education (formerly named Google Apps for Eduction) with a STEM focus on writing in a language arts class. (Her students are learning to program and initiate the movements of a robot.)

Ligouri challenges her students through Socratic seminars, raising classroom discussions to a new level. Through software called Today’s Meet, students are able to collaborate virtually and in-person at the same time in the same classroom. This allows for a higher level of student engagement, deeper analysis of questions and, overall, a more thorough and well-rounded understanding of the assigned text.

By applying various educational technologies, flipped learning is more practical than ever. Jarred Vallozzi, a physics teacher at Montour High School, uses several tools to flip his classroom. He uses EdPuzzle for self-paced learning with interactive lessons that allow teachers to add their voice and questions to the video. ClassFlow, a free, collaborative learning software, simplifies the way Vallozzi and fellow teachers discover, create and deliver interactive learning. It also makes it easier than ever to share classroom content with parents. He has students use G Suite for Education in and out of school.

Monitoring Students

To support the school district’s student-centered philosophy, we expose our staff to many professional development opportunities, including such hosted events as EdCampPGH and an EdTechTeam Google Summit. We have partnered with our regional service agency, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, to offer innovative workshops at Montour High School for teachers in 43 school districts across the Pittsburgh area.

In August 2015, the Montour School District formalized a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. The CMU LearnLab at Montour introduces educational technologies into the classroom that supplement teaching with guided practice for students and detailed progress reports for teachers, both important components of flipped learning. The collaboration between K-12 classroom teachers and university researchers is taking science and mathematics instruction to the next level.

Dana Rongaus, a 5th-grade math teacher at Montour’s David E. Williams Middle School, participated in a recent study using an online learning software called Fraction Tutor. Students had to work with peers to learn fraction skills, compare fractions, find the least common denominator and identify equivalent fractions. While students were working on the skill building, the researchers captured streamed webcam data of the students’ work, their facial expressions and their audio.

The data from the one-week study showed significant results. The students’ understanding of all of the fraction concepts increased with conceptual fraction knowledge scores (the ability to identify other students’ errors), increasing from 30 percent to 98 percent. Rongaus discovered rich conversations taking place among student partners.

Other studies conducted by the CMU researchers have used cognitive tutoring and virtual lab technologies. These tools are shaping a classroom environment where teachers are able to work side-by-side with students and CMU researchers are learning from Montour teachers how to further develop best practices for student learning outcomes.

By using the research-based educational technologies, Montour teachers are now flipping their instructional delivery from a teacher-directed environment to a student-centered, future-focused culture.