At ISTE, FLGI Announces Two International Education Conferences to Redefine Flipped Learning

CHICAGO, June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI), and IWBNet announced that the first two Reach Every Student Conferences (RESCON) will be held in New Zealand on September 7^th and 8^th and in Australia on September 14^th and 15^th 2018. The conferences are aimed at redefining Flipped Learning and will replace the obsolete FlipCons that have been held in both countries. The conferences will host delegates from around the world including the USA, Finland, and Taiwan. International keynote speakers include Jon Bergmann, Best-selling author of 10 books on Flipped Learning, and Chief Academic Officer, Flipped Learning Global Initiative; Jon Harper, co-host of the popular podcast, Teacher's Aid: Social Emotional Support for the Personal Challenges Teachers Face; and Errol St.Clair Smith, Emmy-winning broadcast journalist and Editor-in-Chief, Flipped Learning Review.

The Reach Every Student conference is FLGI's response to data indicating that as high as 80% of veteran Flipped Learning practitioners are three to five years behind global best practices. "The rate of educators and schools adopting Flipped Learning continues to accelerate around the world, but the misunderstanding gap persists and is calcifying," said Jon Bergmann, one of the early pioneers of Flipped Learning. "Every month we see research and new programs that display the most fundamental misconceptions of Flipped Learning. The cost of this misunderstanding is difficult to calculate, but it impacts everything from research, to teachers and ultimately, students in classrooms.

Eric Mazur, a professor at Harvard University, and one of the fathers of Flipped Learning, echoes FLGI's findings. "I think a lot of people have a rather naive conception of Flipped Learning. They think Flipped Learning is simply watching videos before class. That's it. Boom. Done. But it is a much deeper process, and that is why it's so terrifically important to have a greater conception of what Flipped Learning is."

The new Reach Every Student conference will differ from the outdated FlipCon in a few significant ways. RESCON will be the first Flipped Conference where attendees will have the option to learn the fundamentals of Flipped Learning online before attending the conference. The online Flipped Learning Level-I course is internationally accredited and is included in the conference registration. Attendees who chose the standard flipped conference track will go through an authentic and fully relevant active learning experience.

The conference sessions have also been restructured to focus on the primary objective of effective Flipped Learning - namely, reaching every student, in every class, every day. 

Instead of emphasizing concepts like Flipped Mastery, Flipped Classroom, and In-Flip, each session is focused on using Flipped Learning to solve practical classroom problems like reaching struggling students, reaching unmotivated students, and reaching students with learning disabilities.

Finally, the conference will include Unconference sessions where attendees will be able to self-organize into groups on the topics of their choice and learn from each other.

Initial response from the Flipped Learning community has been positive:

"I love this shift! This goal has always been a part of Flipped Learning, but I think that moving the focus to the effect Flipped Learning has on the student is a smart way to go. I think that this focus will attract more educators who may be intimidated by the "tech" perception of Flipped Learning. Every teacher wants to reach every student every day," said Linda Hochstetler, teacher, Bethany Christian Schools.

"This is a move in the right direction. I'm excited to continue learning how teachers around the word are finding new ways to reach every student," said Chris Burcin eLearning Middle Leader, St. Monica's College.

About the Flipped Learning Global Initiative

The Flipped Learning Global Initiative, (FLGI), was created to support the rapidly expanding adoption of Flipped Learning all over the world. FLGI aims to fill the growing global need for collaboration across borders.

To learn more about RESCON go to http://community.flglobal.org/the-big-news/ or contact Errol St.Clair Smith, Director of Global Development at 949-677-7381 or [email protected]. To register to attend the first RESCON go to http://www.iwb.net.au/rescon/ 

SOURCE Flipped Learning Global Initiative