Flipped Learning Global Initiative Collaborates with Pioneers from Harvard, Stanford, and MEF University on International Standards for Flipped Training

CHICAGO, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI), a worldwide coalition of educators, researchers, technologists, professional development providers and education leaders, announced a global project to establish a global framework for Flipped Learning training. The project has three components, a global outreach to leading and practicing Flipped Learning practitioners, the launch of an online Global Standards Community, and the release of the FLGI's first global standards for Flipped Learning trainers.  The flipped training standards project was launched in response to the growing interest in Flipped Learning and a pressing need for common standards. The most recent global data collected by FLGI suggests that as high as 80 percent of Flipped Learning practitioners and trainers are 3-5 years behind current best practices. International standards are needed to ensure the training educators receive is based on the most current global research and best practices in Flipped Learning.

The global gap in the quality of training delivered to educators, schools, and school districts is immense. "I've traveled over 600,000 miles on six continents facilitating training on the principles and best practices of Flipped Learning.  I've found that most flipped educators and trainers are practicing in silos. The overwhelming majority of even the best practitioners are unaware that global best practices even exist," said Jon Bergmann, Chief Academic Officer and early Flipped Learning pioneer. "It's disquieting to see flipped educators learning outdated practices.  Many are being taught Flipped Learning in a vacuum by people who learned and practiced in a vacuum, so they just don't know that there are more advanced practices."

The Flipped Learning Global Standards Community is an extension of the work done by FLGI's founding International Faculty. The Faculty includes experienced Flipped Learning practitioners from New Zealand, Indonesia, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Belgium, Hong Kong and the United States.  The Faculty brings cultural and linguistic insights gleaned from delivering training in six languages including English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German and Chinese. The International Faculty was created to enable FLGI to deliver a culturally responsive, but consistent standard of training and ongoing support to schools and school systems anywhere in the world. The FLGI Global Standards Community will open its doors later this month to begin to soliciting input from educators around the world.

The Global Standards Project began with FLGI's International Faculty and expanded to seek input from other pioneers in Flipped Learning including, Eric Mazur, the Balkanski professor of Physics at Harvard's Graduate School of Education; Dr. Richard Schwartzstein, professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School; Richard Reis, professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Stanford University; MEF University President Muhammed Şahin; and the Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Caroline Fell Kurban.

Based on the initial work of the International Faculty and the Global Standards Community, FLGI adopted and released the first global standard for flipped training. The standard applies to training facilitated by the Flipped Learning Global Initiative. Version 1.0 of the Global Standard establishes 25 criteria that FLGI has internally embraced, declared, and adopted for its International Faculty. Highlights of the FLGI Global Standard include:

• Training based on the most current global research
• Training grounded in global best practices
• An ongoing post-training support system
• The ability to deliver training that is culturally responsive to the local community
• Completion of a rigorous and required international training program for all instructors
• Emphasize and embed global collaboration in the training
• Proven competence in collaborating across time zones, cultures, and disciplines
• Training based on the latest Flipped Learning 3.0 framework
• Include a system to ensure trainer competency and currency

"We are excited take the critical first steps in establishing a global standard for Flipped Learning instruction. We're confident that educators, schools, and school systems around the world will benefit," said Errol St.Clair Smith, Director of Global Development at the Flipped Learning Global Initiative.

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 in three domains: evolving best practices in Flipped Learning, research curation and distribution, and technology selection and implementation. 

To participate in the Global Standards Community or get a full list of FLGI's Global Standard for Flipped Learning contact: Errol St.Clair Smith, Director of Global Development at 949-677-7381, [email protected] or go to http://flglobal.org/2018faculty/

SOURCE Flipped Learning Global Initiative