Flipped Classroom and Digital Learning: Following Finland

Description

Concept by Pui Ying Law

Being a world-famous education system, Finland has been a pioneer in developing national strategies for digital and ICT education in the last decades.

The fact that Finnish schools coped well with the transition to distance and blended learning during the unprecedented pandemic in 2020 has proven that Finnish education has a fertile soil for effective digital learning.

This course aims to unfold to you the Finnish experience in integrating digital tools into learning and teaching.

You will learn some of the key strengths and practices of Finnish teachers in digital learning. You will also discover the challenges that Finnish schools and teachers are facing in reality in digital learning.

You will discuss the guiding principles and practicalities of teaching effectively with digital pedagogies, such as flipped classrooms and blended learning. You will be guided step-by-step to create your lesson plans and materials for digital learning.

Through experiential learning, you will also discover edtech tools that promote collaborative learning and gamification to strengthen student engagement in learning. By evaluating and practicing various effective EdTech tools, you will find out what EdTech tools work best for you.

By the end of the course, you will master some effective practices and strategies in digital learning. Your reflections from the Finnish digital learning experience will help you gain much confidence in facilitating an effective digital learning experience for your students.

You will also be able to make a suitable choice of what EdTech tools would best meet your needs.

Learning outcomes

Participants in the course will be able to:

• Analyze the current practices of learning with digital tools in their schools;
• Discover the achievements and challenges of Finnish teachers and schools in distance learning;
• Discuss the current trends in digital learning in Finland;
• Appreciate the benefits of the flipped classroom;
• Design and manage a flipped classroom with Edtech tools;
• Conduct collaborative Project-Based Learning (PBL) with suitable EdTech tools;
• Engage students in fun activities and games with EdTech tools.

Tentative schedule

Day 1 – SWOT analysis of digital learning in participants’ schools

• Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
• Icebreaker activities;
• Presentations of the participants’ schools;
• SWOT analysis and discussion on the current practices of learning with digital tools in the participants’ schools.

Day 2 – The digital learning landscape in Finnish schools

• Finnish education context in a nutshell;
• Finnish pre-conditions for distance learning;
• Best practices of teachers and schools to deliver distance learning;
• Challenges facing the teachers and schools in distance learning;
• Digital learning trends in Finland, e.g. the use of artificial intelligence in schools.

Day 3 – Effective use of learning management system and flipped classroom

• Effective use of learning management system;
• 5 steps to create a flipped classroom;
• Practice using the Edtech tools for flipped classrooms.

Day 4 – Collaborative Project-based learning with suitable digital tools

• 4 steps to create a project-based learning plan;
• Effective use of Edtech tools to facilitate collaboration in the online learning environment;
• Create a project-based learning idea and select suitable EdTech tools.

Day 5 – Gamification: creating fun and engaging activities for learning

• What is gamification and why?
• Experience of some games with digital tools;
• Practice using the Edtech tools for gamification.

Day 6 – Course closure & excursion

• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
• Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
• Excursion and other external cultural activities.