I chose my second topic to be the flipped classroom. I really like the theory behind this style of teaching and I found some resources to help someone who is trying to execute it. One of the keys to a successful flipped classroom is the organization of the content. No one likes a class site that is confusing and the information is hard to find. A number of these resources are Learning Management Systems (LMS) that could be very beneficial for a teacher who wants to run a smooth, successful online component to their classroom.
Khan Academy
The Khan Academy is a non-profit organization that has the goal of “changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” This organization is the leader in providing assistance for the flipped classroom model. No matter if you’re a student, teacher, principal, or adult returning to education. These materials are available to anyone completely free of charge. This site not only has their own lesson plans you could follow, but they also have resources you could use in addition to your own lesson. With videos covering topics from K-12 math, biology, chemistry, physics, humanities, finance and history, these could be great resources to use when assigning out of class work for your flipped lesson plan. This would be quite simple to set up for your students, all you would have to do is provide them with the link you wanted them to watch. If you wanted to use more of the site’s tools, they have all kinds of additional resources, such as tracking data, class performance summaries, statistics about what you’ve been teaching, individual knowledge maps (learning plans) etc. This site is a great tool for teachers and it definitely helps follow the standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments by having the students actually using this technology on a daily basis. Not only are you exposing them to the information, but you hare having them learn by using the technology that is at their disposal.
Edmodo
Edmodo is another great tool for the flipped classroom. It is a Learning Management System, (similar to moodle) It doesn’t have specific lesson plans and videos like the Khan Academy, but it is an amazing tool for teachers to help organize and set up their class. You can add one lesson at a time in your class, and for each lesson or topic, you can upload your specific content and have it available for your students. As a teacher, you can upload quizzes, polls, and other online assignments that you can monitor your students’ progress, and see when they finish. Again, the biggest benefit of this tool is the organization factor. There is a calendar for upcoming events, and reminders of when things are due. There is also a section for organizing applications and having them available for your students. Parents can also have access to updates, grade checks and progress of their children. Since this site is geared mainly toward the teachers, helping them organize and run the online components of their flipped classroom, I think it would meet the NETS-T standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. Specifically, it would engage the students in online work and involvement on a potentially daily basis. They would be able to see things clearly organized and laid out for the course and they would be able to access the information and content uploaded by the teacher. I think this would be a great tool for teachers to use to stay organized, because everything is very simple to use and it is all there in front of you once you upload it to the site.
Schoology
https://www.schoology.com/home.php
Schoology is another LMS that is easy to use and creates a collaborative interface that enhances the experience of everyone involved (teachers, students, parents etc.) Schoology hosts its own website, so you as a teacher don’t have to worry about creating or running a new site, and it is all saved on a cloud so you can access your information anywhere. This site makes it even easier to create and organize your webpages, there are many different tools to use to create and individualize your own page for your class. The calendars they offer are color-coded and actually provide automatic updating and can by synced with other web-based calendars (such as Google calendar). When it comes to writing and content, this site allows you to create your own content, without having to know html or any other programming code. It provides a rich text editor for easy content customization. You can also add different applications and other programs to be available to your class’ page. Along with different content managers, this site provides organization and access for both students and teachers. It also meets the NETS-T standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. The students would be able to access content that the teacher could assign for outside of class work and it would be done online. Basically the course structure would be all online and available 24/7.
Educreations
Educreations is different than a LMS. It is actually a specific application and not a website. It is a recording tool that allows the teacher to draw, upload images, and record their voice. It is essentially a digital whiteboard. This app would be very handy if the teacher had an iPad or tablet, they could just use their fingers to draw/write whatever they would need. After they record the lesson, they can upload it for the class online. It has limitless applications for different lessons and topics because it really lets you teach on a blank surface (or of a custom surface if you like). The best part about the app is that it doesn’t require anyone else to actually have it to view your lesson. Students don’t need an iPad, just an Internet connection of some type so they can view the lesson. The lessons can be viewed on either a PC or a Mac, so it is a pretty universal application. By using this app, teachers are definitely meeting the NETS-T standard of model digital age work and learning. By using this application, the teachers would need to have the knowledge and skill that is required in a digital setting. This is a great tool to use as a platform for a lesson that the teacher would want to share with their students online.
Skype
As most people are familiar with Skype, it is an online video connection application. It allows two parties with an Internet connection to video chat. This could be a great application for teachers in the classroom if they had the creativity to use it in the best ways. You could upload your recorded video lessons, feedback and thoughts to your class. Teachers could also schedule a time to have a video chat with a student for help/tutoring outside the classroom. These things would help quite a bit with the out-of-class portion of the flipped classroom. I also think that it could help with the in-class portion as well. You could organize the activities and class work to be done around a video chat with someone in the field that you are studying. You could also set it up with another class and have the students work together on their assignments through the video. There are almost limitless applications for this program that, like I said, the teacher could use if they had the creativity to do it! I think that having students actually see a live example of their subject is a great concept. It has been around for many years in the form of a field trip. Now you don’t have to leave the classroom to have the field trip experience. This could save on time and cost and still be quite effective. This concept would help facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity and you wouldn’t have to leave the classroom.
evanmozzochi 
I too chose to do the flipped classroom for this round of articles and resources. I like that we both had Khan Academy as the first resource on our resources post because, I feel that Khan Academy is one of the best tools out their for students to go to learn about all kinds of different math subjects and topics. Also, I would have never thought to use Skype as a resource, mainly because I have never used it. But, the way that you described how it could be helpful to the students and teachers of a flipped classroom convinced me that if I ever have a flipped classroom then this would definitely be something that I would want to look into using as a part of my class.