While there may be many wonderful ways to use the "flipped classroom" model with Khan Academy, we are not trying to create "flipped classrooms" that require all students to progress at the same pace, with everyone watching the same videos on the same day. Our vision is to provide self-paced, individualized and mastery-based learning to students. This means students should watch videos and work on our assessment exercises at their own pace. Some students may race ahead, while others remediate prior topics. Teachers use a detailed dashboard to identify each student's needs and determine what activities to do in the classroom to meet those needs.
Teachers in the initial pilots in Los Altos developed several practices to meet individual needs in dynamic, collaborative ways. Some of these practices include:
- Small group instruction between the teacher and a few students in the classroom while the rest of the class is engaged with content on Khan Academy
- One-on-one sessions between the teacher and a student to set weekly goals, and provide specific coaching to the student
- Peer-to-peer tutoring, in which one student explains a concept to another, which helps both students understand the concept better (the struggling student gets clarification, and the explainer deepens his/her understanding)
- Project-based learning with a group of students who have mastered or are ready to explore a specific concept