“Flipping the Class”: what techniques are you using to maximize your time with clients and other audiences?
Career professionals face a common tension in many of our interactions. We’re called upon (and want to!) provide facts, concrete information, and common “rules” that one should follow when job searching. We also know that to be successful, our clients must find ways to investigate how their past experiences create a story about themselves, discern what questions they wish to learn more about, and to use that as a foundation to inform future decisions. It’s a personal, not a universal, process.Our career center leadership team was recently wrestling with this tension when outlining a presentation for prospective Duke students. We knew these admitted students and their families were wondering how to find the best fit for their next four years, and many would have directed questions to ask. We wanted to take a new approach to managing the tension that exists between meeting participant expectations and prompting the audience towards deeper considerations.THE FACTS
Like a movie theater, we showed a slideshow of “facts” about the center that played as the audience entered, and in the first minutes of the presentation. The slides addressed common inquiries like employment statistics, services we provide, employers who come to campus, and so on. A number of slides were also added to highlight that our services are varied and highly utilized, that we help to facilitate opportunities for ALL students, and that we maintain and build rich relationships on campus and off.THE STORY
Our presenters were now free use the entire time to facilitate a conversation on more interesting topics. We chose a series of prompts relevant to professional development for students (e.g. Many jobs of the future have not been invented.) and a set of core competencies all students will need to transition successfully to the workforce (e.g. managing transitions, opportunities, and ambiguity).What did we do? We “flipped our class”. We created space for engagement and interaction during our time with the audience by creating a different venue for sharing the facts. Regardless of whether you have heard or used this phrase before, I bet that it is a technique you already use. -How Flipping the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture (subscription required) http://chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-Classroom/130857/
-Debating the Flipped Classroom at Stanford
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/debating-the-flipped-classroom-at-stanford/34811As part of a society that increasingly expects media-centric approaches, career professionals have an opportunity to rethink how conversation, tools and resources, and data combine in unique ways and in every aspect of our work. We should be assessing what learning is best done independently, what occurs best in partnership, and who the optimal partners should be. We should be utilizing new approaches to enrich our individual interactions, group experiences, and online tools and resources. We should be alert to how students at our institutions are learning in the classroom and use approaches that they now expect and appreciate.I’m interested to hear from others:
How have you “flipped your class” and what are you learning?
What ideas are you excited to try?
Essayist and programmer Paul Graham realized that the idea one thinks about when allowed to think freely—in the shower, for example—is more than just a quiet obsessions. It's a "Top idea," and it influences every other thought, too.
