With more than two decades of educational leadership experience, Laurie Kimbrel serves as the Brookhaven Innovation Academy’s head of school. Laurie Kimbrel has an active interest in innovative pedagogical approaches, from project-based learning to flipped instruction. Popularized in 2007, the idea of the “flipped classroom” involves an inversion of the usual ordering of learning.
In one pioneering example designed by high school teachers in Colorado, video lectures were provided to students prior to class, and the in-class focus was in completing homework-like exercises under teacher supervision. This was done as a way of making sure that students completed the preparation necessary to make class time more productive. During the classroom processing activities, students also received direct feedback, which reduced the need for extensive written feedback.
This approach has been adopted with numerous variations in schools around the globe, though several unifying elements exist. In addition to receiving their first exposure to the material outside of class, through textbooks or uploaded video lectures, students are tested through pre-class online quizzes. The in-class activities are then designed to emphasize high-level cognitive work.
