Think about…a different kind of “flipped classroom”

What is a “flipped classroom?”
Essentially, instead of teachers lecturing in school, they record lectures and students watch them at home. Then students do what is traditionally assigned for “homework” in school while the teacher is present for individual assistance. This is what we are calling revolutionary? Sigh.
If you want a more supportive take on it, Knewton has a cool infographic on flipped classrooms.
Today I’m pondering a different way to think about “flipping” classrooms:

Move the intellectual burden from the teacher to the student. 

That probably means ending lectures all together! Our most popular post so far is entitled, Stop working so hard…that’s the students’ job! which tells me that this idea hit a nerve at least among the 400 or so people who read this blog. I personally like this one even better: Oops! I forgot about their brains where my colleague admits that too often the thing that takes up most of our effort during lesson planning is activities (promoted by flipped classroom advocates) instead of intellectual moves we want students to be making. That’s what active processing of learning is all about and why it’s key to the foundation of education transformation for the 21st Century.
Have you consciously tried flipping the intellectual burden to your students? Let us know!