ISTE 2012 Presenter Profiles: Troy Stein

Troy Stein is TechSmith’s very own Solutions Architect. Before this role, he was a Camtasia Project Manager for eight years. As a Solutions Architect, Troy uses his rich knowledge of Camtasia and other available technologies to help educators successfully flip their classrooms. He also helps capture our customers’ success stories by filming, editing, and sharing these stories on the TechSmith YouTube channel. Being a father of five, Troy understands the importance of engaging, relevant education and strives to help educators create a student-focused environment using the Flipped classroom model.

An interview with Troy:

What are some common activities that occur in a flipped classroom?
The great thing about the Flipped model is that it allows flexibility in the classroom. There is no one way to teach. Some teachers assign video they’ve prepared ahead of time so that the kids can watch them at home and come to class ready to tackle problems. Others will introduce a problem in class and let kids tackle it right away using their iPhone, iPad, school computer, etc. The point is to have that aha moment in class instead of being sent home to figure it out.

In a traditional classroom, you’ve got kids struggling with the content at the wrong time at the wrong place. But with the Flipped model, teachers can walk around and engage with students as they’re working through problems instead of standing in front of the classroom and just talking at the students the entire time.

What are some ways to keep students engaged in a Flipped classroom? How do you keep them focused?
There’s a gentleman by the name of Brian Bennett. What I like about Brian is that he treats his students as adults. He’ll almost allow them to be distracted. He’ll let them do other homework in class if they wanted to. If they didn’t watch the video from a previous day, they can watch it in class on their device or a school computer. Because he’s not up there lecturing, he’s walking around and engaging with the students.

The students also get really excited when they themselves create content to explain a concept to a classmate. Getting them to create something they’re proud of and want to share with others keeps them excited and, well, focused on learning.

What are some common struggles among Flipped teachers that you’ve worked with? What are some solutions?
Some teachers have struggled because some of their students won’t watch the videos. My response to that is that’s nothing new. Apply the same principles as you did in a traditional classroom when the kids didn’t do their homework.

Some teachers have struggled because they don’t have the computer skills. To which I would say borrow someone else’s videos. You don’t have to make the videos yourself as long as the content is communicated effectively.

Other teachers have struggled with the administration and selling the concept of a Flipped classroom. But hopefully that will dissipate on its own as the Flipped model becomes more popular and the positive results become more obvious.

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