Abstract:

Nowadays the learning methods in the higher and further education are under a constant review process. Applications focused in blended-learning allow to speed-up the learning process; this facilitates the design and implementation of active resources in the classroom. Flipped Classroom strategy has achieved significant mention in academic circles in recent years. Flipped learning is a very effective idea for students to acquire knowledge, if they are well motivated. Undoubtedly, the implementation of this educational methodology improves the student motivation and increases their participation in the classroom. Traditional lecture style is the most common teaching-learning approach used in higher education. However this approach often places students in a passive role. Flipped Learning has changed the way that students receive information from their teachers. Thus the previous study, academic assignments and communication outside the classroom are more effective.

As a brief summary, in this paper different ICT tools and multimedia resources that facilitate the teaching sessions are presented. The objective is to achieve a more interactive learning. The before-class time is dedicated to the study and preparation of the different academic task in order to obtain a previous knowledge. While in-class time it is dedicated to active learning and critical thinking processes. This series of activities include the use of mobile devices, quizzes and games. The instructor prepared a session with questions related to the basic knowledge and each student used his own mobile phone to give the answer to the respective question. The results are immediate. In addition students have instant feedback. The method is based on open-source and easy-to-use tools. Some examples of freeware applications used in the classroom can be: Socrative, Kahoot, GoConqr and Quizizz. Flipped learning incorporates basic e-learning tools and traditional learning practices. Numerous authors suggest that game-based learning provides students a deep-learning. Other learning resources that can facilitate the academic environment are: Educanon, Nearpod, Movenote, SliceShare, etc.

In this paper is presented the educational innovation experience based in Flipped Learning and different active-collaborative activities realized during the academic year 2014/15. The course is integrated into the Master of Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency. Flipped Classroom implements the self-learning ability. In this case, the low cost of the multimedia elements not only allow enhance learning activities, but also help to the student to learn in an entertaining way. Educational innovation strategies shown in this paper are economically efficient, sustainable and transferable to other subjects and knowledge disciplines, because the resources and tools necessary for its implementation are free and widely used within the educational community. The obtained results have shown that the effectiveness and level of global satisfaction of the students, during the development of this educational experience, has been high.

Keywords:

Mobile and Tablet Technologies, Web Classroom Applications, Multimedia Resources, Flipped Classroom, Blended learning, Game based Learning.