CTE teachers who are interested in trying eLearning curriculum often ask us for ideas on how best to use it in their classroom. While we know every classroom is unique, there are a couple of suggested ways that teachers use eLearning curriculum… one of which is the flipped learning approach. Jim Schultz met with Kozy Hubbard from Bartow High School to learn how she uses HealthCenter21 and what she believes the benefits of a flipped classroom are.
About the CTE Medical Academy at Bartow High School
Kozy Hubbard is a health science instructor in the Medical Academy of Bartow High School in Polk County, Florida. She has been teaching at Bartow High School for over 10 years, but originally started out with a career in the medical field.
The Medical Academy is a very popular option for students who attend Bartow High School. In the 2016/17 school year there were so many applications that they had to turn away between 25 and 50 students. The application process occurs in 9th grade, and each application is reviewed and either approved or disapproved. The Medical Academy has courses in grades 9-12, and there are two pathways that students can take: Medical and Fire.
Flipping the Classroom at the Medical Academy with HealthCenter21
So how does HealthCenter21 fit into the Medical Academy at Bartow High School? Early in her teaching career, Kozy had heard about the flipped classroom, but wasn’t sure how it worked or if it would apply to her program. Until she attended an EMS Conference and heard from Daniel Limmer, an author and EMT/EMR instructor in Maryland:
“I never understood the concept of the flipped classroom until I talked to him. He said, ‘You make them do the work. You get them doing this at home and when they come in to you, they’re prepared.’ It’s such a great concept! I do that with a lot of my students and it has really worked out.”
After using this approach for some time, Kozy and her students have had a great experience. The benefits Kozy has seen while using HealthCenter21 in a flipped classroom approach are:
- Increased student engagement and deeper learning
- More interest generated in health care topics
- Better flexibility with varying technology access
- Meeting the needs of diverse learners more easily
Increased Student Engagement and Deeper Learning
Kozy has found that, by using HealthCenter21 with a flipped learning approach, her student engagement has increased. Part of the reason that Kozy believes student engagement and interest have increased is that she doesn’t spend as much time lecturing. This allows classroom time to be much more focused, and the students experience deeper learning.
“With HealthCenter21 the students are more engaged when I am doing the lecture because I try to have them go through the modules prior to me lecturing, and even sometimes while I am lecturing.
It has cut down on my lecture time, which I thoroughly enjoy because I can go through it quicker. What it does is it kind of stimulates the students because now they're saying, ‘Oh, I have a question. I didn't understand this. I heard that on HealthCenter21, but can you explain it to me?' So when I'm doing lecture, we get a little bit more into the meat and potatoes of everything.”
More Interest in Health Care Topics
Kozy also remarked on how HealthCenter21 has piqued student interest since many of the lessons are completed outside of the classroom. This allows for more in-depth discussions when the group gets together.
“I make all of my EMR students do all of their HealthCenter21 prior to me getting them. They’re more interested in everything. They already have in their head what questions they want to ask. It gets them thinking more once they are in the classroom.”
Better Flexibility with Varying Technology Access
Kozy doesn’t have access to any computers during the school day, but because of using the flipped classroom approach she makes it work seamlessly. It was no big deal for Kozy and her students to adjust to a lack of computers in the classroom. It simply made using the flipped approach a more obvious and effective teaching method.
“I don’t have computers right now. We have one computer cart and if we have time I tell the students they can go over to Miss Hill’s and grab a computer if she’s not using them. Otherwise, get out your phone or do it at home. They always have alternate ways to do the work, which I love.
Even if a student doesn’t have access to a computer at home, they can complete the work. They can do it on their smart phones, which is wonderful. They can do it at the Media Center that we have. They can do it at the public library… They can do it anywhere.”
Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners More Easily
Because HealthCenter21 is an eLearning curriculum, Kozy has found that it helps meet the needs of all of her students’ learning styles. Whether they are working on computers in class or at home, the students are able to better understand and retain the information compared to reading a traditional textbook.
“I like the fact that it talks the students through it. They have the option of listening to it in addition to reading. For my didactic learners, it really helps them. For my learners that can read something and commit it to memory and they're done, they don't listen to it.
Some of my students say, ‘I read it but it didn't really make sense to me... but I heard them talking about it so now it makes more sense to me.’ I love that because it hits all of the learning styles.
I also like the drag-and-drops because that is more of a psychomotor thing. If they just look at a picture with all the labels, it doesn’t resonate. But if they have to drag and drop it, they're physically doing that. Even though it's a computer program, they're still physically doing it, and it makes them remember along the planes of the body and stuff like that. I thoroughly love that part of it.”
If you would like to try eLearning curriculum in your health science courses and test out flipping your classroom, sign up for a free trial:
