Evernote and Explain Everything, flipped learning tools

Started to look at getting the students to have more time in school exploring issues and get away from the traditional role of me supplying all the information.I started by creating a resource library on Evernote, simply by mailing useful web pages etc to a shared notebook that the students can view.

I then set a homework to do the reading, to research the library of resources and make notes on some of the key points.(we are currently looking at current issues in sport so plenty of information)The following lesson we then engage in picking apart the information and making sense of it, higher thinking skills required than me just explaining the issue and asking questions.

I use explain everything to then record all of the discussion and write down support notes as students bring up issues.This then keeps a record of their discussion that can be turned into a movie and uploaded to Evernote for the students to review.

Had 3 sessions in this style so far and the student engagement has been outstanding, their desire to engage us greater as they have had time to explore the issues and generate opinions in advance and do not feel as though they are being put on the spot.