SOFLA - Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach

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SOFLA - Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach

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Educational services, namely, providing seminars to convey information and train educators concerning methods of instruction using online teaching with flipped learning, both synchronously and asynchronously, in an 8-step learning cycle.

09/02/2026

We’ve reached Edition 30! 🎉

Over the course of Meaningful Online Learning, we’ve explored what it takes to create online learning experiences that are engaging, equitable, intentional, flexible, and connected.

Now, in our 30th edition, we’re looking ahead.

Where does SOFLA® go from here? How can educators continue learning from one another? And what new possibilities emerge as researchers and practitioners share their own experiences with the model?

Our latest edition also highlights SOFLA® Voices, where we are sharing perspectives from educators and researchers who have experienced, implemented, and studied SOFLA®.

📘 Edition 30: Looking Ahead — The SOFLA® Conversation Continues

This may conclude this particular run of Meaningful Online Learning, but the SOFLA® community—and the conversation about creating meaningful online learning—continues.

👉 Read the new edition on our LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7419818583184027648

08/31/2026

Online learning often requires more support than face-to-face learning—not less.

That is one of the findings Jeff Skolnick took away from his research into students’ experiences with online flipped learning.

In this clip, Jeff reflects on something that can easily disappear online: the small, informal conversations that happen naturally in a physical classroom.

SOFLA® helps create space for those interactions by building student-to-student and teacher-student communication into a structured learning model.

Jeff is a Learning and Development Advisor at Moyne Health Services in Victoria, Australia, as well as a flipped learning and SOFLA® research collaborator.

His research reminds us that effective online learning is not simply about putting content online. Students also need structure, support, and opportunities to connect.

08/28/2026

One of the greatest challenges of online learning is making sure students still feel like they're part of a community.

In our recent conversation, Carolina Rodriguez-Buitrago shared why this matters so much:

“… whenever you have the chance to learn with others, your learning is going to be more durable and deeper.”

That is one of the things Carolina sees in SOFLA®.

By intentionally building interaction, collaboration, and structure into online learning, SOFLA® gives students opportunities to connect with one another instead of simply moving through a course on their own.

Carolina has been part of the SOFLA® journey from its early development and collaborated with Dr. Helaine W. Marshall on its peer-teaching component. She now works as a literacy consultant for Scholastic in Bogotá, Colombia, and continues to champion the kind of human-centered learning that SOFLA® makes possible.

Because even in an online classroom, learning is still deeply human.

08/21/2026

What does it actually mean for an instructional model to provide structure and flexibility at the same time?

Consider just two steps in the SOFLA® cycle.

Pre-Work could mean:

📚 In a language course — watching a short video and identifying examples of a target language feature.

🔬 In a science course — reviewing a diagram or reading and arriving with a prediction or question.

🍎 In a teacher education course — examining a classroom scenario and identifying an instructional challenge.

Then there’s Whole-Group Application.

The language students might analyze examples and explain their reasoning.

The science students might compare their predictions with new information and work together to explain what happened.

The teacher education students might consider different responses to the classroom challenge and discuss their advantages and limitations.

Same two SOFLA® steps. Very different learning experiences.

That’s what freedom within structure means in the SOFLA® model.

The framework provides a purposeful sequence. How instructors bring that structure to life can look completely different.

SOFLA® isn’t a script for teaching. It’s a framework educators can make their own.

What could these two steps look like in your teaching context?

08/19/2026

AI is changing education—but is it changing what good teaching actually requires?

In the latest edition of Meaningful Online Learning, We explore why the rapid growth of AI makes intentional pedagogy more important, not less.

New tools can support teaching and learning in powerful ways. But technology alone doesn’t create engagement, connection, or meaningful learning experiences. Those still depend on how we design and facilitate learning.

That’s where SOFLA® comes in.

📖 Read Edition 28 and join the conversation.

What do you think: Has AI changed the way you teach—or mostly the tools you use to teach?

08/17/2026

A few weeks ago, our Meaningful Online Learning newsletter on LinkedIn posed an important idea: “Engagement is the vehicle, not the destination.”

So what does that actually look like in an online class?

Imagine a student enters a breakout room and contributes an answer to the group's assigned question.

Engaged? Absolutely.

But now take it one step further.

The student explains why they chose that answer, compares it with a classmate's perspective, reconsiders their original thinking, and applies the idea to a new situation.

That's where engagement begins to support meaningful learning.

The difference isn't necessarily about adding more activities. It's about being intentional about what we're asking students to do with their thinking.

That's an important part of SOFLA®. Participation matters—but participation has a purpose.

Engagement gets students into the learning experience. Intentional instructional design determines where that engagement takes them.

What does meaningful engagement look like in your online classroom?

08/13/2026

We’ve spent the past several weeks taking you chapter by chapter through What’s Inside the SOFLA® Book? Now, we’ve reached the final chapter—and the question at the heart of the entire series: Why SOFLA®?

Chapter 5 explores the why behind SOFLA®, including how the model creates “fertile spaces” for learning through the Four E’s: Equity, Enrichment, Engagement, and Empowerment.

It also looks at the qualities that make SOFLA® a practical approach across different teaching contexts:

Innovative. Flexible. Transparent. Interactive. Participatory. Accountable. Efficient.

Together, these elements help create online learning environments where structure supports active, student-centered learning.

📘 Chapter 5: Why SOFLA®?

Discover the thinking behind the SOFLA® model in the final chapter of SOFLA®: The Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach by Helaine W. Marshall and Ilka Kostka.

08/12/2026

What makes an instructional model useful for the long term?

This week's edition of our LinkedIn newsletter, *Meaningful Online Learning*, explores why SOFLA® is designed not simply to be implemented, but to be adapted, refined, and used as teaching needs change.

Discover how structure, flexibility, and continuous improvement can help an instructional approach grow along with the educators who use it.

💙 Read Newsletter Edition 27: What Makes SOFLA® Sustainable?

Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7419818583184027648

08/05/2026

📩 New SOFLA® Newsletter Edition Now Available!

What happens after students participate in an online lesson?

For many instructors, class simply ends. But what if those final few minutes became one of the most valuable learning opportunities of all?

In this week's edition of Meaningful Online Learning, we explore why reflection is much more than a way to wrap up class. Discover how shared reflection helps students deepen their understanding, learn from one another, and carry learning beyond the live session.

💙 Read Edition 26 and discover why sometimes the most important learning happens after the conversation pauses.

Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7419818583184027648

07/30/2026

We've reached Chapter 4 in our series: What's Inside the SOFLA® Book?

So far, we've explored the history of SOFLA®, the 8-step learning cycle, and sample lessons. Now it's time to look at how instructors can adapt and implement the model in their own teaching.

Chapter 4 covers practical topics including modifications and accommodations, AI integration, professional development, implementation challenges, and the SOFLA® Peer Review Checklist.

Discover how SOFLA® can be adapted to fit your learners, your teaching context, and your instructional goals.

Learn more in SOFLA®: The Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach by Helaine W. Marshall and Ilka Kostka.

Order here:
https://press.umich.edu/Books/S/SOFLA-R

Use discount code **UMWEB30** for **30% off**.

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White Plains, NY

Website

http://malpeducation.com/SOFLA

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