Teaching & Learning

The Flipped Classroom

The term 'flipped classroom' refers to a pedagogical model in which traditional lecture and homework elements are reversed. (Lage et al., 2000)

What is a flipped classroom?

The 'flipped classroom' has been defined (by, for example, Abeysekera & Dawson, 2014) as a set of pedagogical approaches that seek to reduce student cognitive load and increase student motivation and engagement by:

moving most information-transmission teaching out of class,
using class time for learning activities that are both active and social, and
requiring students to complete pre- and/or post-class activities to fully benefit from in-class work.

Thus, although there is no single model for the flipped classroom, the implementation of a flipped classroom approach involves requiring students to engage with interactive content focussing on key concepts prior to attending class, so that during class time they can participate in collaborative activities that clarify concepts and contextualise knowledge through application, analysis and problem solving (Karanicolas & Snelling, 2010).

The flipped classroom has become an increasingly popular approach to reimagining student learning opportunities; particularly since the widespread adoption of online learning environments at universities has facilitated student access to content and enabled students to study independently of the traditional classroom (Sankey & Hunt, 2013).

Why use a flipped classroom?

Contemporary educational research has consistently found that if students have the opportunity to preview key concepts ahead of class time, the face-to-face session can be more effectively used for active learning where concepts are analysed and applied (Herein & Schiller, 2013; Karanicolas & Snelling, 2010; McLaughlin et al., 2014).

Flipped classrooms build on good teaching practice

There is well-documented evidence of the value of the learning activities utilised in flipped classrooms, including preparatory activities conducted prior to face-to-face sessions, higher-order learning during class time, active learning and peer instruction (in, for example, Freeman et al., 2014; McLaughlin et al., 2014).

Contemporary educational research has consistently found that if students have the opportunity to preview key concepts ahead of class time, the face-to-face session can be more effectively used for active learning where concepts are analysed and applied (Herein & Schiller, 2013; Karanicolas & Snelling, 2010; McLaughlin et al., 2014).

The potential benefits of implementing a flipped classroom

The value of a flipped classroom is in the repurposing of class time into a workshop where students can clarify and consolidate content, test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact whilst completing activities. During these sessions, teachers act as guides; encouraging and supporting students in their individual inquiry and collaborative effort (Teaching UNSW, 2020; ExLNT Griffith University, 2019).

The potential benefits of a flipped classroom include that it:

respects meaningful student choice by allowing students to engage with content and resources at their own preferred pace and according to their own preferred learning style.
encourages students to take responsibility for their own engagement and learning; experienced students will have more flexibility to spend less time on content they already understand, while others can progress through materials at a pace that suits them, possibly engaging with the same piece of content several times to gain understanding.
provides opportunities for peer learning and social interaction through collaborative projects.
enhances student engagement as a community of learners.
provides opportunities for 'just in time' and 'point of need' interactions; allowing students to revisit important concepts and content, check their understanding, and resolve any misconceptions.
promotes inclusiveness by assisting students with accessibility concerns and students for whom English is a foreign language; all students (regardless of study mode) interact with recorded lectures, readings and other content online in their own time and at their own pace.
shifts class-time priorities from covering materials to guiding students’ progress towards attainment of learning outcomes.

Students prefer the flipped classroom to traditional delivery

Evidence (for example Fisher et al., 2017; Karanicolas, Snelling, & Winning, 2018) indicates that university students may prefer the flipped classroom approach to traditional face-to-face delivery; reporting increased engagement, satisfaction, and learning outcomes.

Following the implementation of a flipped classroom approach in First Year Bachelor of Oral Health units, The Flipped Classroom Project @ The University of Adelaide conducted interviews with participating students to gain their perspectives on flipped learning; the interviewed students highlighted a number of elements of the flipped classroom which they liked, including that it:

allows students to be and feel more prepared for the next session
is adaptable to students' schedules and learning styles
helps students to identify which study approach works for them and encourages students to be efficient learners
provides an opportunity for students to discuss content with peers rather than just memorising.

Go to Flipped Learning in Adelaide Evidence of Effectiveness to watch the videos.

It is important to acknowledge that adjusting to a flipped classroom delivery and its expectations may create a significant learning curve for students at the start of the semester. Fisher et al. (2017) observed that student satisfaction with the flipped classroom increased following the first cycle of activities, and so proposed that any initial dissatisfaction could be attributed to students feeling out of their comfort zone. The challenges students identified related to understanding the processes involved, the expectations of the instructors, the format of the content and workshops, and how the pre-work would come together in the workshops. Students may require extra support in the initial stages of a flipped class delivery to assist them to understand and take up the challenge of the approach, thereby maximising student engagement and satisfaction earlier in the semester.

How to flip your classroom

To teach effectively using a flipped classroom it is important to:

Communicate the rationale behind adopting a flipped classroom to your students so that they know what to expect and what will be expected of them.
Provide incentives for students to prepare for class.
Provide clear connections between in-class and out-of-class activities.
Ensure that the unit follows a logical structure – in terms of the order of topics and the way content is presented online – will help students approach their self-study activities in an efficient and effective manner. Consider organising online content into modules, as well as numbering each content item in the order that it should be approached.
Ensure that classroom activities are interactive and designed to consolidate content.
Provide facilitation and guidance that supports students as a community of learners.
Provide prompt and effective feedback on learning activities and assessment tasks.
Utilise technologies that are familiar and accessible to students.

The Flipped Classroom Project @ The University of Adelaide sought to translate the concept of the flipped classroom into actual classroom practice; helping to build the capacity of academics to understand flipped classrooms and to design their flipped classes around a pedagogical framework. The Project was led by the School of Dentistry at the University of Adelaide in partnership with Health Sciences Faculties from both the Australian Catholic University and the University of Tasmania.

The University of Adelaide 7 steps to Flipping with a Framework is designed to guide teachers through the process of designing effective flipped classrooms utlising Bloom’s Modified Taxonomy. Open the link to access the complete framework for more detail and guidance around what to consider at each step.

Step 1: Learning outcomes and key concepts

Step 2: Plan your implementation strategy

Step 3: Develop the pre-class learning activities and checkpoints

Step 4: Develop and link the class activities

Step 5: Deliver the class

Step 6: Link to the post class activities and assessment

Step 7: Evaluate your flipped class.

Other guides to flipping your classroom include the FLIPCurric Online Flipped classroom practitioner’s guide and Griffith University’s “Flip Matrix”.

To further reduce cognitive load and increase engagement, consider providing mini lectures and short readings, interspersed with short reflective activities, memory games, quizzes, or even surveys. This Activity options – choose your tool [PDF], developed by the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, outlines a range of online tools that you can use to embed activities in your unit.

Frequently asked questions about flipped classrooms

How are flipped classes arranged?

A flipped classroom follows an established pattern or schedule:

Students (regardless of their study mode) engage with content, resources and activities online at a time and pace that suits them, within a given period of time (e.g. within a week or a fortnight). This online engagement is completed as preparation for a workshop or tutorial.
Students submit content-related tasks, for example Just In Time Teaching (JITT) tasks in the form of 3 or 4 short and/or long answer questions. These tasks aim to encourage students to complete the necessary self-study activities. They also provide the teaching team with valuable information regarding concepts that students are struggling with, as well as a means of formative assessment.
Face-to-face workshops (held after any content-related tasks have been submitted) help students clarify concepts identified as difficult. The workshops also provide an opportunity for students to ask questions and engage with unit content using higher-order thinking skills, especially during group activities.

The Tasmanian School of Business and Economics has developed a sample flipped teaching schedule. Alternatively, learn more about how teaching staff at the University of Tasmania have introduced the flipped classroom method to their units by reading this article by James Allison and Christopher Chin from the Australian Maritime College, and Belinda Williams from the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics. It provides an overview of the use of one fully flipped and one partially flipped approach to teaching in two AMC units.

Can a flipped classroom work for different study modes?

What student or unit characteristics does a flipped classroom suit?

The flipped classroom approach can suit a wide variety of cohorts. Experienced students will have more flexibility to spend less time on content they already understand, while others can progress through materials at a pace that suits them; possibly engaging with the same content or resources several times to gain understanding and identify anything which they need to seek clarification around in class.

What are the challenges that can arise when adopting a flipped classroom?

This will be a new way of studying for many students. Implementing a flipped classroom will confront some students with the responsibility of completing their work in advance of class time. Some students may take a while to adapt to this methodology. Therefore, it is important to make the rationale for using this approach, together with the expectations of students, very clear from the beginning. Consider having a session in the first week of the semester to familiarise students with the unit structure and expectations of them as learners. Online content must be clearly and logically structured to make it obvious to students how to approach their self-study tasks.

Other challenges include:

Students may not immediately understand the value of the flipped classroom approach to their learning.
The flipped classroom approach entails a change in the roles of students and staff. Students need to own their learning and teachers need to become facilitators.
Some students may not be motivated to engage with the content prior to coming to class and so may come to class unprepared.
Time, expertise and effort are needed to create content and resources for students to engage with prior to coming to class.
A flipped classroom approach requires careful preparation to balance and link the out-of-class and in-class elements.
Students may have unequal access to the technology required to engage with content and resources prior to coming to class.
Adopting the flipped classroom approach requires the availability of class spaces that support active and collaborative work.

Useful resources

The following resources may support you to implement a flipped classroom approach to the teaching in your unit.

This video of a Flipped workshop delivered by Senior Teaching Fellow, Stuart Schonell, presents the rationale behind flipped approaches, a range of strategies and considerations, and reflections by other TSBE staff on their experiences of ‘flipping’ their classrooms.

This article by James Allison and Christopher Chin from the Australian Maritime College, and Belinda Williams from the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, provides an overview of the use of one fully flipped and one partially flipped approach to teaching in two AMC units.

The Flipped Classroom Project @ The University of Adelaide provides guides, templates, students’ perspectives and video case studies.

The FLIPCurric Online Flipped classroom practitioner’s guide.

In this video, Dr Abelardo Pardo, Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at The University of Sydney describes what a flipped classroom is, and the many benefits and considerations of this type of teaching.

References

Abeysekera, L., & Dawson, P. (2015). Motivation and cognitive load in the flipped classroom: definition, rationale and a call for research, Higher Education Research & Development, 34(1), 1-14, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.934336

ExLNT Griffith University. (2019, October 21). Flipped Learning. https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/3805/view

Fisher, R., Ross, B., LaFerriere, R., & Martiz, A. (2017). Flipped Learning, Flipped Satisfaction, Getting the Balance Right. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 5(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.5.2.9

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okorafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2013) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

Herein, C., & Schiller, N. (2013). Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(5), 62-66.

Karanicolas, S., & Snelling, C. (2010). Making the transition: achieving content connectivity and student engagement through flexible learning tools. In Proceedings of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) Conference Wellington 2010.

Karanicolas, S., Snelling, C., & Winning, T. (2018). Translating concept into practice: enabling first-year health sciences teachers to blueprint effective flipped learning approaches, University of Adelaide.

Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (2000). Inverting the classroom: A gateway to creating an inclusive learning environment. The Journal of Economic Education, 31(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220480009596759

McLaughlin, J. E., Roth, M. T., Glatt, D. M., Gharkholonarehe, N., Davidson, C. A., Griffin, L. M., Esserman, D. A., & Mumper, R. J. (2014). The flipped classroom: a course redesign to foster learning and engagement in a health professions school. Academic Medicine, 89(2), 236-243. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000086

O'Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 85-95. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.002

Sankey, M. D., & Hunt, L. (2013). Using technology to enable flipped classrooms whilst sustaining sound pedagogy. In H. Carter, M. Gosper and J. Hedberg (Eds.), Electric Dreams. Proceedings ascilite 2013 Sydney (pp.785-795).

Teaching UNSW. (2020, October 20). The Flipped Classroom. https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/flipped-classroom