To Flip or Not to Flip: What Are the Questions?

Abstract

Abstract:The flipped classroom has been receiving a lot of press lately as a more desirable way to manage the classroom and help students learn. However, flipping the classroom may not be appropriate for every course or every instructor. There may be a time when other active learning strategies are more appropriate to meet learning outcomes, student needs, and instructor capacity. This manuscript will discuss what flipping is and the decisions that an instructor might consider before flipping their classroom which might also enhance their implementation of this and other teaching strategies. A decision matrix is provided to illustrate this process.

Threshold concepts: designing a format for the flipped classroom as an active learning technique for crossing the threshold

“…The emphasis is on providing an avenue for self-assessment at home (via interactive videos, for example) and peer assessment in class. In addition, sharing with students what exactly is expected of them, as well as why the flipped classroom format is being used, may increase their willingness to participate and learn with a flipped approach (Khoo et al, 2018;Simonson, 2017). Then again, as Simonson (Simonson, 2017) explained, this would depend on the course and the concept being covered, as the aim is a truly learner-centred environment.…”

“…In addition, sharing with students what exactly is expected of them, as well as why the flipped classroom format is being used, may increase their willingness to participate and learn with a flipped approach (Khoo et al, 2018;Simonson, 2017). Then again, as Simonson (Simonson, 2017) explained, this would depend on the course and the concept being covered, as the aim is a truly learner-centred environment. In that vein, the flipped classroom format proposed in this paper, even though specifically developed for a threshold concept in physics, can be applied to any course/topic and may be adapted as required.…”

“…It is an opportunity to reflect on my delivery and decide what significant changes can be made to it, particularly with respect to threshold concepts. The key issues I had to deal with are those commonly encountered by those taking on a flipped session-initial dislike by students, non-participation and time to prepare (Simonson, 2017). The sessions did take some time to create and structure, particularly the interactive videos.…”

“…I realised that the initial dislike and non-participation is to be expected in this type of learning environment. Simonson (Simonson, 2017) stated that some students may see it as a heavier workload. They may lack the motivation to do work in or out of the classroom if they do not feel competent.…”

Student Assessment of Active Learning Elements in 100-level Introductory Biomedical Engineering Course

“…The significant time, effort, and planning required to restructure an entire course from traditional lecture-based to "flipped" can be prohibitive (or at least discouraging) for some university instructors who may already have a full workload [15], [18]- [21]. In a "flipped" or "inverted" class, instructional content is delivered to students out of class (typically through video lectures) while in-class time is devoted to discussion, application, and/or collaborative learning [12], [15], [19]- [24]. One option is to "flip" only specific portions or lessons at a time, but this still requires the creation of out-of-class instructional content (e.g., videos) in addition to the development of in-class learning activities [19], [21], [23], [24].…”