What is Flipped Teaching?

[social-bio] Flipped teaching is a new instructional method that has risen with the proliferation of high-speed Internet connections. Flipped teaching is the process of moving lecture content from face-to-face class time to before class by assigning it as homework. Often this involves students watching lecture videos prior to coming to class.

Why would you want to do this? The reason to use flipped teaching is to be able to use interactive learning methods within face-to-face class time. Rather than spending an hour lecturing, you can spend the hour having students working on problems independently or in groups, working on or discussing cases, group discussion, receiving assistance from you…anything you want!

If you have ever wished you had more class time or a better opportunity to work with students rather than just telling them about content, then flipped teaching is something you may want to consider.

Another benefit is that students can re-watch the videos as many times as they need.

Concerns that instructors have about flipped teaching:

• How do I get students to watch the videos?
  • In order for students to watch the videos you must make sure that the videos are relevant. If students watch the videos, but come to class and don’t see the connection to the in-class activities, then they aren’t going to watch them. Keep the videos short and to the point. Another method that some instructors use is having students write a short quiz online or at the start of class that is based on the content from the videos.
• Why would students come to class?
  • Class time should be used to move the students to a deeper level of understanding. Hopefully students want to get a deeper understanding, but you should encourage this by making sure that you assess the students at this new level. If you only ask questions on exams that students can learn from watching the videos, then they won’t come to class. But if you create assessments that build on the interactive work that takes place in class, then students will come to class, have a great experience and really see its value.

Flipped teaching is an exciting new method. For more information, see our Flipped Teaching resource page on our Website. To see an example of how it is being used on our campus, view the interview with Fred Phillips below.