Hi, Mariam,

I teach undergraduates and have found that a partially flipped classroom is a good approach in courses that are content-focused. My preferred course schedule is for the class to meet twice a week. The first session is similar to a traditional lecture where I discuss the content assigned for that week. The second session uses small group, in-class exercises where the students teach one another as they apply that week's content. The 15 week semester of content-application-content-application cycle provides a higher level of student mastery of the content and more student confidence in the application of the material outside of class.

This approach provides the opportunity for many, small graded assignments which encourages student engagement with the material and precludes the need for high stakes testing which has not been associated with longer term content mastery. For the students I believe it is a total win.

For the instructor, there could be possible negatives. Daily in-class assignments have to be prepared and graded. Also, the instructor needs a strong grasp of the content because the onslaught of questions from the student teams during the application period is extensive.

Dear Peter,

Thank you for your insightful feedback.

I do believe it is a good approach to both learners and lecturers too.

As you pointed it is beneficial to the learners because of its mixture of conventional and content-application-content-application cycle. Learners tend to be more masterful in the undertaken modules.

The drawback is the lecturer who has to prepare a barrage of answers to the learners' questions and the incessant grading owing to the mini tests in-between the "bigger" assignments.

My concern on the students are that if time is not of the essence, the assignments even in byte sizes could be thought provoking for those doing full-time but to those doing part-time and working, it proves time-consuming at the expense of lost job.

For lecturers, I have seen many lecturers been laid off as the blending session uses pre-recording and that some lecturers are not needed after the recordings have completed.

Still, I believe it is beneficial for both because the learners tend to be more skillful and become masters of the modules and the instructors well-prepared for the challenging questions that come with the mini assignments and frequent engagement with the students during the face-to-face session.

Best regards.

Mariam

Flip classes should be used cautiously. It should be only 6 to 7 percent of total academic lecture.

Dear Anirbid.

It is true indeed. Besides being taxing to learners for incessant "small" tests, it is too taxing for the lecturers to sometimes mentally prepare impromptu answers during the face-to-face session owing to more discussions, more activities conducted within short frame of time.

Thank you for your kind feedback and best regards.

Mariam

Dear Hassan,

I too agree with you greatly because in addition -

Students / learners tend to be beneficial most if they

- come fully prepared emotionally and cognitively

- have read their materials prior to coming

- are computer-literate ready (less so for most developing countries) because of some lab train modules

- are sick enough to attend classes, they can still continue submitting their barrage of "tests" without to physically attending it

Lecturers will benefit more if they

- have pre-emptively prepared FAQs and potentials Q & A

- provide more empirical evidences about the materials and the expansion of concepts / theories 

- engage in more meaningful and relevant discussions on subject matters

- have more time to attend to questions and set sight to "bigger" term marked assignments (TMA)

The biggest pitfalls for flipped classroom model is - it is good for full-time and computer ready learners

For lecturers, there will be more attrition rate owing to more online pre-recorded modules or that their attendance are limited by physically going virtual.

Thank you for the citing the advantages of flipped classroom models.

Best regards.

Mariam

Peter, small assessment tasks need not be a burden for the instructor. You can use the learning manage system (such as Moodle) to administer these and have them either automatically marked. or peer assessed. The questions from the students can similarly be mostly answered by other students.I do this in the course "ICT Sustainability" http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/tutors.shtml

Dear Mariam, 

The flipped classroom approach is aimed at shifting the responsibility for learning to the students while giving them much greater possibilities to experiment. It is important that students gain first-exposure learning prior to classroom lectures which makes them focus on the processing part of learning (synthesizing, analyzing, problem-solving, etc.) in the class. Thus the learning activities can become student-led, and students' communication can become the determining dynamic of a session devoted to learning through hands-on work. What the flip does particularly well is to bring about a distinctive shift in priorities - from merely covering the training material to working actively towards its mastery.

In the recent research, ideas regarding the benefits of flipped classroom, and/or opposing ones are available and can be found with a basic lit. review. However, what I suggest with regard to your question is much more on a practical basis. Maybe you know or not, but in Turkey, there is a university called MEF University in which every department delivers the courses in the flipped classroom design. Thus, you can contact the lecturers or follow their reports. I hope you can reach specific info you need via the practice of that university. 

Dear Tom and Peter,

It is indeed easier for lecturers to manage smaller modules by scheduling time to activate the module as easy as vacation responder would but with more advanced functions as mentioned by Tom.

Thank you both  for your kind feedback and best regards.

Mariam

Dear Peter,

Flipped classroom model is ideal for the highly motivated or averagely motivated learners.

For those who are lacking or lagging, reading the text/materials prior to attending the class to them would be a "waste of time" because the classroom, according to the flipped model would be contextualized based and not strictly by the book. 

Already understanding the subject matter is a "burden", let alone to immediately engage oneself in activities that are truly out-of-the-box literally. I have faced such learners who came in once and subsequently become tardy, tardier and eventually leave the university for good.

While it is good to adopt the flipped classroom model owing to the versatility of learning activities leading to mastery, it is not always feasible for some who has either mistaken the model as bite size models, easy to understand the mechanic of studying and excel in both theory and practical. Because it is not, there are lots of prior reading, hands-on and pre-class quizzes to attempt before one can sit for the bigger assignments, thereafter examination in order to get good GPAs.

The model is good for those who are mentally ready to go through such rigorous but captivating learning sessions. To lead discussions, activities and facilitate role plays are good examples of practising to be good leaders. Those are one of the aim of flipped classroom model and I am one who enjoys such journey together with the learners and lecturers alike.

Thank you for pointing the advantages of flipped classroom model and best regards.

Mariam

Dear Ozgehan,

Thank you for your kind information on Turkey all-out flipped classroom model university.

I am now aware that your country has MEF to start with. In my country, there are 2 active universities out of 6 nationally accredited universities adopting such model. Mine is the pioneer. And I am the product of such model.

Best regards.

Mariam 

It is a powerful tool for teaching and learning. I have done a work on how it assists in teaching an art-oriented course in Senior High Schools. It fosters a good communication link between the teacher and his/her students. Its a great treasure in cushioning students relevant previous knowledge (RPK) before lesson delivery and a powerful medium for ascertaining the learning outcomes of students.

Thanks

In my experience both gains from flipped classroom.

Dear Dickson,

The model is modelled as such - flipped classroom model. That could be the reason it is giving us leeway to progress or reflect on our teaching materials to/fro, tracking and even determine the learners' progress using the software and our instructional skills altogether. They are great and powerful communication medium of interactions between teacher/student, learners/lecturers etc.

Thank you for your kind feedback.

Best regards.

Mariam

In using flipped classroom model, I actually tell students that at our next class meeting we will have a team captain(s), depending on the assignment. The captain is randomly selected at the beginning of class, and no one knows who it will be. I found that this has helped the students read their assignments/information prior to coming to class since they never know when they will be chosen to lead and to drive the class discussion.

By doing this, I find myself more of a facilitator, engaging the students in learning, asking open ended questions, and allowing more opportunities for critical thinking.

Dear Anirbid,

Yes indeed both gain from flipped classroom.

Best regards.

Mariam

Mariam, to help motivate learners to prepare for a flipped session, I suggest having a small amount of assessment. If you want a student to read something, then tell them there is a quiz, after the reading. This will be sufficient motivation for most students.

The few who are unable to do the preparation can be offered additional help. The very few who are able, but unwilling, can be identified and removed from the program, so they do not waste their time and your time.

Dear Tom,

Our schedules are very tight. Pre-quiz (PCQ) before lesson for 6 weeks straight. 2 Discussion Board (DB) Q & A. Face-to-face (F2F) with activities, role play, facilitation every week and 2 big assignments (TMA) on week 3 and 6 before preparing for semester examination. This is for part-time study.

It's really a heavy workload for those working and taking 4 modules in a semester. This is made worst as the 6 x PCQs, 2 x DBs and 2 x TMAs called assignments consist of 50% taking up only that 6 weeks. Should this assignments grade drops to below 40 points, the learners could not continue with the examination totally. If above 50% and attending 2 hours written examination with less than 50% or below 40 graded points, the learners are considered "Failed" too. Both are mentally taxing. The first half of rigorous assignments and the other half a short examination are determinants of success. Fail one, you fail both.

Trying to motivate as you suggested is easy but we are dealing with all sorts of learners - matured and young ones combined. While the former are self-motivated despite having work and family to balance with, ironically the young ones are those leaving the university for good.

The learners are counselled before they leave, once they have decided to go, we have no option but to let them be. And our modules are rigid and pre-programmed, so too are the expectations from both learners/lecturers alike. Much as we like to remove or be removed by both learners/lecturers, the ultimate decision come from the University. It is easier to let them go then removing them from the system as our education is so strictly regulated.

But enjoy the journey together; that could be the only reason they stay because they know we are there for them and with them.

Thank you for your refreshing feedback.

Best regards.

Mariam 

Dear Shar Little,

I guess the whole idea of flipped classroom model is to give more autonomy to the learners. Like you are doing in your classroom. The best part is - it is a guided autonomy, not sending them off in the wilderness and run away. It is more of a facilitation job for the lecturers and an independent but guided activities expected from the learners. It is just like when one is working in the factories, there ought to be a quality controller around..That much I anticipate.

Thank you for your interesting idea.

Best regards.

Mariam

You are welcome Mariam. I hope you will be able to use the idea in the near future.

 Flipped classrooms are an extension of the university system where students are required to read chapters of the text or watch videos about them, then perform some example in class. It helps cover a lot of material in the allowed time.

Flipped classroom is a new way that invites students by lecturers to focus on a learning of a specific topic before coming the classroom.   

Dear Shar Little,

Yes indeed, I am already involved in such great endeavour. Thank you for reminding me. 

Best regards.

Mariam

Dear Jerry, 

Thank you for your kind feedback.

It is true that flipped classroom model is allowing learners to take active roles in deciding their educational pathway. Given limited time to cover the modules, the onus of gathering more information or doing self-research on the subject matters lies on the learners. Lecturers serve as educational guide on affirming the examples brought out by the learners thus enhancing the model and the learners progress at the same time.

Best regards.

Mariam

Dear Talib,

That is the concept of flipped classroom model - having students come fully prepared with their modules of choice.

Thank  you for your interesting feedback.

Best regards.

Mariam

Active learning approaches can benefit both the faculty and student.  However, this approach works best, as with any other change, if it is initiated with the first class that the students take and carried throughout the program.  The student has to come to class prepared.  There are many strategies that can be used, including gaming with questions over the content that the students should have read.  You can use Socratic questioning.  You can have students who understand a concept explain it to those who don't. You can have teams compete to respond to questions and award points.  I gave small prizes in my classes. You can use case studies with critical thinking questions and have different groups present and answer questions.  You can use a boot camp strategy to cover the content and query the students. These approaches incorporate retrieval learning which is well supported in the educational research literature.  You can also support the students' use of spaced learning by having them submit the topics that are difficult for them and developing questions or using test bank questions in class to cover the content.  The classes that I taught using these strategies were more enjoyable for me and the students learned that they had to prepare and be engaged in class. Their scores on the final exam were the highest that we had seen in that course. 

Dear Terry,

Great suggestions there. It is good to contemplate on these altogether.

I do appreciate your kind and interesting feedback.

Best regards.

Mariam

For the current situation, its very essential not only Healthcare and Universities. Rather it can play a vital  role on the total education system as a whole.

At Monash it is part of all unit enhancement to embrace a flipped classroom strategy, generate active learning in the classroom, use engagement strategies (in-class polling). Activated learning spaces also help offering students choice in how they learn. Assessment strategies in this space are also needed to be better aligned.

Yes Dear Md Zafar,

Total education system is the main target but healthcare is one of the subset I have seen the professionals performing apart from those already done by the Universities. It is very interesting and could be implemented in all educational platforms.

Thank you for an insightful feedback and best regards.

Mariam

Dear Irwyn,

My concern is primarily on the assignments portion where the activities become too close. If it is spaced out well, the flipped model is one of the ideal model that we could propagate our strategies. This way, the learners are attuned to better learning / lecturing model thus motivated towards learning the subject well - not only to pass the examination but to master the modules ultimately.

Thank you for your encouraging feedback.

Best regards.

Mariam

I wish I saw this good question before.

I think that " flipped classroom" is an effective method of the educational process that can be adopted during "part" of a semester but not in all of it.

The instructor will first explain the FC method to the students. S/he will select, say one chapter & will also ask ,say 3 students who would like to assume the teaching duty, well-prepared willingly . The whole students will be told that they will be responsible for this chapter & they ought to participate in a "reasonable" respectful manner.

No one knows it all & learning is a continuous process "from womb to tomb" so the instructor may learn few things as well.

The instructor will sit among the students acting as a "guide on the side" & encouraging the "novel" teachers plus those students who ask good questions. Sometimes, a student may be better than the instructor in conveying an idea.

Eventually, all will be winners one way or another.

Dear Nizar,

It is a noble idea indeed to have the role of facilitators in the students/learners journey in FC environment .

Apart from giving advices to them, we lead them into participating in the teaching roles too.

But it could only be maximised to half of the semester portion because the onus lies on the teacher/instructor/lecturer to pass down the meat of the module during face-to-face sessions, not vice-versa.

Only then, respects begets respect - a win/win situation, still.

Thank you for an interesting feedback and best regards.

Mariam