Todd Zakrajsek, Associate Professor in the School of Medicine and the Department of Family Medicine, Associate Director of Fellowship Programs, and teaching consultant in the Academy of Educators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the Keynote presenter at the Spring 2017 Teaching and Learning Symposium. His presentation was "The Flipped Classroom: A Great Teaching Approach – If You Implement It in the Right Way"
The concepts behind the Flipped Classroom are certainly not new: Team-based Learning, POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning), and SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning with Upside-down Pedagogies) are just a few precursors. Have students do work in preparation of class and then during class focus on big issues and particularly challenging concepts. This idea of having students come to class prepared and then use class time for critical and reflective processing of material is the foundation of good academic learning. I LOVE that the Flipped Classroom has brought new energy to effective teaching and learning. That said I have a few recommendations.
1. My first recommendation is centered around how Flipped Classrooms are too often implemented. The focus is often on preparing videos for students to watch, or the homework assignments that students will do to prepare for class. The frequently stated idea is that students don’t read any more, but they will watch videos; so if we post some videos, students will come prepared. The problem is that this approach will likely lead to failure, and that will cause problems I will note in my second point.
For this first point, let’s focus on what will help Flipped Classrooms succeed. Flipped Classrooms have a high probability of success (that is, helping students to learn) if a few basic points are followed:
a) Identify the intended outcomes for the class session before developing any material or considering the anticipated class discussion - this will help focus the learning;
b) Talk to students about the approach being taken in the course - flipped classrooms can take on many different forms; and if they have had bad experiences in the past, this will show that your approach is likely not the same as the student has experienced previously;
c) Ensure the pre-work students are to complete prior to coming to class is directly related to the class session being prepped for and the material (e.g., video) is of good quality;
d) Hold students accountable for doing the pre-work. This can be a quiz, focused discussion or any method you like - the CRITICAL factor is that they come to class prepared to talk and that you, as the instructor, do not “review” what they should have done if they didn’t do it;
e) Facilitate a solid in-class experience. DO NOT drop into a lecture mode for the portion of class designed to be a discussion, and if you don’t know how to facilitate a discussion then build those skills, as they are different than presentation skills;
f) Signpost learning for students - point out where discussions lead to new concepts and how they are processing differently than before. You can ask them to do this as well by asking what they learned in a given class period - point here is that they get that lecture is directly related to learning, students often don’t see how group discussion is related to learning;
g) Review your assessment (e.g., exams, quizzes, papers) measures. If one moves from one pedagogical approach (e.g., lecturing) to another approach (e.g., flipped), then the tests used previously may or may not still be appropriate - point here is to look at how students are being assessed and ensure it is the best method.
2. My second recommendation pertains to the name “Flipped Course.” This is a pervasive issue when a single name takes on many meanings. It happened with “group work.” The problem is that students may well be exposed to something called “Flipped,” and then if it goes poorly, the next time they hear “Flipped” they have a prejudice against the process before it starts. That happens now in that if I say I am using “groups” in my class, many students immediately resist. Upon first hearing the word “group work” or seeing it in the syllabus, they don’t know yet how I am going to use groups, and whether it will work for them. They just know a teacher in their past used “groups” and they didn’t like it. My fear is that as faculty start “Flipping” it won’t work well at times, and when it doesn’t work students will come to dislike the name; not the concept when used properly.
So.....I think the name “Flipped” will take on a negative tone in the world of students fairly soon. That is really, really sad, as the concept is SO GOOD. I think we should fight against this potential outcome by teaching really good Flipped Classes. Most importantly, when students start to resist, which is what I think will happen, we need to be ready to say something akin to, “The Flipped Classroom is a model that has been shown to really help students to learn material at a deep level. Let’s chat about experiences you have had with this type of teaching in the past, let me show you the model we will use in this course, and figure out the best way to make this a great learning experience for everyone.”
The Flipped Classroom concept is a great concept...we just need to ensure that it is well-done so that we maintain acceptance of this really great teaching strategy among students and faculty.
Contact: If you would to talk about flipping your class, please contact your college’s instructional designer (go to http://teaching.unl.edu for a listing of instructional designers and the colleges they support).
For additional reflections and suggestions for implementing strategies presented in the Spring 2017 Teaching and Learning Symposium go to http://academicaffairs.unl.edu/events/teaching-learning-symposium-spring-2017.