Any college aiming for a student-first approach to education should consider adopting a flipped classroom model.

In a flipped classroom, the lecture portion happens prior to class. This method disrupts the traditional banking-style of education by ensuring time spent with a teacher is used for interactive learning, not merely to transfer information. This allows the teacher to better engage the students as they are already familiar with the content, and can thus ask better questions and dialogue with the teacher.

While this model is not completely new, recent technology has made it an easier model to adopt.

Whether it's youtube for sharing lecture videos or storyboard for private podcasts or one of the hundreds of other media sharing platforms, it’s not only that there are more digital resources available, but there are apps and software which make utilizing technology for education much more efficient. This has allowed teachers to capitalize on their face-to-face time with students, by providing the students with information prior to class time.

Michigan State University helps explain the cognitive benefit of a flipped classroom by utilizing Bloom’s Taxonomy. In traditional classroom models, the majority of time is often spent on presenting information and trying to understand it; this leaves little time for the more complex mental steps of applying and analyzing to take place in the classroom. Thus the time the teacher spends with the students is used to help them digest things the students could likely do themselves. Compare this to a flipped classroom where the students listen or watch a recorded lecture, and then come to an interactive class environment where the teacher demonstrates for the students how to engage the material. This sets them up for better success when they begin more independent interactions with the content such as evaluating other work or creating their own.

It’s normal for students to study from anywhere. It’s not normal that they’ll receive the bulk of their course content before they come to class. That’s what happens with a flipped classroom — content available for viewing or listening from anywhere, preparing students for in-person discussion to ensure learning is happening.

What are the Benefits of a Flipped Classroom Model?

1. Flexibility

Allowing students to listen to lectures when it is convenient for them is one of the first benefits that often pops into people’s minds. Students can choose to listen when their mind is operating at peak performance to ensure they are actually engaging it the way they should. Timing will be different for everyone depending on people’s living situation, work schedule, mood, energy levels, etc. But by allowing for this flexibility, there is more likelihood students will choose an optimal time for retention, and not when they are distracted by other matters. They can listen from anywhere -- their favorite coffee shop, a hammock in the woods, or while they work out.

2. Time for Processing

Often, only the last few minutes of a lecture are saved for questions. Depending on what has been taught, it may take some time with the material before you’re able to process it all and come up with questions. Listening to the lectures prior to class time, provides more time for the information to sink in, thus allowing for more productive dialogue during class times. It can also help filter out the simpler, technical questions as students have the time to research those answers on their own, thus saving the more dynamic questions for class.

3. Recorded Lectures

Our brain disengages from fully listening when it has to switch its focus to note taking. Listening is necessary to make sure you understand the material, and note taking is necessary for review, but if you are stuck in a traditional model of teaching, you are often expected to do both at once. By having quality recordings of the lectures, students can pause to take notes as well as relisten to the content multiple times to ensure they didn’t miss anything. This allows students to go through classes at their own pace which can even take out some of the stress of learning, providing the brain more energy to focus on the content.

4. Student-Teacher Engagement

Arguably the most important reason for a flipped classroom is it opens up more time for the students to engage their teacher. Anyone can repeat information, but to engage students’ minds by ensuring they are capable of effectively utilizing the information they have been given is something a teacher is truly needed for. This model maximizes the efficiency of the educational system by capitalizing on the time students are able to spend with someone who has a deep understanding of the subject matter and is capable of transferring that understanding by meeting students where they are at.

5. Better Feedback

A student shouldn’t have to wait until after they flunk an exam to know they still hadn’t grasped the subject matter the way the teacher expected them to. Increased teacher interaction allows students to receive feedback straight from their instructor without having to solely rely on test scores. When students can receive correction and instruction without it being tied to a letter grade, it creates a low-stress learning environment. Less brain energy spent stressing allows for more brain energy spent learning. This not only allows the students to better enjoy the learning process, but it also helps the students feel more prepared for when tests do come.

6. Empowered Students

Education is supposed to be empowering, but if a teacher only dumps information into their student’s minds without ensuring they know how to use it, then it can actually have the opposite effect. Students who don’t have a firm grasp on the content or who don’t know how to critically evaluate and utilize the information, will create insecure students who will finish a class feeling less confident (or possibly worse, students with a false confidence who don’t actually know).

While remembering is a key aspect of learning, true education is more than just the repetition of facts, but the transferring of ideas and skill sets that will equip the next generation to meet the societal needs of an ever-changing world. Adopting models of education which capitalize on developing the critical thinking skills of a student is a responsibility academic institutions should uphold. If you would like more information regarding the flipped classroom the Institute of G.O.D. uses, give us a call and we’d be happy to explain the steps we’ve taken to ensure students are learning both in and out of the classroom.

Sources:

“What, Why, and How to Implement a Flipped Classroom Model.” Omerad, Michigan State University. (visited 10 November 2022)

https://omerad.msu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162:what-why-and-how-to-implement-a-flipped-classroom-model&catid=27teachinG

“Flipped Classrooms.” The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard. (visited 9 November 2022).

https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/flipped-classrooms

“What is a Flipped Classroom?” Panopto. October 02, 2022 (visited 9 November 2022).

https://www.panopto.com/blog/what-is-a-flipped-classroom/

“An Introduction to Flipped Learning.” Lesley University. (visited 9 November 2022).

https://lesley.edu/article/an-introduction-to-flipped-learning

What’s a Flipped Classroom? [and 6 Reasons You Should Be in One]