Learner Engagement: Flipped Classroom

What

Lecture materials are delivered to participants before live instruction. Participants prepare by engaging with recorded lectures, readings, or other media. During live instruction, participants apply knowledge to active learning activities, such as case studies, project-based learning, problem sets, discussions, and group work. 

We also recommend starting small with one or partially flipped class. Flipping the classrooms is demanding for instructors and participants. Instructors must plan by finding/creating outside material, facilitating class time, and assessing performance. Participants are being asked to prepare (engage, take notes, etc), collaborate, and engage. Therefore, we recommend adopting this technique with a clear purpose, such as guiding group collaboration, encouraging active learning, and asking questions rather than remote memorization or passive listening. 

Resources 

Flipped Classroom, Yale.

Flipped Classrooms, Harvard.

Strategies

1. Decide the reason/goal for flipping a classroom.
2. Select an active learning strategy aligning with content and objective(s).
3. Find or create resources/content for participants to access at home. 
   1. Provide instructions, recommend taking notes, and explain what to expect during class.
   2. Give participants an expectation for time spent preparing; e.g. expect to spend around 1 hour of reading and note-taking. Bring notes on the text’s 3 main ideas to prepare for tomorrow’s round table discussion.
4. Share resources in Brightspace or Google folder. 
5. Encouraging preparation strategies:
   1. Implement a Readiness Assessment Test to encourage interaction with materials. This test can be applied to any preparation material (not just readings). Create a low-stakes Brightspace quiz with short open-ended questions about the material. Then, ask each participant to take the quiz before class. 
   2. Use Brightspace analytics to check if students are accessing materials before class. Preparation. Let participants know you have access to this data. 
6. Typical pre-recorded lecture options:
   1. Powerpoint supports voice recordings on specific slides.
      1.  Enter PowerPoint and follow these steps:  Select the Insert tab > Insert Audio on the far-right > Record Audio in the dropdown menu.

Academic Technology has a recording studio for higher-quality pre-lectures, etc. We can also bring equipment to your classroom. Contact us at steinhardt.technology@nyu.edu to make an appointment.