IT and Library Services

Flipped Classroom

"Flipped Classroom describes the practice, used in higher education for some time, of asking students to use their individual study time to watch, read and listen to pre-prepared content, in preparation for their contact-time sessions with lecturers, which can then be used for more discursive or practical application-of-ideas activities. Panopto claims that "Universities who have begun flipping their classrooms report increased student engagement, attendance, and overall achievement." ( http://panopto.com/uses/flipped-classroom/)

Panopto and Flipped Classroom approaches

Panopto identify a number of ways in which their system supports effective flipped classroom practices:

Easily record pre-lecture videos

There's no easier way to record pre-lecture videos than with Panopto. In just a few mouse clicks, faculty members can record webcam video, slide presentations, screencasts and more from any laptop.

Share videos and assignments

Every pre-lecture video and assignment recorded with Panopto can be uploaded into your university's Panopto library and automatically shared through your university's LMS. Students can easily find and watch videos on any laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Flip your class from the field

Panopto's mobile apps make it easy to record micro-lectures and assignments from the field. Every recording can be easily uploaded into your university's video library and LMS for sharing with students.

Measure student engagement

Academic staff and administrators can easily view reports that show how many students watched each video, how long students watched videos before dropping off, which students watched each video, and more.

Add interactivity to flipped class videos

Panopto makes it easy to embed quizzes, polls, and other interactive web content directly into your pre-lecture videos.

Reuse and update existing course materials

With Panopto, you can upload pre-recorded videos from previous terms, and edit the videos and slides to ensure content is always up to date

Examples & Case Studies

Covering topics in ways that would be difficult in a lecture: http://bit.ly/1Bjn8w1
This U.S. biology lecturer uses his smartphone attached to a microscope for a more "close-up" demonstration of insect anatomy than he'd otherwise be able to give.

Self-selecting differentiation in secondary school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NgMH97KjsU

What works well as flipped content?

Key concepts & principles

Every subject has some core or precursor concepts that students need to come to terms with; recorded exploration of these makes it easier for students to revisit them and work them through.

Processes and procedures

Routine or step-by-step operations that students need to apply as part of their practice

Topics students find hard to grasp

You may know of topics that students routinely struggle with,year in, year out

What may not work so well?

Topics that are open to multiple interpretations or involve personal experience or debate. These might still be covered online,e.g. via forums.
There are more ideas and examples on the Panopto site: http://panopto.com/blog/category/flipped-classroom/

Things to consider:

Dr Jeremy Pritchard, a biologist at the University of Birmingham, makes these helpful suggestions:

  • Tie your flipped classroom content very obviously to assessment, so students see the value
  • Be clear with students what you're doing, why you're doing it and how it will help them learn
  • Make sure you've got a strong plan for the face-to-face session that would've been your lecture
  • When you make the contact time more interactive you have to relax and go with the flow if students want to take things in a different direction to the one you were expecting
  • Cut your coat according to your cloth – not everything lends itself to flipping, so you've got to make the right choices depending on your available resources and your students.

The University of Plymouth has also published a useful leaflet entitled 7 Steps to a Flipped Classroom and the University of Exeter Business School have published this rationale for pre-recording lecture content: https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/integrate/resources/lecturecapture-narrative.pdf