Noora Hamdan and Patrick McKnight, Ph.D.

George Mason University

PEER REVI EW SUPPORT FROM
the FLNs Research Committee
Kari M. Arfstrom, Ph.D. Flipped Learning Network
A WHITE PAPER BASED ON THE
LITERATURE REVIEW TITLED
A REVIEW OF FLIPPED LEARNING
Katherine McKnight, Ph.D. Pearsons Center for Educator Efectiveness
WRI TTEN BY
THE FLIPPED LEARNING MODEL:
(c) Flipped Learning Network 2013
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to the following educators who
reviewed various versions of this literature review,
white paper and executive summary. Their input
was invaluable to the creation and editing of
these documents.
Special thank you to the following for their
editorial assistance and careful review:
Lori Brown, Ed.D., Pearson School Achievement
Services (Asheville , NC)
Richard Lee Colvin (Washington, D.C.)
Barbara Hockstader, Pearson (New York, NY)
THE FLIPPED LEARNING NETWORKS
RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Jonathan Bergmann, Board Member, Flipped
Learning Network (Arlington, VA). Lead
Technology Facilitator, The Joseph Sears School
(Kenilworth, IL)
Kristin Daniels, Board Member, Flipped Learning
Network (Arlington, VA). Technology and
Innovation Coach, Stillwater Area Public Schools
(Stillwater, MN)
Anna Davis, Associate Professor of Mathematics
and Department Head, Ohio Dominican
University (Columbus, OH)
Thomas F. Driscoll III, Social Studies Teacher,
Putnam High School (Putnam, CT)
Troy F. Faulkner, Mathematics Teacher, Byron High
School (Byron, MN); Adjunct Professor, Augsburg
College (Rochester, MN)
David J. Harrison, Instructional Designer,
University of Nevada, Reno; Adjunct Assistant
Professor of Educational Technology, Webster
University (St. Louis, MO); Doctoral student, Old
Dominion University (Norfolk, VA)
Chris Luker, Chemistry Teacher, Highland Local
Schools (Medina, OH); Doctoral Student,
Kent State University (Kent, OH)
Helaine W. Marshall, Associate Professor of
Education and Director of Language Education
Programs, Long Island University-Hudson
(Purchase, NY)
Lindsay C. Masland, Assistant Professor of
Psychology, Appalachian State University
(Boone, NC)
Jerry Overmyer, Mathematics and Science
Outreach Coordinator, Mathematics Instructor,
MAST Institute, University of Northern Colorado
(Greeley, CO)
Aaron Sams, Board Member, Flipped Learning
Network (Arlington, VA); Director of Digital
Learning, Reformed Presbyterian Theological
Seminary (Pittsburgh, PA)
AUTHORS
Noora Hamdan, Masters Student,
George Mason University
Patrick E. McKnight, Associate Professor of
Psychology, George Mason University
Katherine McKnight, Principal Director
of Research, Center for Educator Efectiveness,
Pearson
Kari M. Arfstrom, Executive Director,
Flipped Learning Network
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
3
A teacher stands at the front of the classroom, delivering a lecture on the Civil War and writing on a white
board. Students are hunched over desks arranged in rows, quietly taking notes. At the end of the hour,
they copy down the nights homework assignment, which consists of reading from a thick textbook and
answering questions at the end of the chapter. This dramatic, defning period in our nations history, which
left questions unanswered that are as relevant today as they were then, has been reduced to a dry, familiar
exercise. The teacher is acutely aware that many students do not understand the days lessons, but does
not have the time to meet with them to help during the 50-minute class period. The next day the teacher
will collect the homework and briefy review the previous nights reading assignment. But if students have
additional questions there wont be time to linger; the class cannot fall behind schedule. There is a lot of
material to cover before the test at the end of the unit.
Although it conficts with decades of research into efective practices, this model of instruction remains all
too common in American K-12 and postsecondary classrooms. However, more and more educators now
recognize that the learning needs of students, rather than the curriculum pacing guide, should drive their
instruction. Educators are developing ways to personalize learning, using technologies such as video, digital
simulations, and computer games. However, unless the traditional teaching model is altered, technologies
such as these will have limited efects. One alternative model gaining attention and advocates is called
Flipped Learning. In this model, some lessons are delivered outside of the group learning space using video
or other modes of delivery. Class time, then, is available for students to engage in hands-on learning,
collaborate with their peers, and evaluate their progress, and for teachers to provide one-on-one assistance,
guidance and inspiration.
Two rural Colorado chemistry teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, are often referred to as
the pioneers of Flipped Learning. Concerned that students frequently missed end-of-day classes to travel
to other schools for competitions, games or other events, they began to use live video recordings and
screencasting software in 2007 to record lectures, demonstrations, and slide presentations with annotations.
Those materials were then posted on the then-nascent YouTube for students to access. In a book on their
work called Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (2012), Bergmann and Sams
reported that after they fipped their classroom, students began interacting more in class and, because time
could be used more fexibly, students who were behind received more individual attention while advanced
students continued to progress.
In 2012, Sams and Bergmann started the not-for-proft Flipped Learning Network (FLN) to provide
educators with the knowledge, skills, and resources to successfully implement the Flipped Learning model.
The online Community of Practice called the FLN Ning, is a free website for educators who have fipped
or wish to fip their classes. To gauge the growth of interest, in January 2012, about 2,500 educators were
members; by March 2013, more than 12,000 educators were participating in the Networks Ning.

With interest continuing to grow, the Flipped Learning Network, with the support of Pearson and
researchers at George Mason University, undertook a comprehensive review of research relevant to
the model.
1
This white paper defnes and describes the Flipped Learning model, briefy note its historical
foundations and address common misconceptions. We discuss some of the learning theories that underlie
Flipped Learning and describe limited empirical research fndings.
1 See www.fippedlearning.org/review for full length review.
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
4
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
PILLARS OF FLIPPED LEARNING
DEFINING
FLIPPED LEARNING
In a Flipped Learning setting, teachers make
lessons available to students to be accessed
whenever and wherever it is convenient for
the student, at home, in class, during study hall,
on the bus to a game, or even from a hospital
bed. Teachers can deliver this instruction by
recording and narrating screencasts of work
they do on their computers, creating videos of
themselves teaching, or curating video lessons
from trusted Internet sites. Students can watch the videos or screencasts as many times as they need to,
enabling them to be more productive learners in the classroom. Since direct instruction is delivered outside
the group learning space, teachers can then use in-class time to actively engage students in the learning
process and provide them with individualized support.
Those are the basic elements of a fipped classroom but, as with traditional classrooms, no two fipped
classrooms are identical. While there is no how-to list associated with the Flipped Learning model, there
are unifying themes. A cadre of experienced educators from the Flipped Learning Network, along with
Pearson (2013), identifed those four Pillars of F-L-I-P, an acronym of Flexible Environment, Learning
Culture, Intentional Content, and Professional Educator.
2
FLIPPED LEARNING REQUIRES
FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENTS
Flipped classrooms allow for a variety of learning modes; educators often physically
rearrange their learning space to accommodate the lesson or unit, which might involve
group work, independent study, research, performance, and evaluation. They create
Flexible Environments in which students choose when and where they learn. Flipped
educators accept that the in-class time will be somewhat chaotic and noisy, as compared
with the quiet typical of a well-behaved class during a lecture. Furthermore, educators who fip their classes
are fexible in their expectations of student timelines for learning and how students are assessed. Educators
build appropriate assessments systems that objectively measure understanding in a way that is meaningful for
students and the teacher.
2 The four Pillars of F-L-I-P are Flexible Environment, Learning Culture, Intentional Content, and Professional Educator.
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
5
FLIPPED LEARNING REQUIRES A SHIFT IN
LEARNING CULTURE
In the traditional teacher-centered model, the teacher is the main source of information, the
teacher is the sage on the stage (King, 1993), i.e. the sole content expert who provides
information to students, generally via direct instruction lecture. In the Flipped Learning
model, there is a deliberate shift from a teacher-centered classroom to a student-centered
approach, where in-class time is meant for exploring topics in greater depth and creating
richer learning opportunities. Students move from being the product of teaching to the center of learning,
where they are actively involved in knowledge formation through opportunities to participate in and evaluate
their learning in a manner that is personally meaningful. Students can theoretically pace their learning by
reviewing content outside the group learning space, and teachers can maximize the use of face-to-face
classroom interactions to check for and ensure student understanding and synthesis of the material. Flipped
educators help students explore topics in greater depth using student-centered pedagogies aimed at their
readiness level or zone of proximal development, where they are challenged but not so much so that they
are demoralized (Vygotsky, 1978).
FLIPPED LEARNING REQUIRES
INTENTIONAL CONTENT
Flipped educators evaluate what content they need to teach directly, since lectures are
an efective tool for teaching particular skills and concepts, and what materials students
should be allowed to frst explore on their own outside of the group learning space. They
continually think about how they can use the Flipped Learning model to help students gain
conceptual understanding, as well as procedural fuency. Educators use Intentional Content
to maximize classroom time in order to adopt various methods of instruction such as active learning
strategies, peer instruction, problem-based learning, or mastery or Socratic methods, depending on grade
level and subject matter. If they continue to teach using a teacher-centered approach
3
, nothing will be gained.
FLIPPED LEARNING REQUIRES
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS
Some critics of Flipped Learning have suggested that the instructional videos employed
in the model will eventually replace educators. That is misguided. In the Flipped Learning
model, skilled, Professional Educators are more important than ever, and often more
demanding, than in a traditional one. They must determine when and how to shift direct
instruction from the group to the individual learning space, and how to maximize the face-
3 The teacher-centered approach as described by Huba and Freed (2000) emphasizes a passive student role in learning as teachers
transmit knowledge, outside of the context in which it will be used. The teacher is the primary information giver and evaluator,
and assessment is used to monitor learning, with an emphasis on the right answers.
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
6
to-face time between teachers and students. Gojak (2012) noted that the right question for educators to
ask themselves is not whether to adopt the Flipped Learning model, but instead, how they can utilize the
afordances of the model to help students gain conceptual understanding, as well as procedural fuency
when needed. During class time, educators continually observe their students, provide them with feedback
relevant in the moment, and continuously assess their work. Professional Educators are refective in
their practice, connect with each other to improve their trade, accept constructive criticism, and tolerate
controlled classroom chaos. While Professional Educators remain very important, in a Flipped Learning
model, they take on less visibly prominent roles in the classroom.
RESEARCH ON FLIPPED LEARNING
Quantitative and rigorous qualitative research on Flipped Learning is limited, but there is a great deal of
research that supports the key elements of the model with respect to instructional strategies for engaging
students in their learning. As mentioned throughout this paper, a key feature of the Flipped Learning model
is the opportunity to increase active learning opportunities in the classroom by shifting direct instruction
outside of the larger group learning space. A signifcant body of research on active learning strategies
supports the efectiveness of these approaches in increasing student learning and achievement
(e.g., see Prince, 2004).
Active learning provides students with opportunities to interact with content through reading, writing,
listening, talking, and refecting (University of Minnesota Center of Learning and Education, 2008). Evidence
indicates that active learning also improves student academic performance (Hake, 1998; Knight & Wood,
2005; Michael, 2006; Freeman et al., 2007; Chaplin, 2009); increases student engagement and critical
thinking; and improves student attitudes (ODowd & Aguilar-Roca, 2009). Akinoglu and Tandogan (2006)
showed that problem-based active learning in science courses has a positive infuence on student academic
achievement and attitudes and conceptual development. The researchers also found that students who
engaged in active learning had signifcantly fewer misconceptions.
Eric Mazur at Harvard University is a leading researcher on peer instruction (1996), which emphasizes
the kind of in-class interactional elements made more practical in a fipped classroom. In a talk he gave in
2011, he discussed how assistive technology allowed students to respond and give feedback during the
peer instruction session, demonstrating how the process maximizes time with the instructor and increase
the focus on higher order thinking skills. In traditional settings, students use such time for note taking and
repeating information.
4

In Mazurs model, students are engaged by having them confront the logical progression of their thinking
and their misconceptions. Once you engage the students minds, theres an eagerness to learn, to master,
Mazur explained (Berrett, 2012). Bloom (1984) observed that the constant feedback and correction
students receive signifcantly improves learning and achievement. Additionally, decades of research on how
student misconceptions can interfere with learning, indicate the importance of strategies to identify and
overcome those misconceptions (e.g., Lochead & Mestre, 1988).
4 Keynote at the Building Learning Communities conference in Boston, 2012.
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
7
In addition to research on active learning and peer instruction that supports several proposed mechanisms
of the Flipped Learning model, Ramsey Musallam, a chemistry teacher in San Francisco and adjunct
professor of education at Touro University, researched the efects of pre-training (receiving instruction prior
to in-class instruction) on in-class learning. His study found, not surprisingly, that students who had studied
material outside of class found it to be easier to learn new material in class (Musallam, 2010). This and other
studies (Ayers, 2006; Mayer, 2009) suggest that pre-training may be an efective means of managing intrinsic
cognitive load, thus facilitating learning.
Little formal data exist to show the efect of Flipped Learning on special populations, such as English language
learners. But it is reasonable to think that they would beneft in several ways. Marshall and DeCapua (2013)
note that, in traditional classrooms, English language learners put most of their efort into the lower levels
of Blooms Taxonomy (understanding and remembering) as they attempt to follow the teachers instruction.
In the fipped classroom, the teacher moves lower levels of the taxonomy outside of the class where
students work on mastering concepts and can pause, rewind and review the lesson at any time. In class, the
teacher and students can focus on the upper levels of the taxonomy (applying, analyzing, evaluating, and
creating). The researchers also note this model increases opportunities for in-class interaction with native
speakers, which can help English language learners further develop their academic language profciency and
confdence in their speaking abilities. As more classes are fipped and data are collected on learners with
diverse needs and backgrounds, it will be important to monitor the efects and possible benefts.
FLIPPED LEARNING RESULTS
K- 12 EDUCATI ON
While there is little empirical research on the efects of Flipped Learning on student achievement, the
research that does exist generally consists of teacher reports on student achievement after adopting the
model (based on course and/or state test scores), descriptions of fipped classrooms, course completion
rates, and survey research measuring
an array of outcomes, such as teacher,
student and parent attitudinal changes.
This research, as well as case studies
such as the following, further suggests
that the Flipped Learning model is
promising and warrants further inquiry.
5

Byron High School in Minnesota
embraced the Continuous Improvement
model in 2006 in an attempt to improve
student achievement in mathematics.
In 2006, less than one-third of students
(29.9%) passed the state mathematics
test (Minnesota Comprehensive
5 More detailed descriptions of these as well as several other case studies, are found in the full literature review of Flipped
Learning, available at www.fippedlearning.org/review. Likewise, an executive summary is available at www.fippedlearning.org/
summary
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
STATEWIDE
100%
MATH 11 ALL STUDENTS
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
34.4%
41.6%
43.3%
48.6%
42.5%
BYRON PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL
* Test format changed in 2012, and are not equally comparable to previous year scores
50.5%
59.8%
65.6%
73.8%
54.8%
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
8
Assessments) and ACT composite scores averaged 21.2. The schools textbooks were outdated but no
money was available to replace them. In 2009 the math department decided to eliminate textbooks. The
teachers wrote a curriculum, identifed materials available for free on the Internet, and fipped their high
school math classrooms (Fulton, 2012). The teachers committed themselves to monitoring achievement
data and analyzing students needs. By 2011, the percentage of students passing the state test had increased
to 73.8%, and the schools average ACT composite score had improved to 24.5. Moreover, by 2012, 86.6%
of Byrons seniors had completed four or more credits of math. In recognition of these gains, Byron High
School was designated a National Blue Ribbon School in 2010. The school also won the Intel Schools of
Distinction award for High School Mathematics in 2011 (Fulton, 2012).

40%
20%
10%
0%
50%
30%
MME
Math
(11
TH
grade)
MME
Reading
(11
th
grade)
MME
Science
(11
th
grade)
MME
Social Studies
(11
th
grade)
MME
Writing
(11
th
grade)
2010-11 2011-12
9%
23%
9%
23%
16%
13%
34%
12%
28%
23%
CLINTONDALE ACHIEVEMENT INCREASES ON MICHIGAN MERIT EXAM (MME)
Teachers at Clintondale (MI)
High School struggled to
connect with students using
lecture-centered teaching
models. Located in a suburb of
Detroit, three-quarters of
Clintondales students were
from low-income families. To
better address the students
needs, the school fipped all of
its 9
th
grade classes in 2010
(Clintondale High School, 2013). By the end of the frst semester, they were seeing results. According to the
schools principal Greg Green (2012), failure rates dropped by as much as 33 percentage points. Additionally,
the number of student discipline cases dropped from 736 in 2009 to 249 in 2010 and to 187 in 2011, a drop
of 74% in two years. Parent complaints also dropped after the change in instructional models, from two
hundred down to seven. Encouraged by these results, the principal converted the entire school to a Flipped
Learning model in fall 2011.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Flipped Learning is also being used in higher education and, similar to the early indications from K-12,
seems to be resulting in improved student performance and student and instructor morale. In one example
(Papadopoulos & Roman, 2010), students in an electrical engineering class watched lectures on their own
and worked on exercises and problems during class time. The professors observed that students progressed
faster enabling them to cover more material at a greater depth. Three-quarters of the students in those
classes said they frequently or always helped their peers with their learning. Test scores exceeded those of
students in the traditional learning environment.
The Introduction to Digital Engineering course at California State University, Los Angeles for freshmen and
sophomores has been largely devoted to collaborative project-based learning since 2008. The class was
fipped to increase professor-student interactions and make learning more active. The shift seems to have
been deepened students understanding and improved their design skills (Warter-Perez & Dong, 2012).

Not all research on Flipped Learning in higher education has indicated positive efects. It may not be the best
structure, for example, for an introductory course. Most students who enroll in those courses may not have
developed deep interest in them. Also, they may not have the skills they need to solve problems that are not
clearly defned. For example, students in a fipped college introductory statistics course reported being less
than satisfed with the way they were prepared for the tasks they were given (Strayer, 2012).
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
9

Students in a research methods and statistics class were unsatisfed with the instruction they received on line
but appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with peers in the classroom (Frederickson, Reed, & Cliford,
2005). There were no signifcant diferences found in improvements in knowledge and reductions in anxiety
between the two versions of the course.
A study of a computer applications course in which some students took a fipped version and some did not
also found no signifcant diferences in test scores ( Johnson & Renner 2012). One reason might have been
that the course instructor was asked to ofer the two versions, absent any perceived need.

PERCEPTIONS FROM TEACHERS,
ADMINISTRATORS, AND PARENTS
A modest amount of research exists from individual educators who practice the Flipped Learning model
and their views on behalf of their pupils. Until recently, Flipped Learning has been mainly a grassroots
movement, but now principals and superintendents are inquiring more about this model, as well as parents
of students in fipped classes. A number of surveys have been conducted with these three groups and are
highlighted below.
Teachers: In fall 2012, over 466,000 K-12 students, parents,
teachers, and administrators participated in the annual Speak
Up online surveys facilitated by the national education nonproft
organization, Project Tomorrow (2013). Specifc questions
about Flipped Learning were asked for the frst time. The survey
defned Flipped Learning as a model in which students watched
instructional videos as homework and class time was used for
discussions, projects, experiments and to provide personalized
coaching to individual students. Of the more than 56,000
teachers and librarians who responded, 6% indicated they were
using videos they found online and 3% said they had already
created videos as part of fipping their classroom.
The survey also found that 18% of teachers and 27% of administrators said they were interested in trying
Flipped Learning this year. Twenty percent of teachers said they wanted to learn more about how to create
instructional videos for their students to watch and 15% wanted to learn how to implement a fipped
classroom model.
Nearly 60% of the students in grades 6-12 who participated in the Speak Up surveys agreed with the
statement that Flipped Learning would be a good way for me to learn. The May, 2013, issue of the School
Administrator, published by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) (www.aasa.org)
dedicated the publication to Flipped Learning: Upending time on task in school and at home. http://www.
aasa.org/

This new model is challenging teachers to refect
on their practice and rethink how they reach
their students. It is an approach that encourages
students to set the pace for truly individualized
instruction. It is a catalyst for teachers,
administrators, and students to change the way
things have always been done.
Joe Corcoran, Principal,
Harriet Giford Elementary School, Elgin, IL
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10
A survey of 450 teachers, conducted by ClassroomWindow in conjunction with the Flipped Learning
Network (2012), found that teachers who were using Flipped Learning associate it with improved student
performance and attitudes and increased job satisfaction. Of the teachers surveyed, 66% reported their
students standardized test scores increased after fipping their classrooms. Eight in 10 perceived an
improvement in their students attitudes towards learning. Nearly 90% reported an improvement in
their own job satisfaction, with 46% reporting signifcant improvement.
Students: Nearly 60% of the students in grades 6-12 who participated in the Speak Up surveys agreed
with the statement that Flipped Learning would be a good way for me to learn. Close to 80% of student
respondents to the Flipped Learning and Democratic Education survey in 2012 said they experienced
more frequent and positive interactions with teachers and peers during class time.
6
All of the 26 educators
surveyed agreed that, since fipping their classrooms, learning has become more active. Over 90% said
that positive interactions between students and teachers have increased. The survey was small but it does
suggest that Flipped Learning is changing the mode of in-class instruction. The students surveyed said they
have more access to course materials and instruction; more opportunities to work at their own pace; more
choices of how to demonstrate their learning; and that they were more likely to view learning as an active
process. (Child Trends, 2010).
70%
80%
FLIPPED LEARNING AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION SURVEY
of students agree that they...
- Have more constant and positive interactions
- Have greater opportunities to work at own pace
- Have greater access to course material and instruction
- Have more choice in how they demonstrate their learning
- View learning as a more active process
of students agree that they...
- Are more likely to engage in collaborative decision making
- Are more likely to engage in critical thinking and problem solving
- Teacher is more likely to take into account their interests,
strengths, and weaknesses
- Are more likely to have a choice in what learning tasks they engage in
Parents: The Flipped Learning
model difers from the traditional
classrooms in signifcant ways.
Whenever childrens homework
changes, as it will with Flipped
Learning, parents need to be on
board. With Flipped Learning,
parents may welcome the
opportunity to watch videos with
their children to gain a better
understanding of what they are
learning and may become more
involved as a result. Parents of 5
th

grade math students who
participated in a pilot project in
Stillwater, Minnesota reported
that their childrens attitudes
towards math were either the same or improved, their children were doing better in math, and wanted the
fipped approach to be continued (Stillwater, 2012).
Karen Cator, former director of the ofce of educational technology for the U.S. Department of
Education, also says that Flipped Learning may increase parents participation in their students learning.
Cator acknowledges that while the trend is growing, more research is required in order to determine its
efectiveness (Baker, 2012).
6 Flipped Learning and Democratic Education survey conducted by Tom Driscoll at Teachers College, Columbia University in 2012
was completed by 26 educators and 203 students from across the United States.
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11
Administrators: Of the more than 6,000 administrators who
responded to the same SpeakUp survey, 23% said that their
teachers are using videos they found online and 19% reported
that their teachers are creating their own videos for use in
Flipped Learning. Teachers and site administrators agreed that
the following hindrances, however, are keeping them from fipping
their classrooms: concern that students might not have access
to the Internet at home; the teachers needs for professional
development to help them learn to make or fnd high quality
videos; and how to best utilize the additional classroom time
(Speak Up survey, 2012).
CONCERNS ABOUT FLIPPED LEARNING
Skeptics of Flipped Learning say that there is little that is new in it. They say that good teachers always try
to meet the needs of individual students and use the tools that will help them do that. That is true. And,
as noted previously, the potential of Flipped Learning lies not in the videos but in how delivering direct
instruction in a diferent environmnet opens up time and space inside the classroom to engage in higher
leverage instructional practices and individualize learning. Teachers need to be thoughtful about how to
maximize the opportunity for students to become active learners who are empowered to take charge of
their own learning. Even critics acknowledge that the changeover to the Flipped Learning model encourages
teachers to re-evaluate their teaching (e.g., Stumpenhorst, 2012).
Another concern is voiced by teachers and others who believe Flipped Learning undervalues the power of
good, engaging, face-to-face Socratic teaching. Critics worry they wont have the opportunity to do that kind
of teaching because class time is devoted to students collaborating, student-generated and -led activities,
and other interactive exercises. However, Marshall (2013) points out that teachers are more important than
ever in Flipped Learning. However, instead of the teacher lecturing to students, their role is to lead from
behind. In other words, the teacher has the tasks of observation, feedback, and assessment and guiding
the learners thinking, in the best spirit of the Socratic Method. The diference, and perhaps a major beneft,
according to Marshall (2013) is that this instruction is spontaneous, cannot be planned out, and is relevant
for the learners at that moment. Furthermore, the learners themselves can fll these same three roles as they
observe and provide feedback to each other during class and as they assess their own learning.
Gary Stager, an educator, speaker, and journalist, is a critic of Flipped Learning. He voiced three major
concerns during a 2012 radio debate with Aaron Sams on Southern California Public Radio (2013). First,
he asserts that, the model emphasizes traditional homework and lectures, although their position is fipped.
Second, he says that the demand for Flipped Learning results from faws in the curriculum, which require that
students study ahead of time. Finally, he argues that the Flipped Learning model is a means of standardizing
learning. He worries that in the future that the direct instruction delivered via video will be outsourced to
mediocre, low-cost teachers to replace more highly paid veteran teachers.
I am certain many of my colleagues across
central Illinois thought I had indeed fipped out...
We were proposing the entire high school staf.
Our failure rate was simply too high to accept.
Principal Don Willett and I set out to change the
course of our education content delivery system
and ultimately the lives of our 350 students.
Patrick Twomey, Superintendent,
Havana School District #12 Havana, IL
WHITE PAPER FLIPPED LEARNING
12
Should Flipped Learning devolve into little more than lectures and routinized, low-level homework
exercises, Stager would certainly have a point. An instructional model is but a framework and, whether it
succeeds or not, depends almost entirely on the implementation. Boring lectures can be delivered digitally
almost as easily as they can be presented in class and class time in a Flipped Learning model could be taken
up with flling out worksheets and doing computerized drills. But that is not the intent nor is it inevitable.
Indeed, teaching successfully in a fipped classroom is even more demanding than is traditional teaching.
So, if Flipped Learning is to succeed, teachers will need to be trained and supported in how to engage
students more deeply in content.
In regard to Stagers concern about mass-produced, cheaply made videos becoming the mainstay of fipped
classrooms, Sams and Bergmann think that the model works best when teachers make their own videos
for their own classes. However, the use of videotaped lessons does make it possible for the teacher to fnd
great instruction produced by others, such as those found on Khan Academy or TED-Ed. Those lessons
could introduce students to an alternative style of teaching or supplement lessons on subjects or provide
lessons in areas in which their teacher is not expert.
Another concern that is raised is that not all students have access to the high-speed Internet or computers.
While this is a legitimate concern, it should be noted that home access to computers and the Internet has
expanded greatly over the last two decades. In 2010, almost six out of every ten children ages 3 to 17 used
the Internet and almost 85% had access to a computer at home. Moreover, the ways that even low-income
students can access digital content are increasing rapidly. (Child Trends, 2012)
Flipped Learning might not work for all educators and students. Not all educators are successful in their
implementations and there have been students who after trying the fipped classroom experience, prefer
traditional learning. In their book, Bergmann and Sams (2012) noted that for lower elementary grades,
Flipped Learning might be appropriate for certain lessons or units, but not entire classes.
Moreover, as we illustrate throughout this paper, more qualitative and quantitative research needs to
be done to identify how the potential of the model can be maximized. The existing research clearly
demonstrates that the Flipped Learning model can be one way to create a classroom environment that
is learner-centered. This is something that most teachers want to do but are constrained by the current
organization of schools and other barriers. Michael Gorman (2012) observed that any learner-centered
educator would provide activities in the classroom that are action based, authentic, connected and
collaborative, innovative, high level, engaging, experience based, project based, inquiry based, and self-
actualizing. The Flipped Learning model provides that bridge to a learner-centered classroom environment,
thereby enabling deeper learning (Bergmann & Sams, 2012) that educators are seeking.
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