Flipping the Classroom: Three Methods

Kris Shaffer, University of Colorado–Boulder and Bryn Hughes, The University of Miami

“Flipping the class” is a hot topic in education today. In fact, the “flipped classroom” has become somewhat of a buzzword in some education—and especially education technology—circles. However, as some use this relatively new term uncritically, and others seek to co-opt it to hawk a product, confusion has grown around it, and many are unclear as to what a “flipped” class is.

In the following three essays, Bryn Hughes and Kris Shaffer offer some clarification about the “flipped” or “inverted” class illustrating three pedagogical models from the flipped-class movement that have proven successful in higher-ed settings, with examples from university-level music courses. Those three models are the basic flip, peer instruction with just-in-time teaching, and inquiry-driven learning. Though each of these models are fast becoming buzzwords in their own right, they each have much to offer the university instructor who seeks to increase their pedagogical effectiveness and help students take charge of their own learning. And though these three models can look quite different in practice, they all have the same underlying objectives: to put the student, rather than the instructor or the progression of content, at the center of the class, and to use in-class and out-of-class time as effectively as possible to help students meet the course goals.

The inverted class is certainly not the only way to accomplish these objectives, but it is an effective framework for helping individual students meet their educational goals in the variety of ways that are best to them, even in the context of a whole-class setting.

Part 1: “The Basic Flip”
Part 2: “Just-in-Time Teaching and Peer Instruction”
Part 3: “Inquiry-Based Learning”