The Flipped Classroom

A Teaching Enhancement Fund Report

Derek Raine & Sarah Gretton

Centre for Interdisciplinary Science

University of Leicester

1
 Project Team

Derek Raine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Science

Sarah Gretton, Centre for Interdisciplinary Science

Maarten Tas, Department of Education 1

1
Current affiliation: Beauchamp School, Leicester. Before leaving the University, Maarten Tas helped with an
early stage of the work, contributing a class observation and assisting with the development of the
questionnaire. He also offered suggestions on an early draft of the report.

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 Table of Contents

Contents
Project Team ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 3
Executive Summary................................................................................................................................. 4
1. Overview: The Flap about Flip ........................................................................................................ 5
2. Variations on the Flipped Approach .............................................................................................. 8
3. The Project ...................................................................................................................................... 9
4. The Observations .......................................................................................................................... 11
5. Flip at other institutions: some examples..................................................................................... 20
6. A flipper’s guide ............................................................................................................................ 22
7. Conclusions and future directions ................................................................................................ 24
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 25
References ............................................................................................................................................ 25
Appendix: Flipped learning Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 28

Acknowledgements

Denise Sweeney critically read a draft of the report and made extensive suggestions. We are indebted
to Natalie Rowley for insights into the Birmingham Chemistry course, to Simon Lancaster for
information on his work at UEA and to Ross Galloway for discussion of the Edinburgh Physics and
Mathematics programmes. Thanks also to the lecturers at Leicester who allowed one of us to sit in on
their classes (and to the students who tolerated the interruption and completed the questionnaire).
We are happy to acknowledge the financial support provided by the University of Leicester Teaching
Enhancement Fund.

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 Executive Summary

The “flipped classroom” refers to a strategy of blended learning in which “homework” precedes class
time. This approach started in University programmes (graduate and undergraduate) but was only
called “flipping” in 2007 in a College programme (Bergmann and Sams, 2012). From this point it has
grown in popularity and has attracted much attention recently, particularly in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.

The central driver for the flipped approach is the dissatisfaction with levels of conceptual
understanding achieved through traditional methods. The recent impetus derives also from the ready
availability of video technology and classroom response systems (“clickers”), which affords the
opportunity to replace lectures by video recordings and lecture time by interactive classes. In this
approach students come to classes having done the required preparation and lecture time can be
spent on more challenging aspects of learning. Although the pedagogy does not require the use of
video for the pre-class delivery of material, and most of our local examples will eschew this mode,
much of the activity and the pedagogic research, has been around the use of video.

This report is based on a project carried out for the University with funding from the Teaching
Enhancement Fund to explore the use of flipped learning at Leicester. We aimed to observe and report
on a range of non-traditional approaches that can be considered to come under the general heading
of flipped learning and to record the experiences of staff and students experimenting with the format.
Lecturers volunteering to participate in the project came mainly from STEM disciplines.

We find that there are significant challenges to making flipped learning work, to address which we can
be guided by some of the experiences at other institutions, which we report, and by the research
literature. Challenges include student engagement with pre-class preparation, attendance at classes
when lecture material is available on line and, above all, the generation of suitable in-class activities.
We provide some guidelines for staff wishing to implement the flipped approach. Lecturers who have
taken up the challenge have done so in the belief that this is not a passing fad, but a genuine revolution
in matching pedagogy to technology for the 21st century University.

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 1. Overview: The Flap about Flip
If there is no problem to fix, perhaps we should not worry about fixing it. However, a lot of research
shows that much of what is done in higher education is not particularly effective (Weinman, 2014) so
perhaps there is a problem. Let’s start with the traditional lecture.

Walter Lewin’s lectures are available on the web. To quote from the blog ‘Pseudoteaching’ 2:

His demonstrations were thrilling. His board work was impeccable . . . . It looks like good
teaching, but he was the one doing all the talking. It looks like the students are learning, but
they were just sitting there watching. To judge by the failure and drop-out rates, and
considering that traditional teaching does not get much better, it did not work that well.

As a result the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has abandoned lectures in introductory
physics courses and replaced them with small group interactive instruction.

Closer to home, David Sands from the University of Hull tells a story in which he tested his students’
retention after a lecture by repeatedly telling them that he was giving them one important message,
and that if they took away nothing else, that message at least they should remember. He tested them
at the end: of course, they all remembered that there was something important they had to
remember, but Sands claims that not one of them could remember what it was. In another test that
one of my colleagues conducted here at Leicester, he compared students’ lecture notes to what he
had said and had written on the board in the course of the lecture: as he put it looking at the results:
“with these notes no wonder they don’t answer the examination questions correctly!” So it’s not just
Harvard students who do not shine.

Much work has been done on techniques to improve the lecture. We now accept that students cannot
absorb new content continuously for an hour, so there should be breaks; we may hand out lecture
notes to subvert the need to listen and write at the same time; we provide PowerPoint slides for study
after the lecture or even full video recordings; we use interactive devices of various types to encourage
audience participation. And it all works fine – for a single lecture, or perhaps two. As we have seen
from the research, it does not work well for a course of lectures (e.g. Freeman et al., 2014). We may
not know that anything else will work any better, but we can explore the possibilities.

It has always been the case that students who come prepared get the most out of a class; the issue is
how this can be achieved. In the Humanities the answer sometimes seems obvious: read the book.
But this is easier said than done at anything other than a superficial level. The uninitiated (all of us
outside our specialisms) need a guide. So we read the book about reading the book (the handy “Short
Introduction to…”) and to make it even more accessible, we invent the lecture. Thus, the order of
things is inverted: come to the lecture (unprepared) and then read the book. Hopefully one comes to
the next lecture a little bit better prepared for the next intellectual challenge.

In STEM subjects, particularly the more mathematical ones, the structure has evolved so that the
lecture notes are presumed to contain all the required information and students are then invited to
test their understanding on some set homework exercises. The problem is that much lecture time is
then taken up with the lower levels of thinking (knowing and understanding in the learning taxonomy

2
http://fnoschese.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/pt-pseudoteaching-mit-physics/

5
introduced by Bloom et al. (1956)) leaving little time to develop the higher levels (analysis, evaluation
and synthesis) which students are supposed to pick up from the exercises. The basic concept of flipped
learning is to use the homework time for the lower levels and to redeploy the lecture time for class
discussion and practice at higher level thinking. The technology that makes this widely implementable
is the computer video in which the lower level facts and concepts can be presented in accessible
(lecture!) form (Bergmann and Sams, 2012).

In pure flipping, the live lecture is replaced by a virtual lecture leaving the lecture time free for
interactions between the lecturer and the – now informed – students. Most lecturers find pretty soon
that students do not really like to watch an unedited recording of a live lecture, for whatever reason,
and provide shorter edited snippets to be studied prior to the class time (Enfield, 2013; Mason et al.,
2013). We have defined “pure” flipping here to involve specifically video content. Of course, pre-class
activities could involve audio or print media, but it has been the access to readily produced video that
has underpinned the excitement around the flip movement.

The concept of flipping is based on accumulated knowledge about how students learn. Any one
sentence summary of the vast body of educational literature on cognition is likely to sound naïve; but
here goes: students learn by doing structured sequences of tasks, adopting a variety of learning styles
with multiple opportunities to adapt to feedback and to find relationships between concepts. (In other
words, students should act and reflect, read, write, talk, listen, negotiate, build and so on.)

The reader may recognise “doing” from experiential learning (Dewey, 1938), “structured” from
“constructionist” and “relationships” from “accommodation and assimilation” (Piaget, 1950), “staged”
from “proximal development” (Vygotsky, 1978) and “learning styles” from Kolb (1984) and other later
authors, but used here in the sense of Waring and Evans (2015) as spelled out in the parenthesis
above.

Our one sentence focus on cognition makes education seem very dry, unexciting and functional. Critics
will point out that there is much more to learning than that. We should consider also affective aspects
(motivation and values, for example) and, some would add, the psychomotor domain (perception and
motor skills). Bloom et al. (1956) write a lot about this, but they are hardly ever referred to in the
literature, showing how the focus on cognition in learning still has the priority. With this focus on
cognition there is this danger that resources are prepared to cater for that alone without
understanding the importance of affective aspects of learning. Goals and values are indeed crucial in
motivating students and motivation is indeed critical to learning (Ambrose et al, 2010), but these are
not issues specific to flipped learning. . The flipped classroom seeks to achieve this by providing a
forum for the social construction of understanding

In terms of implementing the theory there are many principles of best practice in the literature. How
does the flipped classroom match the established principles of good teaching? Here we look at two
(both of which happen to have seven points). Our opinions are presented in tabular form (tables 1 and
2 below).

Both of these evaluations show how flipping can be used to support good practice. As several staff
interviewed for this report, and the research literature emphasise, it is not an automatic formula for
success! In section 5 we offer some guidance to successful flipping, based on our observations.

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The evidence for statistically significant increases in test scores using flip is weak (see Bormann, 2014
p29). On the other hand the qualitative data on improvements in student engagement are significantly
positive (Johnson, 2013). It may be that (as with the extensive PBL literature, e.g. Strobel and
Barneveld, 2009) future research will reveal few short-term effects of flipping, but improved higher
order learning (in the sense of Bloom’s taxonomy) in the long term.

Principle How fulfilled

1. Encourages contacts between The flipped class can be more interactive than
students and faculty. the traditional lecture
2. Develops reciprocity and Group discussions
cooperation among students.
3. Uses active learning techniques. Collaborative application of knowledge,
(a.k.a. "Encourages active learning") feedback and evaluation
4. Gives prompt feedback. Immediate feedback on misconceptions in class
time
5. Emphasizes time on task. Requires preparation for class
6. Communicates high expectations Expectations expressed in higher order
questioning
7. Respects diverse talents and ways of Multiple resources; multiple modes of
learning. interaction

Table 1.Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987)

Principle How fulfilled

1. Student’s prior knowledge can help or hinder Students have the opportunity to address gaps
learning in knowledge in preparation for classes
2. How students organise knowledge influences The preparation builds a framework for higher
how they learn and apply what they know level understanding
3. Students’ motivation generates, directs, and Flipped learning is generally found to increase
sustains what they do to learn motivation (Bormann, 2014)
4. To develop mastery, students must acquire Flipped lecture checks on component skill and
component skills, practice integrating them, gives the opportunities to assess, apply and
and know when to apply what they have discuss previously acquired knowledge
learned
5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted Flipped class gives immediate feedback on
feedback are critical to learning students’ preparation for the task or a
challenging problem
6. Students’ current level of development Cooperative learning is found to increase
interacts with the social, emotional, and student learning gains (Felder and Brent, 2007).
intellectual climate of the course to impact If the students prepare for the ‘what’ and ‘how’
learning at home there is more time for poignant
questions in the classroom.
7. To become self-directed learners, students In traditional structures students often
must learn to assess the demands of the task, strategise rote learning of examination
evaluate their own knowledge and skills, plan answers. Integrating flipped learning with
their approach, monitor their progress, and authentic, complex assignments can address
adjust their strategies as needed this; also by self and peer marking and
collaborative evaluation and target setting,

Table 2.How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (Ambrose et al., 2010)

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 2. Variations on the Flipped Approach

The word lecture comes from the Latin “to read”; before the invention of the printing press, books
were not readily available, so a teacher would read to his (or possibly but improbably her) students.
The giving of lecture notes through lectures, which aim to cover all the required material, in STEM
subjects is a relatively recent development. Bringing students to a lecture theatre is an expensive
operation and quite pointless if all the information is available in books. So, for much of the history of
STEM, students were expected to obtain basic material from books, and lectures were reserved for
more advanced material from expert specialists. This is still the case in arts and humanities which may
explain why flipping is of less (no?) relevance to our non-STEM colleagues.

In more recent history there have been various initiatives to restore the prior status quo. Here is a
selection; they all involve some form of flipping.

Peer Instruction (Eric Mazur, Harvard, Physics, 1991- ) 3 summarised in Crouch and Mazur, (2001).

This is

1. Instructor poses question based on students' responses to their pre-class reading

2. Students reflect on the question
3. Students commit to an individual answer
4. Instructor reviews student responses
5. Students discuss their thinking and answers with their peers
6. Students then commit again to an individual answer
7. The instructor again reviews responses and decides whether more explanation is needed
before moving on to the next concept.

Team-Based Learning (Larry Michaelsen, Oklahoma, Management, 1974 - )

This approach is similar to Peer Instruction but puts more emphasis on group work and particularly
building teams that (its supporters claim) goes beyond collaborative learning.

The Readiness Assurance Process (RAP) occurs at the beginning of each major instructional
unit. The RAP ensures that students are held accountable for completing the pre-class
reading and have acquired the foundational knowledge that they will need for the in-class
team work that follows. At the first class meeting of a module, a multiple-choice test (15-20
questions) is given. It covers key concepts and important foundational knowledge from the
readings. The test is first taken individually and then immediately retaken as a team test
using the IF-AT (Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique) “scratch and win” testing
cards. At the completion of the team test, teams are encouraged to “appeal” incorrect
answers for extra marks….. Following the appeals process the instructor provides a short
clarification in the form of a mini-lecture. 4

3
http://web.mit.edu/jbelcher/www/TEALref/Crouch_Mazur.pdf
4
http://www.teambasedlearning.org/Resources/Documents/TBL+Handout+Aug+16-
print+ready+no+branding.pdf

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The readiness process takes 1 to 1.5 hours. Groups then undertake one or more significant problems
over 3 to 5 class sessions. Practitioners insist that groups should be large (5-7 students) and fixed over
a semester to generate team-building (Michaelsen et al., 2009).

Modeling Instruction (Hestenes, Arizona, Physics, 1989 - ) 5

The first stage—model development—typically begins with a demonstration and class

discussion. This establishes a common understanding of a question to be asked of nature.
Then, in small groups, students collaborate in planning and conducting experiments to
answer or clarify the question. Students present and justify their conclusions in oral and
written form, including the formulation of a model for the phenomena in question and an
evaluation of the model by comparison with data. Technical terms and representational
tools are introduced by the teacher as they are needed to sharpen models, facilitate
modelling activities, and improve the quality of discourse. The teacher … guides student
inquiry and discussion … with “Socratic” questioning.

See Jackson et al, (2008).

From this we see that forms of the flipped classroom have been tried and tested in physics in the US
over many years. It is video technology that is new to the party and it is into these established
pedagogies that it is integrated.

3. The Project

As background to the challenges involved we report first on two early attempts at flipped learning
made by one of the authors.

About 30 years ago one of us came to the conclusion that his lectures on cosmology were not very
effective because the whole time was taken by attempts to transmit information, leaving only an hour
or two for discussion of past papers. In fact, the discussion aspect was often rather desultory and
usually involved just another lecture on the solution to the examination questions. I wanted to have
a much more engaged discussion with students in the lecture time, which could only happen if they
came prepared. To this end, I made a series of videos – not just videos of the lectures, but, with the
help of what was then Audio Visual Services (AVS), some recordings with quite high production values.
The videos were each much shorter than the standard lecture slot, and fewer in number, but covered
all the relevant information. I thought that these would be much better than my live action versions
with all the fluffs and pauses. They were recorded on video tape. Unfortunately, most students did
not own a video recorder at that time (before the invention of the web or the DVD) so we had to
arrange for them to come in to view the videos at the set lecture times. Strangely, they were of the
opinion that I should be present at the viewings, not unreasonably if they had any questions (which
was the point of the exercise). And if I was there anyway, why did I not just give the lecture! This was
(and still is) an important lesson: just because the technology makes something possible, it does not

5
http://modelinginstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ModInstrArticle_NSELAspr08.pdf

9
mean that it will be pedagogically sound. To emphasise the moral of the story: just because we can
put lectures on line does not mean there will be educational gains in doing so.

On the other hand the challenge of teaching mathematics to physics students has been addressed
with evident (if not complete) success through the flipped approach, but not without lessons on the
way. In 1984 we decided to take the teaching of mathematics for physics in house and to abandon the
traditional lecture. The reason is simple: most students cannot follow a mathematical argument for a
fifty minute stretch. This is especially true in a lecture course which rarely breaks up naturally into fifty
minute chunks. (As a result each lecture begins “Continuing the proof from where we left it last
time…”) So we invented the flipped workshop: students would be given material to study before
coming to a workshop, where they would work in groups on mathematics exercises with guidance
from a team of facilitators. The study material consisted of a specially written textbook and of audio
tapes which took the student through the lessons in the book. The tapes provided the audio
component of the lecture and the book the visual component. After each workshop students would
attempt some homework problems which they would take to a small group tutorial. No lectures! The
first presentation was traumatic, not least with the management of the audio tapes. The questionnaire
returns were uncomplimentary, but interviews with students were revealing. In general students
disliked two aspects: one was the pace of the tapes which they claimed slowed them down. Indeed
they did – intentionally to the speed at which one can read mathematics. Further analysis showed that
it was really the length of the tapes that was the problem. (They were each about an hour, as the
corresponding live lecture would have been, albeit with the option to stop and rewind – but that would
have made them even longer!) The second problem was the pre-class exercises. They were intended
to be diagnostic – to tell us where students had not understood so we could provide support in the
workshops and tutorials – whereas students wanted them to be “plug-and-chug”, presumably as
evidence that they had done some work, or as a reward for working.

To cut to the moral for flipped learning (Bormann, 2014):

…, it was important to the teacher that the videos could be viewed in [less than] 20 minutes
(Mason et al., 2013). How the teacher determined 20 minutes as the suitable amount of
time was not clear. On the other hand, based on qualitative student feedback, more than
65% of students found the less than 20 minute duration to be an appropriate duration for
the given content (Enfield, 2013; Mason et al., 2013). This was the case when videos were
edited down to remove pauses and other redundancies. However, students’ preferred
edited videos that were more concise to videos that were shot in one take (Enfield, 2013). It
appeared the students valued production quality when considering its effectiveness for
learning.

There is another important moral. Our expensively produced tapes were difficult to change, whereas
the text was relatively easier to change (although the typing of maths text was at that time still
painful). There needs to be a compromise between production values and the ease of redoing
materials. We eventually abandoned the tapes keeping only the text and some pre-preparation multi-
choice questions, but adding one introductory (live!) lecture for each section of the course.

We turn now to the main focus of the project, the observation of flipped learning at Leicester with a
view to identifying the challenges of implementation. We carried out a number of class observations,
accompanied by questionnaires to students and interviews with staff. These illustrate the variety of

10
interpretations of flipped learning, some of the advantages and disadvantages and some of the issues
that need to be addressed. The questionnaire is appended to this report. For the record I note without
comment that one member of staff who wanted to flip their lectures and be part of this project
complained that the lecture capture software had turned out to be inadequate (for unspecified
reasons).

Ethical considerations

Participation in the questionnaire and interviews by staff and students was voluntary. All the students
involved were made aware of the purpose of the observations and questionnaires. We have tried to
anonymise the lecturers concerned, although the small numbers of potential candidates makes this
difficult without also omitting the discipline area: however, that would reduce the usefulness of the
observations. Nevertheless, all the reports presented here have been approved by the staff
concerned, in some cases with amendments for minor factual inaccuracies.

4. The Observations

4.1 Natural Sciences

The core programme is taught entirely by resource-based learning using a flipped methodology.
Students are provided with a handbook detailing the required pre-session reading and questions to
think about that would be discussed in class. This differs from the standard flipped classroom in that
the discussion questions are given in advance to guide the reading. In addition, while some sessions
have supporting video material, students are generally expected to prepare through reading.

Observations were made of a Natural Sciences class to inform the construction of the survey
questionnaire. The class was a one hour session midway through a module. The session observed had
100% attendance (20 students). Students worked in apparently pre-formed groups, based on
performance in previous modules 6. Groups are changed for each module. (Modules run sequentially,
so students study one core module at a time.) The material is delivered electronically so students have
their laptops with them. Some groups (but not all) sit so they can easily share their screens. There
was no whole class interaction: the facilitator visited each of the groups in turn, working at their own
pace through the set questions in a room with moveable furniture and multiple electrical sockets.

6
This is based on some unpublished research from Finland, which showed that very heterogeneous groups do
not serve either the good students or the weaker ones.

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 100
90
80
70
% students

60
50
40
30
20 entirely
10
0 mostly
somewhat

Figure 1 Responses to the pilot questionnaire from year 2 Natural Sciences students. Note that none
of the questions were answered “not at all”. Question 9 (on electronic communication) was added
following the pilot.

Although attendance was 100%, groups appeared to vary in the degree of engagement. For example:

Student 1: “…I’m not sure what that means” Student 2 tries to answer looking at information
on their screen … “You’re changing the shape of the enzyme…” Student 3 buts in “… so it can
bind to the other molecule” Student 2 asks for clarification of question. Student 1 explains.
Student 3 adds detail − goes back to the prompting question and reads it out. There follows
a discussion to which the fourth member of the group contributes

In contrast:

Another group is individually looking at their screens, mumbling about not understanding;
one says “I can’t do this question.” They continue mumbling and looking at their screens
until the facilitator appears.

The session ends with a class test.

A problem with a small cohort is that groups become de facto “friendship groups” which are known
to be less effective in problem-based learning.

In response to questioning, two students independently say that they do not do all the preparation,
because “if you do [all] the prep you’ve answered the questions already so there’s nothing to do in
the class.” Their solution is to skim the recommended reading.

Another student says that the structure works well for biology, but “if you can’t do a physics derivation
or understand an equation, it’s difficult to know how to ask for help”. The student suggests a mini-
lecture for these topics.

12
The standard approach to flipped learning circumvents most of these problems. Concept questions
are not provided in advance, although one might argue that the effectiveness of preparation is limited
if it does not have clear objectives. Flipped sessions can include mini-lectures as required. This
approach is often referred to as “just in time teaching” (Novak, 1999). On the other hand advocates
for the PBL approach might argue in favour of the individual attention provided by the facilitator.

For our next cases we observed two sessions, one a first year physics class and the other a first year
class in mathematical techniques for physics.

4.2 Physics

This observation involved 130 students in groups of 5-6 seated around fixed tables with computer
access. Attendance was close to 100%. There was one member of academic staff and 3 graduate
assistants facilitating. The session lasted 90 minutes. Students worked through pre-set examples. The
preceding lecture introduced the material but was not extensive in coverage or complete. Students
were expected to prepare by reading the relevant sections of the set book; it had also been suggested
that they look at the set problems in advance.

Group 1: (4F, 1M) They claimed to do some preparation generally, but had not done any specifically
for this session. If they did prepare they did not assign the set questions to group members.
“Sometimes” they did the set reading.

Group 2 (3F, 3M) This group claimed that they always did the reading and shared questions amongst
the group in advance. They trusted their group members always to “have a go” at their allotted
question.

Group 3 (2F, 4M) This group shared the set problems for the sessions in advance, with no sanctions
for group members who did not prepare their allotted question. They had a single recorder (F) who
had volunteered to write up the agreed solutions for all (!) sessions. They claimed not to use the set
book in general but got their information from various notes instead (although this was not entirely
clear).

Group 4 (2F, 3M) This group said that they each just looked over all the set questions as preparation.
At the session they worked separately and compared their solutions. At this stage they did not use the
set book much (although one student in the group did make notes from it). They used previous
knowledge and lecture notes.

The session ended with the lecturer giving class feedback on the correct answers in a PowerPoint
presentation. Groups exchanged in pairs their agreed solutions and peer marked each other’s,
according to the presentation, on a scale of 0, 1/2 or 1 for each question. There was some chatter
(presumably on topic) and some note-taking.

100
90
80 13
er of students

70
60
50
In discussion with the member of staff it emerged that there was more reliance on lectures than staff
expect and less study of the textbook provided. This may be because a lot of the material is familiar
at this early stage of the year. Generally students were engaged and on-task. The lack ofclarity with
what happened to the marks seemed to be intentional, so that the session was treated more as
formative assessment. (In fact, students get an engagement mark for turning up and producing
something, but group marks for correct solutions are not kept.)

Figure 2 gives the questionnaire results for the Physics class as a whole. With the larger cohort it is
worthwhile to break the data down into subgroups depending on the amount of time spent on
preparation. Figure 3 shows the results analysed in this way. Each question has four stacked bars.
Using the same colour coding as in figure 2, the stack ranges from “entirely” (red shades), through
“mostly” (green shades”) and “somewhat” (mauve shades) to “not at all” (blue shades). The four
columns then correspond to the amount of preparation reported. From left to right these are: more
than one hour; 30 to 60 minutes; 5-to 30 minutes; and less than 5 minutes (i.e. essentially zero). It
may be helpful to have the numbers of students in each group: these were 25, 45, 34, 21 respectively.
Thus almost half the class spent much less time on preparation than staff anticipate. This is likely to
be at least in part because the subject matter is quite close to A-level, although with less scaffolding
of the set questions.

14
 100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% Not at all
20% Somewhat
10% Mostly
0% Entirely

Figure 3 Results for a Physics class according to time spent in preparation (see text for details)

One way to read the chart is to look to see where the groups of 4 stack differently. Those who did
preparation (q3) did not do so because of time constraints (q4) but because they did not find it
essential (q 5), although they did find it useful (q6)! Those who did more preparation found that the
session added to understanding. This is interesting: given the introductory nature of the content one
might have expected that the students who had done the preparation thoroughly would find the
session fairly redundant. Clearly, as is the intention in flipped learning, they felt the discussions added
value. On the other hand, those who did little preparation also found the session useful (q10).

Note that students generally agree that preparation aids group collaboration (q 8) although some
students reported that their groups did not collaborate, a feature borne out by observation. Note
also that electronic media were used to communicate by those who took the preparation most
seriously (q9 fig 3).

4.3 Mathematical Techniques for Physics

As in case 4 this observation involved 130 students in groups of 5-6 seated around fixed tables with
computer access. Attendance was almost 100%. There were three members of academic staff acting
as floating facilitators. The session lasted an hour. Pre-session preparation included one lecture to
introduce the material for the week. The material was provided in the form of a set text (written by
the Department) including mathematical problems to be addressed at workshop and other tutorial
problems for which solutions are submitted for marking. During the workshop groups write out their

15
agreed answers to the set problems. At the end they exchange papers in pairs and mark each other’s
work supervised by staff using a 0, 1/2 or 1 scale for each question.

Four groups were observed, the first three randomly selected, the fourth by seeking out a group that
did not seem to be engaging well. The first three groups shared questions to prepare in advance
between their group members, with no sanctions if members came unprepared (apart from “shaming”
or “make them work through it then and there”). Students did not seem sure if this procedure had
been suggested to them or if it was the “obvious” thing to do. One group had finished the set workshop
questions and were talking off-topic, in between working on the set tutorial problems together. Other
groups worked individually on their tutorial problems. These three groups showed very good group
cohesion and engagement (apart from one individual who was taking no notes and did not seem to
be playing much of a role in the group). One group prepared a master copy of the work to be marked
in the workshop and rotated the task of constructing this. Others appeared to just collate the
individual scripts.

The fourth of the observed groups was stuck with meaning of “projection”. They “sometimes did some
preparation”. One member had completed the questions but had failed to explain the meaning of
projection to the group. There was little communication of understanding in this group: they appeared
to be asking the facilitators for help individually. (Was this related to lack of pre-session preparation?)
One member of the group had “googled” some material to try to find the meaning of “projection” but
this had not engaged the group and was being looked at rather aimlessly. Some learning (how a vector
was “normalised”) was however achieved in interaction with the facilitator, and within a subgroup
while the facilitator was present.

We conclude that the engaged groups (more than 75% of the class) worked surprisingly well since the
exercises in the text were not designed to be divided but built sequentially. It may be that the fact
that the flipped structure runs through the whole programme in Physics means that students adapt
to this way of learning. The three experienced academic staff facilitators were generally proactive in
engaging with the student groups. The structure here is an amalgam of a form of peer instruction and
flipped learning. The structure has been in place (with some modifications) for some 30 years. For
much of the time the outcomes, measured by examination performance, were bi-modal. In recent
years this has changed with a compression of marks at both top and bottom giving a more normal
distribution, but with almost all students achieving a pass grade on examination papers that have not
changed in style or level over most of that time.

These students are the same cohort as for the Physics class (case 4). We decided not to take more
time from their work to complete a questionnaire which would likely have the same results as for
Physics, and even if it did not, the differences would be of only parochial interest in the Physics
Department.

4.4 Engineering

This course is shared between two academic staff with one half delivered as a standard lecture course.
About 30 students take the option. According to the lecturer, the preparation for the flipped part (now
being delivered for a second year) involves reading the handbook and following the links for at least
an hour, and for up to two hours for thorough readiness to participate. The handbook comprises

16
enhanced lecture notes from the previous years. The class sessions are run in a tiered lecture theatre
for 50 minutes.

Attendance at the session observed was fairy poor (~30%), with the class predominantly international
students. It was reported that the lectured component of the course also had poor attendance,
although attendance was generally better in the second semester after the Christmas examinations.
All the students at the class claimed to have read the handout (although the

7
6
Number of students

5
4
3
2 Not at all
1 Somewhat
0 Mostly
Entirely

Figure 4. Results from the Engineering questionnaire. Only 8 students completed the questionnaire;
bars in this figure refer to number of students. Darker shades (even bins) refer to students doing
more than one hour of preparation; lighter shades (odd bins) to those doing less than an hour.

questionnaire reveals that most had spent less than an hour on it). The sessions started with a short
conventional lecture on the basic material (and some discussion of “housekeeping issues” for
revision). A question was then presented on an overhead projector slide, and students given 40
seconds to think independently of the answer. There was a range of answers selected using flash cards,
although some students were reluctant to participate, one of the two known problems with flash
cards. (The other is the tendency to follow-my-leader.) This was followed by discussion with
neighbours in which not everyone participated; the lecturer went round the groups. A new poll for
the answer was unanimous and wrong (and was then corrected by the lecturer)! The procedure was
repeated with two more questions. The lecturer indicated the relevance of the questions both to the
subject and to the examinations. The session closed with a mini-lecture on the correct answers
followed by the presentation and discussion of a computer simulation which students could find on
Blackboard.

Without further research it is impossible to know the reason for poor attendance, but one may suspect
that the issuance of full lecture notes may play a role, as we shall find in other cases below. Students

17
may find it difficult to know what they are missing if they believe themselves to be in possession of a
“full” set of notes. Once again the students who spent more than an hour beforehand did not consider
that they had fully completed the preparation (fig 4, q3). Overall the time spent on preparation was
much less than expected by the lecturer (fig 4, q10), yet the students were satisfied that the class
added significantly to their understanding.

4.5 Mathematics

The information here is based solely on a brief interview with the lecturer concerned. This was the
first attempt by the lecturer at flipping the class, which was a third year option. The course did not go
well, with students reluctant to do the preparation and protesting that they needed the lecturer to go
through the material in the conventional manner. Much time was expended on discussions as to what
was required of the students by way of assessment and how this was being supported in the absence
of conventional lectures. The lecturer was however persuaded to increase the lectured component of
the course. The students were able to pass a basic test and pass on material that they did not get
lectured on but they had to do for themselves. To that extent there was some success in the module.

Again without further research it is difficult to make any definitive comment on this, but it is worth
noting the similarity to the issues that some students have with the problem-based learning laboratory
work in Physics, namely in believing that there is not one right answer and that they will be given full
credit for following the processes appropriately. (In this case, making the correct deductions from the
data they actually have, including the error estimates.) If the reproduction of lecture notes under
examination conditions is now not the objective, students may need a lot of help in understanding
what is. It may be that attempting to change the working practice of students in one module of their
final year is a central issue, especially for the first such cohort, because of anxiety about grades.

4.6 Biosciences

The second level Research Skills course used to be taught by lectures alone. This has been changed to
a short lecture course followed by weekly tutorial sessions. Preparation for the Bioethics tutorial
requires students in groups to work through a number of case studies that illustrate various bioethical
issues. In the workshop groups report their findings to the class.

The session was held in a large flat room with students in groups of 4-5 (a total of 44 students). It was
led by one academic member of staff in a 50 minute slot. Group formation was mixed.

Initially there were no volunteers to begin, so a group was picked at random. Only one student from
the group spoke with no time limit. There was no class response so the lecturer summarised the issues
from a prepared script. A second group then volunteered. They shared the questions arising from this
case around the group so all spoke to the class and it was evident that they had all done the class
preparation. Eight groups proceeded in this fashion. One group had done additional online research.
There was very little note-taking, but most students seemed to be listening. All students interviewed
claimed to have done the preparation, either individually or in some cases together as an organised
group.

The figure (fig 5) shows the questionnaire results. The responses for each question are split between
students who reported that they did more than one hour in preparation (odd columns) and those that

18
reported that they did less than one hour (even columns, lighter shading). Interestingly, those that
took less time were more likely to believe that they had completed the preparatory work (q3)

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Not at all
20%
10% Somewhat
0% Mostly
Entirely

Figure 5 A Bioethics Class (see text for details; colour coding as in figure 4)

and were clearer about what was expected. They also claimed to get more out of the session (q10).
The structure relies on face-to-face lectures for delivery of the basic content and there was little class
discussion beyond presentations, so it goes only some way towards the flipped ideal (“back flipped”?)
The lecturer considered it to be a major improvement over the previously lectured content. However,
this tutorial forms part of a larger module in research methods, delivered in part by team-based
learning, which, as we have seen (section 2) incorporates the main pedagogical aspects of the flipped
classroom.

4.7 Education

A postgraduate Research Methods course was discussed with the lecturer. The module comprises 10
units each of which follow an identical pattern. The pre-session work involves either an on-line lecture
or a reading assignment that should take students one to two hours. Pre-session reading is particularly
useful for international students for whom English is a second language.

Sessions are then spread over the following one to three days and include mini-lectures as required.
After each session students are set two to three hours work. Thus most of the learning takes place in
class time and in groups. The curriculum is very fluid (“emergent” was how it was described) with a
large input from students. For large classes repeated PowerPoint presentations are avoided by having
students submit their slides for assessment.

19
The lecturer finds that production of the voice-over PowerPoint slides for the pre-session preparation
is easy, but requires a long planning time. They are not recordings of live lectures put online.
Therefore, flipping was undertaken as part of a (continually revised) rolling programme.

4.8 Chemistry

Chemistry have a course taught by problem-based learning in year 1, which follows a flipped pattern
and has run in various forms for several years with positive student evaluations. Recent developments
have included student participation in developing the course. There is also a course taught in flipped
mode which follows the more standard flipped classroom structure: students study set reading prior
to the lecture which then focusses on concept questions. In this example, individual students were
selected to answer the questions. This differs from the usual approach in which students are
presented with multiple choice answers and personal response units (“clickers”) are used to show
histograms of the choices on the projector screen. The lecturer can then proceed on the basis of the
responses. The singling out of individual students and has turned out to be not much liked by and will
be changes to team answers next year. In addition, this Level 1 course has been less successful this
year as the students did not fully engage with the pre-lecture reading. Flipped lectures were tried in
one Chemistry course at level 4 for the first time this year and were particularly successful with good
student evaluations. Because of scheduling issues we did not get to observe the flipped teaching in
Chemistry.

5. Flip at other institutions: some examples

5.1 Chemistry at Birmingham University

The Inorganic Chemistry for Biology is a large class shared between two lecturers both of whom
decided to flip. Videos of the previous year’s lectures were posted on line as preparation together
with a set of multiple choice questions and some free text questions from the videos. They were
delivered as one session per week, each one hour, eight in total. This schedule gave (or should have
given) adequate time for pre-session preparation.

In-class activities involved clicker questions and peer instruction. Since flipped classes work best where
the material is conceptual, only some of the sessions were flipped. There were some problems with
preparation and attendance with a number of students choosing between the two, but not both.
Interestingly the lecturers used a VARK learning styles questionnaire to gather data on students in
order to investigate any relation between preferred styles and satisfaction with flipped learning, but
the results are so far unpublished.

5.2 Chemistry at the University of East Anglia

At UEA a chemistry lecturer has decided to flip his module. Screencasts of lectures from the previous
year were edited as a pre-session resource. It took several years’ experience of flip to refine the in-
class questions. In order to get students to engage, these should not be trivial recall questions; the
thinking behind the flipped class is that it makes time for higher level discussion. Thus, the lecturer
needs to develop conceptual questions that not everyone in the class can answer correctly. Once a
question is posed, and an initial poll taken, animated discussions follow. Polling again should see a

20
shift, usually to right answer. In fact, typically 80% of the class will get the answer correct at this stage.
The lecturer can then explain the point to the class. This can work with various technologies, but the
use of smart phones, for which there is a variety of software, gives an immediate response without
the need for the hardware of “clickers”.

The lecturer argues that putting more of the material out of the sessions is a way to make students do
the preparation. It is important that the classes are not such that students can substitute attendance
at the lecture for preparation. In order for students to turn up to the class – having gone through all
the material in preparation – the class must be worthwhile. This means that the questions must be
limited in number and challenging.

5.3 Physics at Edinburgh

The year 1 physics class at Edinburgh involves 250 to 300 students taking the subject for one third of
their programme. Since the first year physics is common to many programmes, more than half of the
students do not continue with Physics in later years: many have signed up for Engineering and other
sciences. All the first year Physics is flipped, as is the year 1 Astronomy taught in the same Department.
The Physics is taught by three academic staff in three 50 minute sessions each week together with a
weekly three hour workshop.

Some flipped learning continues into later years: the year 2 Mathematics for Physics is flipped and
there is some of what one member of the team refers to as “pseudo-flipping” in higher years. Students
see flipped learning as the normal way of doing physics in year 1, but there are then issues around
adaptation to traditional teaching in subsequent years.

Staff were brought on board by flipping the structure of the programme (as in the introduction of
resource-based learning in Physics at Leicester). Indeed, as in Leicester, the actual implementation in
the classroom is “variable”. It does require engaged instructors. But it has encouraged staff in general
to depart from all chalk and talk towards more interaction.

The key to successful flipped classes is in the writing of the in-class questions. This is something that
all practitioners agree upon and in most cases it is something that has developed with practice. It is
not useful to ask about facts in the class; discussion questions need to be about procedure (do
something), conceptual understanding or linkages between ideas. (They need to be something that
can be discussed.) This does not mean they cannot be quantitative. This is probably best illustrated by
an example:

The First Law of Thermodynamics. 10J of energy are added to an ideal gas; the internal energy
changes by 8 J. How much work is done by the gas +2 J, −2 J, + 12 J, −12 J?

(If students jump to the equation, they need to get the signs right; so this teaches them also to think
about the answer.)

For pre-session preparation students have a full set of lecture notes and problems in advance. Targets
are set a week ahead, including which calculations to do and which problems to try. Videos are used,
but only sparingly. A clear expectation is communicated to students that the preparation will be done;
it appears that students learn the game. However, attendance has been a problem this year (~60%
compared to 90% last year) but this may be reflecting an Institution-wide issue.

21
5.4 Mathematics at Edinburgh

The lecturer here has changed from going through problems in workshops to pre-workshop
preparation. Students are expected to spend 6 hours per week in private expected study with 6 hours
per week of contact time. Private study now comprises some pre-workshop preparation as well as
some assignments

More students now do the required preparation – only 3% do less than one quarter of the required
work. So there is more time on task.

If we count the examination as a criterion for success then it is notable that the pass rate has crept
up, apparently requiring the lecturer to set a harder exam! There has been a positive response in
course evaluation with only a small vocal hard core of opposition (5%).

6. A flipper’s guide

Based on these observations and on the literature we offer by way of conclusions the
following guide to the flipped classroom. Some of the content of this section is taken from Waring and
Evans (2014). Gerstein (2012) looks at flip in relation to the experiential learning cycle; Bretzmann
(2013) collects many experiences of flipping in different subjects. Much of the literature refers to US
experience at high school level which may have little relevance to UK undergraduate programmes.
Bormann (2014) gives a meta-analysis of research on flipped learning which is mainly based on data
from higher education.

(a) Keep it short (see above)

It does not have to be video-based, but it helps. We have found the use of short video
introductions to prescribed reading enhances engagement (Williams, unpublished). Voice-over
PowerPoint can be straightforward and effective and can be produced without editing. Students
prefer picture-in-picture of the lecturer rather than a disembodied voice. Audio quality is absolutely
crucial: if you cannot get the sound right, do not bother with videos. One of the authors uses Camtasia
with its editing functions. This is more time consuming, but probably worth it if students are expected
to watch a lot of video. Muller (2008) claims that students like two person presentations. Personally,
one of us has tried this and it is great, but it proved impossible to make it cost-effective in terms of
the preparation and production time required.

The evidence from the use of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) in campus-based
blended learning is that long videos of live lecture presentations are not watched prior to classes, but
are principally used for revision.

(b) How to encourage students to prepare

The evidence from the literature is that participation in preparation rates of around 80% are
good. Some implementations use various forms of admission test, for example online MCQs, or a
team-based learning approach. One tactic is to be ruthless in assuming that students have done the
preparation and not be tempted to turn the class into the lecture for the benefit of those who have

22
not (and the dis-benefit of those who have). That way the 80% of the class who are prepared will have
every reason not to turn up. Sessions should effectively begin with the first concept question.

To get 80% participation Waring and Evans (2014) offer the following advice:

• set highly focussed pre-session tasks (“not sure what we were supposed to do” is an appeal
for a lecture)
• give clear directions to resources (“we couldn’t find it in the library” “it wasn’t in our edition”)
• set manageable tasks (in the Natural Sciences programme we have control of the scheduling
so we can ensure students have time to complete pre-session activities; even so, we have
been guilty from time to time of expecting too much)
• set appropriately scaffolded activities to support progression over time
• provide multiple resources
• consider carefully the design of videos to be fit for purpose (which includes being clear about
the purpose)

(c) How to encourage attendance at class sessions

• provide opportunities for students to discover what they know and what they do not know
• ensure that questions explore higher cognitive levels
• ensure a continuing cycle of learning by following up in subsequent sessions on issues raised
by students

As we reported above, the lecturers from the other institutions we talked to noted the difficulty of
writing good in-class questions. The suggestion was that these take time and experience to develop.

(d) What to do about notes for revision

This is not an issue that is widely raised. But we need to remember that, whatever the failings of
lectures, in theory, in a traditionally taught course, students can use the notes they take from well-
prepared sessions for revision, knowing that they would cover everything that might come up. will In
a flipped approach students probably need to be guided to take appropriate notes from the videos
(or other media) using pro-formas or seed questions. In the Natural Sciences programme we provide
guidance to students on note-taking as part of their personal tutor support. It can be revealing how
much help some of them require in making effective notes when it is not just a matter of copying it
down from the board.

(e) How to get started

As we have seen flip-like approaches do not have to use video, but it helps. One way to get started is
to record lectures one year and flip the classes the next. Personally we hugely dislike multiple
presentations of 50 minutes of unedited footage; they are rarely fun to watch even if the live
performances were masterpieces. According to the literature, students find 20 minutes about the
maximum length, although feedback on our own videos suggests that around 10 minutes is better,
possibly because this forces the presenter to think about the content of each section. So our advice
would be: at the very least edit your live performance.

23
Rather than editing a live lecture, it may actually be less effort to record a narration to a set of
PowerPoint slides afresh. However, unless this is done in quite short takes we find that it is desirable
to have a prepared script. However, this then needs practice at delivering it in a way that does not
sound like it is being read. (Reading the autocue is not the same as giving a speech.) We have used
Adobe Presenter (useful if you do not have a local VLE), PowerPoint and Camtasia (with its editing
facilities). It is important to check that all students will have access to the videos − i.e. that they play
across enough platforms − and to provide students with this information, in order to avoid having to
host a technical support centre for the first few classes.

(f) Finally, the most important rule

Ensure buy-in from your students.

It is important to clarify the purpose and value of the approach and to make sure that students know
exactly what is expected, that it is achievable, and that they know how to achieve it. Even then, it is
necessary to accept that there will still be some students who will not appreciate your efforts. (But
then perhaps not every student raved about your lectures.)

7. Conclusions and future directions

Gibbs (2010, 2012) is quite emphatic that research has provided clear evidence of the principles that
underlie good teaching. In a word they involve encouraging student engagement in the process of
learning. The problem remains of how to put these principles into practice with large classes and
limited resources. The flipped classroom is one attempt to do this. Its merit is that it can be
implemented without large investments or changes to the university structure. In this respect it is
unlike other forms of experiential learning.

Our observations seem to point to multiple rather different approaches to putting flipped learning
into practice. Most of these met some problems on their first trial; there is a danger that this will
reflect on – or be perceived to reflect on – NSS scores and therefore discourage experiment. The first
lesson therefore seems to be to involve students in the rationale for changes to pedagogy and to make
sure they understand exactly what is expected of them and why.

The second lesson from our interviews and observations is that classroom activities have to be thought
out and refined in the light of experience. It is possible to make a difference. One of our more
experienced contributors achieved a spontaneous standing ovation from a large class of students at
the end of a flipped course of lectures.

This suggests that there needs to be an on-going sharing of practice. As far as we know, none of the
practitioners at Leicester have spoken to each other. It may be that a good next step would be the
provision of some central support for staff wishing to embark on flipped learning.

As has probably been clear, writing this report has been very much a labour of love for us. We believe
that the nature of university education needs to change, and will change, and that at last, after many
false horizons, the technology can now serve to achieve this. Just as printing democratised knowledge

24
by making it more readily available, so will almost free video technology widen access to higher
learning, and lead to higher participation rates at masters’ level and beyond.

Bibliography

Flipped learning has been used in the full range of disciplines, in literature, mathematics, science and
so on. However, much of the literature concerns experiences at college level in US schools. Searey
(2013) and Lancaster ( 2013) are a couple of brief introductions to practice in HE.

A few useful web sites are

http://www.cvm.umn.edu/facstaff/prod/groups/cvm/@pub/@cvm/@facstaff/documents/content/cvm_cont
ent_454476.pdf

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1arP1QAkSyVcxKYXgTJWCrJf02NdephTVGQltsw-S1fQ/view

http://flippedlearning.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1

Searching the Univeristy Library’s EBSCOhost digital resource using the British Education Index or
ERIC digital repositories for variations on “flipped classroom” yields large numbers of research
papers that can be sifted for university level and discipline specific results.

References

Ambrose S., Bridges M., DiPietro M., Lovett M. and Norman M., 2010, How Learning Works:
Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (Wiley)

Anderson, L W, and Krathwohl D R (eds.), 2001, A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing:
A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman

Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2012). Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day.
International Society for Technology in Education

Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H. and Krathwohl, D. R., 1956, Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain,
London: Longmans.

Bretzmann J (ed.), 2013, Flipping 2.0; Practical Strategies for Flipping Your Class, (Brezmann Group)

Brown, J R., 2001, Who Rules in Science? An Opinionated Guide to the Wars, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, MA USA.

Bormann, Jarod, 2014 Affordances Of Flipped Learning And Its Effects On Student Engagement And
Achievement, University Of Northern Iowa
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Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson (1987) "Seven principles for good practice in
undergraduate education" American Association of Higher Education Bulletin vol.39 no.7 pp.3-7

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Freeman S. et al., 2014, Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and
mathematics PNAS vol. 111 no. 23, 8410–8415, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1319030111

Gerstein J., 2012, The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture, Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

Gibbs G., 2010, Dimensions of Quality, HEA, available at

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Kolb, D. A., 1984, Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New
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lessons-from-universities-for-schools

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Appendix: Flipped learning Questionnaire

How many minutes did you spend preparing for this session?

Question Entirely Mostly Somewhat Not at

all
The instructions for the pre-session
preparation were clear.
Were the instructions for the pre-
session preparation provided in good
time?
Did you complete the pre-session
preparation?
Did your teaching schedule allow
enough time to prepare for the
session?
Was the preparation essential for the
session?
Was the preparation useful for the
session?
Were you expected to collaborate in
the session?
If collaboration in the session was
expected, did the preparation allow
you to collaborate effectively in
session?
Did you use social media/ electronic
communication (facebook, email,
twitter etc.) to discuss the
preparation?
Did the session itself add to your
understanding of the topic?

Do you have any other modules which require similar pre-session preparation? Yes/no

28