Teaching tip: The flipped classroom

The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity in recent years. In theory, flipping the classroom appears sound: passive learning activities such as unidirectional lectures are pushed to outside class hours in the form of videos, and precious class time is spent on active learning activities. Yet the courses for information systems (IS) undergraduates at the university that the author is teaching at are still conducted in the traditional lecture-in-class, homework-after-class style. In order to increase students’ engagement with the course content and to improve their experience with the course, the author implemented a trial of the flipped classroom model for a programming course with pair programming as the predominant in-class active learning activity. Student feedback on this pedagogy was generally very positive with many respondents considering it effective and helpful for learning. One of the biggest advantages mentioned by students is that they had the option to watch each video lecture as many times as required to be prepared for class. The author also observed that students were more engaged and empowered to take on more ownership for their learning. He recommends that other instructors consider rolling out their own trials of the flipped classroom incrementally for courses that would benefit the most from this pedagogy.