Conceptualizing "Homework" in Flipped Mathematics Classes

Flipped instruction is becoming more common in the United States, particularly in mathematics classes. One of the defining characteristics of this increasingly popular instructional format is the homework teachers assign. In contrast to traditional mathematics classes in which homework consists of problem sets, homework in flipped classes often takes the form of an instructional video. This paper presents a framework for flipped mathematics homework that categorizes types of homework and also draws on technology literature and mathematics education literature to discern quality for each type. For each category of homework, we provide illustrative examples from a study of flipped mathematics implementations. We show how the quality of instructional videos can vary and that, in addition to instructional videos, teachers also assigned videos to motivate subsequent in-class work on mathematics tasks. We close with directions for future work.