Why is Flipped Classroom the Right Solution to Competent Higher Education

In the last few months, many educational institutions and universities have been experimenting with a new concept called inverted or flipped classroom. This instructional model is gaining tremendous popularity among both students and teachers. The concept has been popularized by Salman Khan in a Ted Talk. The video has already received around 3 million views.

According to this approach, video lectures developed by teachers can be posted on the university or college’s Learning Management System, YouTube or a private intranet. This provides students with convenient access at any time. Most importantly, the educational institution’s investment in infrastructure, i.e, instructional design devices, course authoring, servers, etc., is minimal.

Besides the use of relatively cost-effective technology, a flipped or inverted classroom offers other important benefits. With this approach, the faculty has free time to help students in a better learning environment. The model also promotes consistency in various teaching methods. Students can interact with their instructors and fellow students rather than just sitting in a basic lecture hall.

Key Benefits of a Flipped Classroom

• Video lectures can be easily polished, edited and re-recorded. Students can even replay, pause and watch various lectures repeatedly as per their convenience. With editing, the faculty can make lectures to the point and concise.
• Faculty can use different tools and resources to analyze where certain students falter, and how the coursework can be modified for better results. Some of these tools include trends in FAQs, performance in previous examinations, student course evaluations and more.
• Faculty can devote more time to help students explore the application and develop synthesis during class time. This can be accomplished through team projects, experiential exercises, problem sets and other activities that were previously handled by students as homework. Students can benefit from direct faculty input on particular segments of the study material. This makes sure the material isn’t ambiguous or difficult to comprehend.

A lot of faculty members spend a huge amount of out-of-class, unpaid time to help students make some sense of difficult study material. In fact, even this can only be achieved when students proactively seek help from the faculty members.

With a flipped classroom, instructors can help students during compensated, assigned class time without increasing their burden. They can engage with students, and guide them in the right direction. Students can receive help regarding a wide range of activities. In addition to this, the faculty also finds it easier to identify and rectify problems to learning.

According to most industry experts, the application and synthesis of knowledge also find great favor with educational institutions who already lack a competency-based approach in education. This has been the primary reason for the increasing popularity of this concept.

When it comes to small educational institutions, and the ones facing budget constraints, a flipped classroom can promote activities that occur online. These activities are independent of the regular classroom environment.

Thus, the burden on the institution’s infrastructure is reduced and allows the faculty to manage more students with an integrated approach. There’s no doubt that a flipped or inverted classroom is the best solution to offer competent higher education to an ever-increasing number of students.