The basic idea
In a traditional lesson, the teacher presents new material in class and students practice afterwards, often at home. A flipped classroom swaps those two steps. Students meet the first explanation on their own, usually through a short video or a reading, and class time is used for practice, discussion, problem-solving and help from the teacher.
The idea is not tied to a particular technology, and the “flip” can be as small as one lesson in a unit. What matters is the shift in how time is used: explanations that can be paused and replayed move outside the room, and the hours when a teacher is present are spent on the parts where students most often need help.
Where open materials come in
A flipped lesson needs something for students to look at beforehand. A teacher can record their own video, but that takes time and some confidence on camera. Openly licensed content gives other options.
- Existing videos and readings. A teacher can choose a freely available lecture, animation or text, provided its license allows classroom use.
- Adapted material. If the license permits changes, a teacher may trim a long video, add questions or replace an example. Material that can be adapted tends to fit the lesson better than material that must be used as it stands.
- Stable access. Open items can typically be downloaded, so students with patchy internet can save them in advance. This matters a great deal if home connections are unreliable.
Choosing well is a skill in itself. Our discussion of finding open resources covers ways to search, and a teacher should check the license and the source before building a lesson around any item.
What a flipped lesson can look like
A simple pattern for a single unit might run like this.
- Before class, students watch a short explanation, around ten minutes or so, and answer a few questions on what they understood.
- At the start of class, the teacher looks at the answers to see which ideas caused trouble.
- Most of the lesson is spent on practice in pairs or small groups while the teacher moves around the room.
- At the end, students note what is still unclear.
Notice that step 2 matters. Without some check on what students did at home, the teacher is left guessing. Quick quizzes, short written questions or a shared poll can do the job.
Possible advantages
Teachers who use the model often report that they can give more individual attention during lessons, since they are no longer talking to the whole room for most of the period. Students who miss a lesson can catch up from the recorded material. Students can also pause, rewind and revisit an explanation at their own pace, which is harder with a live talk.
The approach can connect with ideas about self-paced study and with blended learning, because part of the learning happens online and part face to face.
Practical limits
The flipped model is sometimes described in glowing terms. In practice it has real limitations, and the research on its effects is mixed. Some studies find benefits and others find little difference, and results seem to depend on subject, age group and how well the in-class time is designed. It is wise not to expect a guaranteed gain.
Students may not do the preparation. The model depends on students arriving having watched or read the material. If many do not, the lesson stalls. Short, low-stakes questions and a clear explanation of why the preparation matters can help, but they will not solve the problem completely.
Home access is uneven. Not every student has a device, a quiet place or reliable internet. Flipping a class without checking this can widen existing gaps, as the digital divide articles on this site explain. Offline copies, printed readings or time in school for the preparation can ease the problem.
Video is not always the best format. A passive video can be as dull as a lecture. Students may watch without thinking. Pairing video with questions, pauses for prediction or a short written response generally makes it more useful.
It adds work for the teacher. Finding, checking and organizing materials takes time, especially in the first year. The workload is often heavier at the start and lighter once a set of materials has been built up.
It may not suit every topic. Some subjects depend on live demonstration or discussion that is hard to shift to a recording. A teacher may decide that only certain units are worth flipping.
Tips for trying it
- Start with one lesson rather than a whole course.
- Keep the home task short and clearly defined.
- Check licenses, and keep a note of where each item came from.
- Provide a way to participate for students who could not prepare, such as a brief in-class review.
- Make in-class tasks active enough to justify the shift, rather than repeating the video.
How it relates to wider open education
The flipped model does not require open materials, and open materials do not require flipping. The connection is practical. When content is free, adaptable and easy to share, a teacher has more freedom to assemble the at-home part of a lesson and to reuse it with other classes or pass it to colleagues.
A teacher who shares a flipped unit under an open license can also help others get started, although they should make sure the parts they reuse allow this. In that sense the flipped classroom can be one small, concrete way that open education changes a daily routine, with the usual caution that results will depend on the students, the subject and the care taken in design.