COMPLETE GUIDE

TO
THE

FLIPPED

CLASSROOM
BY LEILA MEYER, DENNIS PIERCE AND DAVID RATHS
26

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

is a pedagogical approach
in which direct instruction
moves from the group learning
space to the individual learning
space, and the resulting group
space is transformed into a
dynamic, interactive learning
environment where the educator guides students as they
apply concepts and engage
creatively in the subject matter.
Flipped Learning Network

shutterstock.com

From tech tools and tips to research and faculty support,

heres everything you need to know about flipped learning.

FLIPPED LEARNING

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

HOW IT
WORKS
By Dennis Pierce

like their engagement with the course, their enthusiasm for the

might not realize, Talbert said.

course, how hard they work and how well they communicate

For instance, because students are responsible for preparing

The nature of their questions changes pretty radically, too.

tion from a textbook or a video. These self-regulated learning

In traditional classrooms, I would constantly get students

skills are getting an intentional workout, he explained.

asking me questions like: How do I start this problem? In

These days, Talbert finds his students to be much more

State University, has been flipping his classes for seven years.

receptive to the idea from the get-go: Many students have

Talbert teaches Calculus I and a full-year course on discrete

had exposure to the flipped classroom before college, and

using a free, open source textbook written by one of his col-

so its not a brand-new concept when they get here.

And it turns out that flipped learning isnt such a hard sell,
even for students who still expect to be

created a YouTube channel with instructional videos that facul-

lectured to. When I explain to them that

ty have recorded using simple screencasting software. For his

the flipped classroom builds their com-

discrete mathematics course, Talbert is finding and curating

munications skills, it builds their self-

online videos that students can watch before coming to class.

regulated learning skills and it builds

In both courses, students are given a structured, pre-

their content skills in a much stronger

class activity that gets them familiar with the lessons basic

way, theyre very ready to buy into this.

concepts, so when they arrive in his class, theyre ready to

In Talberts experience with the flipped

work at a higher level, he said. Thats the essence of the

classroom, I have more than enough

flipped class model: Students learn the basics on their own,

time to adequately explore all the con-

outside of class, so class time can be devoted to a deeper

cepts that students need in class togeth-

exploration of the content.

er, rather than sending them off on their

Back in the early days, when flipped learning was not very

own, he said. And very often students

common, I had to work very hard to get students to see

are much stronger in aspects of their

that working in a flipped classroom was just as beneficial

learning that are not so easily measured,

the flipped classroom, Im getting questions like: Whats a

good resource to help me understand this problem?
Thats a very subtle but important shift in how students
approach problem solving, Talbert said and its a direct
result of learning in a flipped classroom.4

shutterstock.com

leagues with flipped learning in mind, and his department has

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

with each other and with me.

for class on their own, they are learning how to extract informa-

Robert Talbert, a math professor at Michigans Grand Valley

mathematics for computer science majors. For calculus, he is

27

to their learning, and it was helping them out in ways they

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

5 KEYS TO
FLIPPED
LEARNING
SUCCESS
By Dennis Pierce

sitys Stern School of Business, said the flipped class-

but the videos need to be much shorter if they are going

room should be a challenge-based environment, where

to keep students interest. The way to do that is to chunk

students are using higher-order thinking skills to interact

them into different parts, he advised.

with the content at a deeper level.

Its a much more active model that requires partici-

online courseware provider edX, which suggested the

pation from both the students and the faculty, she ex-

optimal video length for student engagement is six min-

plained. That requires faculty to spend more time think-

utes or less. We try to keep our videos under seven min-

ing through what happens in the classroom. It shouldnt

utes, she said.

be just a problem set.

Its also important to teach students how to watch the

Emory Craig, director of e-learning and instructional

videos, Bergmann said: If you dont show them how to

1) What happens inside the classroom is

more important than the videos.

technology at The College of New Rochelle (NY), said

interact with the videos very concretely, I think youre set-

one flipped learning strategy that his faculty have found to

ting yourself up for failure.

Its really, really important for professors to realize that

be effective is starting off each class period with a Q&A.

If students are just watching video clips and taking in

flipped learning isnt about the videos its about what

That way, you get a sense of whether everyone has

information, its a very passive activity, he explained.

youre going to do in class that adds value and engage-

viewed the material online, Craig said. Youre able to do

Youve got to build in some kind of interactivity, and then

ment for students, said Jon Bergmann, one of the pio-

a quick in-class assessment of where everybody is: Did

teach students how to respond to that.

neers of the flipped class concept and a board member

they understand the lesson? What kind of questions do

of the Flipped Learning Network.

they have from it?

In higher education, students tend to have a choice in

3) Constant communication is critical.

My No. 1 piece of advice would be, make sure you have
open lines of communication with your students at all

have to give students a compelling reason to go to class,

2) But when you do focus on the videos,

make them short.

if theyre getting the content outside of class. Youve got to

One of the biggest mistakes that Bergmann sees instruc-

a math professor at Grand Valley State University (MI).

really rethink class time to make it a richer, more meaningful

tors make when theyre first flipping their classroom is

My past failures in the flipped classroom, and Ive had

learning experience, so students will want to come.

making their videos too long.

many of them, have stemmed from some kind of failure to

whether they will attend class, Bergmann said. So, you

28

Georgieva pointed to research involving massive open

times about everything, recommended Robert Talbert,

Maya Georgieva, associate director of the Center for

They record themselves talking for 45 minutes, like

communicate with my students: Either I wasnt listening

Innovation in Teaching and Learning atNew York Univer-

theyre giving their regular lecture, Bergmann said

to their complaints, or I didnt communicate their role in

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

the process clearly enough.

pectations of what goes on in the classroom are very

Although todays students were raised with technology

much shaped by their high school experience, Craig

and are constantly using their mobile devices, their ex-

noted. And thats something that can range from being

FLIPPED LEARNING TIPS

FOR ADMINISTRATORS

very innovative to very traditional.

So, managing students expectations is just as important as communicating your own.
You cant just entrench yourself in the classroom and
say, This is how its going to work, and its my way or the
highway. Its a constant dialog, and you have to be willing to communicate clearly, listen and adjust to whatever
the situation might involve, Talbert said.

Flipping ones classroom requires a willingness to take risks and try something
new and faculty wont succeed without support from their institutions. Here are

4) Dont try flipping your classroom alone.

three ways that campus administrators can help.

If youre in a department with another person who might

Make yourself available to faculty. Its challenging when you turn a traditional

be interested in flipping the same course, get together

model on its head, said Emory Craig, director of e-learning and instructional tech-

and be partners in the process, Talbert advised. It cuts

nology at The College of New Rochelle (NY). And it can be unsettling when
things dont go as planned.
Thats why campus administrators must make themselves available to support
their faculty. You have to provide services on all fronts, Craig said. His institution
has an open resource room where faculty can meet with ed tech support staff and get questions answered. There are going
to be initial glitches with this, he noted. You want to provide the support that faculty need.
Celebrate success. Colleges and universities can encourage the use of a flipped learning model by holding up successful
practitioners as examples for others to follow.
Finding a way to celebrate and share success is important, said Maya Georgieva, associate director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning atNew York Universitys Stern School of Business. In many institutions, research is celebrated in a very particular way, and we need to be showcasing exemplary teaching as well.
Rethink classroom spaces. Many classrooms are not designed to support active learning strategies. Faculty need to be able
to move around freely, Georgieva said. Trying to do that in a classroom with bolted chairs is almost impossible.

29

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

the workload in half.

Plus, if only one person in the department is flipping his
classroom, he kind of looks crazy to students, he added.
If two people are doing it, it looks like a trend and
students will be less inclined to resist this development.

5) Be patient.
Give yourself time, Talbert concluded. Spend the summer doing your research and building your courseware.
Dont try to do this next week. Find a partner, read up,
connect with other people who are doing this through
Twitter or the blogosphere, and make the leap only when
youre ready.4

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

FLIPPED
LEARNING
RESEARCH
EFFORTS
By David Raths

Side-by-Side Comparison

topic is that if students know they are part of an experi-

This semester, specifically for research purposes, Duke

ment, they tend to view it positively. With MOOCs and

University (NC) chemistry professor Dorian Canelas is

flipped classes, just by virtue of how different the environ-

teaching two sections of a course, one flipped and one in

ment is and the fact that the instructors doing it are really

a more traditional lecture format. The provosts office has

engaged and excited about the use of technology in the

created a flipped classroom working group to provide re-

classroom, you bias the outcomes in a way, he said. It is

sources for study design and assessment. We are look-

challenging to assess what the traditional version of that

ing not only at how students are doing on tests, but also

experience would really look like.4

at students self-reported gains, pre-

model has a positive impact on student outcomes. Last

test and post-test, with a standard-

year, a University of Washington meta-analysis of 225

ized national test in both classes,

studies compared student performance in undergraduate

Canelas said. We are trying to get

science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

at what other skills the students are

courses under traditional lecturing versus active learning:

gaining from being in a more active

The results indicate that average examination scores im-

classroom environment, she added.

proved by about 6 percent in active learning sections, and

We would love to do a post-post test

that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5

the following year to measure how

times more likely to fail than were students in classes with

long they are remembering things.

tional Academy of Sciences.

VS.

Of course, setting up studies that

compare traditional and flipped classroom settings can be challenging,

teaching and learning continue to try to quantify the im-

and some research is more informal

pact of flipping, using traditional lecture classes as control

than statistically significant, controlled

groups. There is still a lot to learn and a need for more

studies. Todd Murphey, an associate

shutterstock.com

Nevertheless, faculty members, provosts and centers for

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern

University (IL), noted that one problem researching the

In general, research has shown that the flipped classroom

active learning, the study noted in Proceedings of the Na-

30

evidence and detail on the many facets of a flip.

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

Further Analysis

room students, he said.

RELATED READING

Rather than continuing to focus on using traditional lec-

Mennella has defined three main components of his

tures as control groups, the University of Washington study

class: initial exposure to content; personal reflection; and

suggested moving on to second-generation research

deeper manipulation of the content. He is studying all

6 Expert Tips for Flipping the Classroom

into which types of active learning are most appropriate

three components in both settings (flipped and unflipped)

Three leaders in flipped classroom instruction share

and efficient for certain topics or student populations. In

to better understand the pedagogical impact of flipping.

their best practices for creating a classroom experience

that vein, Thomas Mennella, an associate professor of bi-

Mennella hasnt published his data yet, but he said both

guaranteed to inspire lifelong learning.

ology at Bay Path University (MA), is working on a re-

sets of students did well in the class, and the students in

Studies that compare traditional and flipped classroom settings can be

challenging. One problem researching the topic is that if students know
they are part of an experiment, they tend to view it positively.

2 Great Techniques for the Flipped Classroom

Inspire more student engagement in a flipped class
with these two pedagogy-driven methods.
How to Make the Most of the Flipped Classroom
Five professors share what they do to make class time
more interactive once lectures are out of the way.

search project in which he is attempting to isolate aspects

the flipped class reported slightly higher satisfaction with

of his flipped classroom.

the class. But having taught both sections, I can say it

Research: Using Active Learning More Important

was so much more work to get those three components to

Than Flipping the Classroom

the unflipped group, he noted.

An active learning approach produces the same

I had a standard flipped class where lectures were recorded and we did review activities and critical thinking/

Mennella also said students in traditional lecture class-

group had lectures in class, but the students were given

rooms would never be able to handle the complexity of

nonflipped classrooms, according to research from

access to the recorded lectures to watch on their own. In

the exams he gives now in his flipped class. The exams

Brigham Young University (UT).

addition, Mennella took the activities that were done in the

are eight essay questions, and four involve interpreta-

flipped class and assigned them to the unflipped class to

tions of scenarios we never talked about in class. I would

work on in groups or individually.

never have dreamed of giving an exam like that teaching

As much feedback as I gave in the flipped classroom I

was giving one-on-one via e-mail to the unflipped class-

31

student learning outcomes in both flipped and

learning activities, he explained. His unflipped control

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

the old way, he said. They didnt know the material to

that depth.4

Assessing the Flipped Classrooms Impact

on Learning
Four California professors discuss their NSF-funded
study on how the flipped model benefits students.

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

5 FREE (OR LOW-COST) TOOLS

FOR FLIPPED LEARNING
By Dennis Pierce
From screencasting to interactive presentations, here are
some resources to get a flipped class off the ground.

matics at Grand Valley State University (MI). A colleague

of mine is using just the Doceri app on the iPad to create
screencasts, and that costs nothing.

Explain Everything

share screencasts. The iPad version is free, and a Windows

Like Doceri, Explain Everything lets you create presentations

8.1 version costs $4.99.

or record screencasts to demonstrate a concept. The $2.99

Trying to record voice narration while also recording or

annotating a presentation can be challenging, and Doceri
simplifies this process with a timeline-based editor that lets

Doceri

you capture a presentation first, then go back and add voice

Doceri is a versatile app that lets you create, share, anno-

narration where appropriate. You can also pause a record-

tate and control presentations, and you can also record and

ing as many times as you need.

Doceri also gives you many options for uploading or sharing screencasts. You can share a screencast directly to
YouTube or Facebook; send it privately as an e-mail attachment; save it to your camera roll; transfer it to your computer via iTunes; upload it to a learning management system or
Google Drive; incorporate it into iBooks Author; or import it

32

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

into iMovie, Adobe Premiere or other video editing software.

app is available for iOS, Android and Windows 8.1 devices.

With a $30 desktop version of Doceri, you can connect

Explain Everything allows you to import files, images and

an iPad to your computer, and the software mirrors your

videos for use in presentations from a wide variety of formats,

computer on the iPad.

including PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Keynote, Pages and

I use Doceri to mirror my iPad screen to the computer

Numbers, as well as RTF files from Evernote, Dropbox, Box,

screen, and then I use a program called Camtasia to cap-

Google Drive, e-mail, iTunes and basically any app that al-

ture the video, said Robert Talbert, a professor of mathe-

lows you to open these file types using the command Open

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

In. You can create slides, draw in any color, add shapes or

Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn. You can

Verso

text, and use a laser pointer to annotate the presentation.

also track students responses to a poll or quiz and see who

Verso is another free tool that lets you add interactivity to your

Then, you can export the file as an MP4 video, PDF docu-

has viewed a recording. Mixes will play on mobile devices, but

presentations. Available as an iPad or Android app, Verso

ment, PNG image or XPL project directly from your device.

the interactive elements may not work on these devices.

makes it easy to push content to your students and gain some

Explain Everything is a go to app for faculty at The Col-

According to Jon Bergmann, a pioneer of the flipped

lege of New Rochelle (NY), said Emory Craig, director of

classroom and co-creator of FlippedClass.com, Office Mix

You can create what Verso calls a flip using video, au-

e-learning and instructional technology. Its not the only

is very useful because it offers video creation and interac-

dio or photos that you create yourself or pull down from

screencasting app out there, but it has definitely worked

tion and hosting all in one solution.

the Web. By clicking on the class key, you can open a

well for us, he said.

class discussion space and invite students to participate.

Screencast-O-Matic

You can also push content and questions to students with

Office Mix

Screencast-O-Matic is a free browser-based app that lets

one click, view their responses in real time and star the best

For Windows users, Office Mix is a free add-on that lets

you create screencasts from a Mac or Windows computer

responses for further discussion in class.

you turn PowerPoint presentations into interactive online

without having to install any software.

videos, complete with built-in polls, quizzes and analytics to

This multiplatform app is so simple, and yet so profound,

With just one click from the Screencast-O-Matic Web

Bergmann said. You upload a flip to your learning manage-

site, you can bring up a screen recorder window, which you

ment system, which could be a video but also a PDF or any

Office Mix works on versions of Office 2013 or later, in-

can drag and resize to anywhere on your screen. You can

other asset, and there is a very simple box in which you can put

cluding the free Office 365 for educators. You can record

also record from a webcam. When youre ready to start re-

a prompt. Its like a discussion board on steroids. Students can

audio or video narration to accompany a presentation

cording, you click the record button, and all action inside

see one anothers responses, and they can respond to one

theres a picture in picture feature, so students can see

the frame is recorded for up to 15 minutes. You can pause

anothers responses. And you can have this great discussion.

you as youre explaining a slide and you can use an ink-

or restart your recording, and you can upload it to YouTube

Plus, its all anonymous, Bergmann added. Its not like

ing tool to annotate slides as you record. You can also add

or save it as a video file.

check for understanding.

polls or quizzes within a recording.

33

visibility into their questions and understanding.

the kid who always raises his hand gets all the attention,

Upgrading to a Pro account, which costs $15 per year, gives

because nobody knows who it is. But its not anonymous

When youre done recording, you can upload your mix to a

you additional features, such as editing tools to cut, zoom and

to the professor, who can see what each student is say-

free Office Mix hosting portal. From this portal, you can view,

add text overlays to your recordings. A Pro account also lets

ing. The professor can also group students together and

manage and share your recording by copying and pasting a

you publish to Google Drive, password-protect your uploads

prompt them with another question, to continue the discus-

URL, using an embed code or clicking a button to share via

and run the recorder outside your browser when youre offline.

sion and take it to the next level.4

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

FOR A
BETTER FLIP,
TRY MOOCS
By David Raths

34

their own wherever they live.

We have them do the same homework and we synchro-

With 450 students in nine sections, it had been difficult

nize them with an online discussion platform called Piazza,

for Ferri to get the consistency in student outcomes she

added Ferri. She and her teaching assistants go into the

wanted. But by MOOC-ifying the large course, she was

Piazza forum several times a day to review and endorse an-

able to offer more in-class activities and standardize the

swers students are giving each other.

student experience across sections. Any time you have

Ferri was pleasantly surprised to find that the MOOC stu-

different instructors teaching at different paces, they em-

dents were helping the on-campus students. For instance,

phasize different things and dont finish all the topics, she

What happens when you combine a massive open online

a Georgia Tech student posted a re-

course and a flipped course? More interactivity, more con-

quest for a brief summary of the use of

sistency and some interesting avenues of student interac-

oscilloscopes, and a few hours later a

tion, according to Bonnie Ferri, professor and associate

MOOC student posted a brilliant, pre-

chair for undergraduate affairs in Georgia Techs School of

cise description. I started asking the

Electrical and Computer Engineering.

MOOC students about themselves,

Ferri teaches a course called Circuits and Electronics,

she recalled. They are mathemati-

with 450 students per term split into several sections. A

cians who wanted to learn something

year and a half ago, she developed two MOOCs (delivered

about circuits and electronics, or they

through Coursera) in conjunction with the class. We of-

are physicists or engineers who took

fer the MOOC videos simultaneously to the public and on-

this material years ago and want to

campus students, she explained. The on-campus students

remind themselves about it. Many are

watch all the videos, then they come to class and do a vari-

working professionals. They can intro-

ety of activities including labs using handheld devices

duce comments based on experienc-

such as a National Instruments myDAQ, or a Digilent Dis-

es that our students just dont have.

covery Board, which has a suite of electronic instruments

One talked about how they use certain

for performing experiments. The MOOC students can buy

sensors in the automotive industry. Ive

the same devices at student prices and do experiments on

had personal comments from students

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

that this type of interaction is phenomenal.

At Georgia Tech, on-campus students watch MOOC videos and

come to class ready to perform experiments and other activities.
MOOC students do the same work at home and join in online
discussions.

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

explained. Now, all the sections watch the same lectures

other words, he took a full term of ideas and pushed it into

did a calculation to assess the rate heat was expanding

online and take the same tests. Twice a year we take over

2.5 hours worth of videos.

through the skillet based on when the bacon heated up. It

the building and 450 students take tests at the same time,

He then decided to have on-campus students watch the

was a light and accessible way of thinking of a concrete

she said. We nailed it in terms of consistency. Performance

videos and use the Coursera environment for homework in

application of the math the students are learning, yet it

has gone up and we got the consistency we wanted.

parallel with the MOOC students. And the Northwestern

was very sophisticated.

students got to see some of the things the Coursera stu-

Connecting Online

dents were doing.

The on-campus students benefited from interacting with

online students, he noted. For instance, MOOC participants

When Todd Murphey, an associate professor of mechanical

Like Georgia Techs Ferri, Murphey said some of the

talked about what they did in their jobs, and the Northwest-

engineering at Northwestern University (IL), developed a

contributions from MOOC students were valuable for the

ern students found that exciting. On the flip side, the online

MOOC course on systems theory, he saw it as an opportu-

Northwestern students to see. One assignment asked stu-

students benefited from exposure to cutting-edge thinking

in the field. For them, the cross-pollination is not with the

One of the big opportunities in flipping the classroom was that

it allowed me to get rid of all the technology in the classroom. My
classroom became as unstructured as it had ever been and that is
part of what the students really like. Todd Murphey, Northwestern University

individual students as much as it is with the student body,

he said. They get to take a course and get better aligned
with what students coming out of university right now perceive as important problems, and how they communicate
with employers.
Having the video lectures has changed what happens in
Murpheys Northwestern classroom. One of the big oppor-

35

nity to revise the systems theory class taken by all first-year

dents to videotape their own experiments and get peer-

tunities in flipping the classroom was that it allowed me to

engineering students on campus.

assessed. Very few of the 30,000 people who signed up

get rid of all technology in the classroom, he said. He had

One significant change involved the way he delivered lec-

for the MOOC took on the challenge of creating their own

traditionally done what a lot of other instructors do: teach-

ture content. When I designed the Coursera class, one

demonstrations, Murphey said, but nevertheless, we got

ing with slides. Now with online videos, I decided to re-

challenge was to keep the content as compact as online

pedagogical value we would never have been able to get

duce the classroom dependence on prefab stuff and really

content needs to be, Murphey said, so I ended up taking

otherwise. There is no way I would have thought of all

focus on being reactive to what the class needed, he said.

a 10-week class and made it an eight-week class with three

those applications. Some were funny. One guy did a heat

My classroom became as unstructured as it had ever been

lectures a week, each an average of seven minutes long. In

transfer idea using a skillet on a stove with bacon. He

and that is part of what the students really like.4

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

5 LECTURE CAPTURE HACKS

FOR MORE ENGAGING VIDEOS
By Leila Meyer

A lower-tech way to include the instructor in the video

lecture uses a 3D camera mounted on the instructors
computer, much like an ordinary webcam. Personify is
software that inserts a video of the instructor into a

for students to see the presentation material clearly. To

PowerPoint presentation or other online material. The

address that problem, Penn State University recently

instructor records himself with the 3D camera, and Per-

The best flipped courses provide students with compelling,

implemented dynamic green screen technology called

sonify automatically filters out the background so the

interactive learning content to hold their attention outside of

Chromatte from Reflecmedia in some of its One Button

instructor appears in front of the presentation material

class. Here are five ways to take lecture videos to the next level.

Studio video recording studios. Chromatte is a fabric

in the video, just as if he had filmed himself in front of a

made of tiny glass beads. It comes with a ring of LEDs

green screen. While the resulting video of the instructor

1) Dynamic Green Screen

that go around a camera lens, and those lights can shine

may not have the high production polish of one filmed in

While its possible to simply record a professor standing

green or blue light on the Chromatte to change the col-

a studio in front of a green screen, it makes it possible for

in front of a whiteboard or projection, it can be difficult

or of the background in a video. It makes it possible

instructors to record video lectures anywhere, anytime

to adapt the backdrop on the fly very quickly, said Kyle

even at home.

Chromatte uses a ring of LEDs to change the

color of the background in a video.
36

2) Virtual Green Screen

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Bowen, director of Education Technology Services at

A key feature of strong academic content is that its up-

Penn State. And that makes it possible to set up these

to-date and timely, but instructors dont have much time

kinds of studios in smaller-sized rooms using less light-

available to record lectures, pointed out John Lammers,

ing, so it simplifies the setup of a studio.

professor of communication and director of the Health

Recording the instructor in front of the green or blue

Communication program at the University of Illinois at

screen allows presentation materials (such as a PowerPoint

Urbana-Champaign. The instructor, especially in a re-

presentation, image or video) to be dropped into the video

search university like Illinois, really doesnt want to spend

digitally. The presentation material takes up the entire frame

a lot of time figuring out how to put a lecture togeth-

and appears as clear and crisp as the instructor footage. It

er, said Lammers. With Personify, I can put together a

gets digitally added after the video gets created, and that

20-minute presentation thats useful to my students in

results in a much higher quality video, said Bowen.

about an hour.4

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

3) Lightboard

rescent markers, so the writing glows in front of the per-

Sometimes instructors need to record themselves writing

son. On camera, the writing appears reversed but can be

mathematical formulas or other information on a whiteboard

digitally flipped or recorded with a mirror. Youre looking

as they explain the concept to their students. But in a typi-

right through the board at your camera, at your students,

cal video production setup, part of the written material is

and the writing is not obscured by you, its in front of you,

blocked by the instructors body, and instructors have to

explained Peshkin. And so that just gives you a little bit

turn their back to the camera. Michael Peshkin, a profes-

better sense of engagement with your students as youre

sor of engineering at Northwestern University (IL), solved

talking, and gives them a better sense that theyre being

these problems by creating Lightboard.

spoken to, rather than somebody just writing.

Lightboard is an illuminated 4-by-8-foot sheet of glass.

The Lightboard itself costs about $2,000 for the glass and

The instructor writes on the glass from behind using fluo-

frame, and Peshkin said he spent another $10,000 on video

equipment, lighting, cameras and other recording equipment.

Mediasite MultiView allows students to view

multiple video streams at once.
Courtesy of Sonic Foundry

ously or zoom in on one or the other.

He developed Lightboard as open source hardware, so oth-

Weve got a lot of faculty who like to use animations or

ers (including Penn States One Button Studios) have adopt-

YouTube videos during their lecture, said Asa Kelley, me-

ed the technology and modified it to suit their own purposes.

dia technician at Bloomsburg. MultiView can record both

streams in full motion so the full integrity of the presentation

4) Multi-Perspective Video Capture

is sustained for students who are reviewing it after class or

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania has been using

experiencing it through distance learning environments.

Mediasite from Sonic Foundry for several years, but last year the

The university has the system built into five of its class-

university implemented the platforms multi-perspective video

rooms, and many of the instructors are using the technology

capture tool called Mediasite MultiView, which records both

to flip their classrooms. For example, an instructor in the

the instructor and the presentation materials. While Chro-

universitys American Sign Language English Interpreting

matte, Personify and Lightboard produce a video where the

program finds the tool particularly useful because she signs

Lightboard allows instructors to write on a whiteboard

without turning their back to the camera.

instructor and presentation materials appear in the same

in one screen while her PowerPoint slides display in the

view, Mediasite MultiView captures multiple video streams

other screen, and her students can zoom in on the video of

Courtesy of Penn State University

and allows students to view them side-by-side simultane-

her signing to see a larger view.4

37

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Complete Guide to the Flipped Classroom

until they answer the question. Zdrojewski likes it because

What Does
Faculty
Support
Look Like?

teachers can find out how well their students understood

By David Raths

5) Interactive Video
Rob Zdrojewski, an adjunct professor in Education Technologies and Emerging Media at Canisius College (NY),
uses a free tool called eduCanon that can embed questions
into online videos to create interactive lessons. As students
watch a video, it pauses wherever the instructor has embedded a question, and students cant continue watching

quarter. The agenda was designed by each faculty group,

said Beth Kalikoff, director of the universitys Center for
Teaching and Learning. It is the nature of these learning
communities that the agenda is determined by the people
in the room. Among the issues they addressed was how to
explain the flipping concept to students.
Faculty fellowships. Duke University (NC) created faculty
fellowships almost 15 years ago as a way to support faculty using new technology or new teaching methods. For the last few

the video lecture before they come to class. It gives the

teacher insight because without it, you assign a video to

Its important to create a support structure for faculty mak-

years, one of the fellowships has focused on active learning

watch and have no idea if the students have watched it or

ing the switch to the flipped classroom. Here are three ap-

and flipping the classroom. There has been a growing interest

what theyve gained from it, he said. While the free version

proaches that work:

in the past few years, so we are responding to demand, said

Monthly seminars. At the University of Pennsylvania,

Randy Riddle, an academic technology consultant at Duke.

about 20 faculty members get together on a monthly ba-

Participants in the Flipping the Classroom Faculty Fellowship

For those who have more money to spend and want to adopt

sis to talk through their flipped classroom challenges. They

met every three weeks, observed flipped classrooms and re-

a campuswide solution, TechSmith Relay is another option.

are participating in the Structured, Active, In-class Learning

ported on best practices. The fellowship meetings themselves

TechSmith Relay offers built-in quizzing and analytics and in-

Program. We have them observe each others classes, and

were run as a flipped class helping make the faculty mem-

cludes hosted video and image management. Zdrojewski was

this seminar is a place where faculty who are beginning to

bers feel comfortable with the idea that you can learn a lot in a

a beta tester for TechSmith Relay, so he has experience with

see they have questions find ways to pursue answers, said

flipped class environment.

both tools. TechSmith Relay is an all-in-one hosting solution,

Bruce Lenthall, executive director of the universitys Center

he said. The TechSmith servers hold your content. You can

for Teaching and Learning.

of the tool offers a limited number of question types, a premium version is available that offers more options.

38

nity was led by a facilitator and met every other week for a

even pull in YouTube videos and then narrate on top of them

Self-directed learning communities. As part of a 2012

as well, so the functionality that youre doing with eduCanon

initiative about active learning and flipping the classroom,

can also be done with TechSmith Relay, and all of your videos

the University of Washington created five learning com-

are all in one spot, where you have control over sharing them.

munities with a total of 62 faculty members. Each commu-

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2015

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia.

Dennis Pierce is a freelance writer who has been covering
education and technology for more than 17 years.
David Raths is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.

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