The pearls and perils of “Flipping” the Classroom

Abstract

In 2010, an administrative decision to record all class lectures and the subsequent drop in class attendance by the students led my physiology colleague and I to prerecord our lectures and provide them to the students ahead of time. We then utilized class time for more active learning sessions. We subsequently found out that we had inadvertently, “flipped the classroom.” The pearls experienced have been many. Our initial focus was to get students back into the classroom as this was a belief that we can better serve them. Historically, attendance in my flipped classes at two different institutions has been significantly greater (2X) than that I experience if all I do is lecture. In prepping for and executing my flipped class sessions I have been re-inspired and reinvigorated to maximize my teaching activities. The preparation for these activities has kept me delving into the literature and consulting colleagues to keep myself up-to-date and fresh on the material that I am presenting. However, the most rewarding aspect of flipping the classroom has been watching the student performance on the physiology portions of our tests, as well as the boards improve. We basically have seen an approximate 10% increase in the ability of our students to answer physiology questions in situations where we could test them in a controlled fashion. Correspondingly, students in the lower quartile of the class achieved an approximate 21% increase in student performance (previously published and presented at FASEB meetings). The perils related to flipping the classroom have been surprising but not unexpected. The initial issue with flipping the classroom is that it requires a greater investment in the process by the individual faculty member. I basically produce two slide sets as opposed to one. One slide set for the lecture recording and a second slide set for class presentation. Another complaint from faculty is related to the potential for losing “control” of the class which is of particular concern to faculty who are earlier in their careers that this is a potential discomfort with the process of flipping the classroom. Another complaint that I have heard from faculty comes from those who are not flipping the classroom (just lecturing) and they consider that the flipped classroom process gives me extra time. I have spent a lot of time in discussions with students, faculty and administration discounting this complaint. I love to talk with any faculty who wish to flip the classroom because I believe the pearls far outweigh the perils regarding flipping the classroom. To see the students’ faces, light up when they understand the concept during class and see their increase in performance on tests is the only reward necessary. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.