The Flipped Classroom is an approach to teaching in a blended format where students learn material through asynchronous videos or readings, and then class time is spent on actively applying the material. There are lots of great tips for designing flipped courses but I wanted to create a quick rubric to decide if flipping is right for your course. The following is based on the APGAR score (for newborn babies) where each of 5 criteria is given a simple score of 0, 1, or 2, giving a final score out of 10. Try it for your own course!
| Criteria | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suitable learning space | None | Space that can be adapted | Flexible learning space |
| Asynchronous material | Need to create | Can adapt from existing | Already have |
| Support from department | No | Reluctant | Enthusiastic |
| Activities for key concepts | No ideas | Ideas for some concepts | Ideas for every week |
| Student maturity | Novice | Intermediate | Expert |
Once you have your score, you can ignore the actual number and see how you really feel about flipping. The number may give you an indication how much time it might take and you can decide if you have the capacity to try. Of course you can also just do a couple of flipped activities within a traditional course, you don't need to dive in all the way the first time.
But if you are interested in flipping your course, consult some of the resources below and try it out! Best of luck!
Will it Blend - talk about my experience flipping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlUrfCqvKNk
Flipping the Table - panel from 5 flipped course instructors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Niq3yZmQKg
CTE Ten Questions to Ask when Blending https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/resources/blended-le...
CTE Planning a Flipped Class https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/catalogs/tip-sheets/...
