Skip to Main Content
Research Guides@Tufts

Flipping the Classroom

Maximizing the scarcest learning resource—time

What is a Flipped Classroom?

The flipped classroom model encourages in-class student engagement, peer-peer and student-instructor interactions to reinforce the material learned through the pre-class activities. 

In its simplest form, the flipped classroom inverts traditional teaching methods by delivering knowledge and content outside the classroom and moving homework into the class day. In this setting, the professor becomes a mentor or facilitator rather than a lecturer and may use class time to reinforce ideas through debate, projects, and other group learning activities.

What is Flipped Learning Design?

Myth vs Reality

A Flipped Classroom is NOT:

  • A synonym for online videos. It is the interaction and the meaningful learning that occurs during the face-to-face time that is most important.
  • About replacing professors with videos
  • An online course
  • Students working without structure

A Flipped Classroom IS:

  • A means to increase interaction and personalized contact time between students and professors
  • An environment where students are engaged and take responsibility for their own learning
  • A classroom where the professor is not the "sage on the stage" but the "guide on the side"
  • A blending of direct instruction with constructivist learning
  • A class where content can be permanently archived for review or remediation