Report: Half of University Faculty Have Flipped their Classroom or Will in the Next Year

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 11/19/13

Half of university faculty members have deployed the flipped classroom model or plan to within the next 12 months, according to a new survey from the Center for Digital Education and Sonic Foundry.

Other key findings of the report include:

• A better learning experience for students, greater access to supporting technologies, and positive results from initial trials were listed as the main reasons faculty adopted the model;
• Among respondents who have already flipped a class, 57 percent said it was extremely successful or successful;
• Among respondents who called their flipped classroom successful or extremely successful, "improved mastery of information" and "improved retention of information" were cited as key benefits at rates of 81 and 80 percent, respectively;
• Seventy-five percent of respondents said that a flipped classroom takes more time to prepare for than a traditional class;
• Eighty-three percent of faculty members interviewed said that the model has positively affected their attitude about teaching and 86 percent said it had improved their students' attitudes;
• The greatest advantages of the flipped classroom reported by faculty were more activity, discussion or collaboration in class, the ability to adjust instruction for specific students, and improved student performance or grades;
• Sixty-nine percent of responding faculty members said the ideal size for a flipped classroom is between 11 and 30 students; and
• Fifty-one percent of respondents said they record their own videos for their flipped classrooms.

"Based upon my experience, the benefits of the flipped classroom model far outweigh the challenges, and I've seen the difficulties associated with implementing the model decrease over time as efficiencies are realized," said Ralph Welsh, lecturer at Clemson University, in a prepared statement. "It has also allowed me to tailor my classroom time more toward answering specific student questions and discussing the material at a more applied higher level of thinking."

"Based on both our research and actual use cases, the flipped classroom model is critical in shifting our educational approach from a passive one to an active one that better prepares college students for their careers ahead by engaging them in the material," said Joe Morris, director of research and analysis, Center for Digital Education, in a news release. "Flipping classrooms is at the center of today's blending learning approach, and is one that makes best use of both faculty and student time when deployed effectively."

A webcast covering the findings of the survey is available at sonicfoundry.com.