Report: Interest in Flipped Classrooms Surpasses Other Digital Learning Trends

• By Leila Meyer
• 03/21/14

Flipped classrooms are having a significant effect on teaching and learning, according to a new white paper from Project Tomorrow and the Flipped Learning Network.

The white paper, "Speak Up 2013 National Research Project Findings: A Second Year Review of Flipped Learning," reports on a survey of more than 403,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members in the fall of 2013. The survey defined flipped learning as using lecture videos as homework while using class time for discussions, projects, experiments and personalized coaching.

According to the survey, a quarter of administrators identified flipped learning as having a major effect on teaching and learning, compared to only 21 percent who identified educational games and mobile apps and 19 percent who identified professional learning communities for educators has having a significant effect.

According to teachers and administrators surveyed, the biggest barriers to implementing flipped classrooms are concerns about student access to digital learning materials from home and the need for instruction on how to create or locate high quality videos and how to make the best use of additional classroom time. However, the survey identified a significant decrease in the numbers of teachers and administrators citing these concerns, and five percent of administrators have provided their teachers with training in the past year on how to implement flipped learning.

Key findings from the Speak Up 2013 survey include:

• One in six math and science teachers surveyed said they use flipped learning;
• Sixteen percent of teachers who responded reported regularly recording lessons for students to watch online;
• Forty-five percent of librarians and media specialists surveyed told researchers they regularly create videos and other rich media as part of their jobs;
• Thirty-seven percent of librarians siad they help teachers use and create videos and rich media;
• Almost 20 percent of teachers told surveyors they want to learn how to flip their classrooms;
• Forty-one percent of administrators indicated that they think pre-service teachers should learn how to set up a flipped classroom before they earn their teaching credentials;
• Sixty-six percent of principals said they think teacher preparation programs should teach pre-service teachers how to use and create videos and other digital media for use in the classroom; and
• Seventy-five percent of middle and high school students said they think flipped classrooms would help them learn.

"From this research, it is evident that the flipped learning model is gaining the attention of educators who are interesting in improving student achievement and teacher effectiveness by leveraging digital tools to enable innovation," said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, in a prepared statement.

The full white paper, "Speak Up 2013 National Research Project Findings: A Second Year Review of Flipped Learning," can be found on Project Tomorrow's site.