Using this expanded definition, what flipped strategies could we integrate into an online class? Here are three flipped strategies to start the conversation:
1. Create a scavenger hunt. During the first week of class, create a scavenger hunt with your course web site. Ask students to locate important information, announcements, and deadlines. Offer an incentive for the first one to submit the completed scavenger hunt activity. Incentives may include the first choice on presentation topics, the chance to drop a low quiz grade, or the opportunity to gain an extra credit point on the final project.
Why it works: Students are actively locating information and constructing their own mental models of the course rather than just reading the course web site or listening to a video as you describe the structure and organization of the course.
2. Create a hashtag just for your course. Encourage students to use this hashtag if they find course-related items in different social media spaces or elsewhere on the web. Make sure the hashtag is unique to your course. Consider reviewing the posts and then sharing an item a week with the entire class.
Why it works: Students are actively contributing to the conversation by sharing resources and information they find rather than just reviewing the content you have collected.
3. Develop a low stakes assignment to encourage self-reflection and analysis. Ask students to reflect on their own learning styles or personality in the online environment before beginning the semester. Encouraging students to think about this actively might help them to prepare for the online environment as they analyze their strengths, weaknesses, challenges, etc. Supplement this activity by making it a private forum requirement, then post a global response to students afterward with suggestions on how to succeed in the online environment.
Why it works: Students are asked to analyze and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in regards to a course, activity, or assignment. This can help build students’ capacity to advance towards higher levels of critical thinking.
These are flipped strategies because they shift the focus from the instructor to the students; they encourage active participation from students rather than passive observation; and, they engage students on a higher level by encouraging creativity and evaluation rather than basic knowledge recall. Most importantly, they all work in an online environment.
Whether a course is entirely face-to-face, entirely online, or a blend of the two, we can create student-centered learning experiences in our online environments by finding “flippable” moments in the digital space. Along the way we may discover that technology can encourage engagement and learning in ways the face-to-face classroom can’t. When we teach with technology, and when our students learn using technology, it doesn’t have to reduce engagement. We have the power to do the opposite.
Dr. Barbi Honeycutt is the founder of Flip It Consulting and the director of graduate professional development and teaching programs at North Carolina State University. Sarah Glova is a lecturer in the Professional Writing Program at North Carolina State University. This article first appeared in Faculty Focus.
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